A common misconception is that the only difference between employment and volunteering is that employees are paid and volunteers are not.

However, according to U.S. labor laws, there is more to distinguish between employees and volunteers than whether an individual receives a regular paycheck or not. Unpaid work may still be considered employment that requires F-1 or J-1 off-campus work authorization.

What is an employee? The definition of an employee used in the context of immigration regulations is as follows: "An individual who provides services or labor for an employer for wages or other remuneration" (8 Code of Federal Regulations 274a.1(f)).  Please note that the term "remuneration" is very broad and includes a variety of non-monetary benefits, such as free housing, food, gifts, etc.

What is a volunteer? According to the Department of Labor, volunteers are individuals "who volunteer or donate their services, usually on a part-time basis, for public services, religious or humanitarian objectives, not as employees and without contemplation of pay, are not considered employees of the religious, charitable or similar non-profit organizations that receive their service." 

The U.S. Department of Labor is concerned with the protection of jobs for United States citizensand the prevention of exploitation of workers. They have created laws to ensure that employees are fairly compensated and do not perform work for free. While both you and the employer may be happy with an unpaid arrangement (for example, you may be eager to work even on an unpaid basis in a company to gain job experience), this may be considered an unfair arrangement in cases where the work is normally performed by a paid person and both the company and the employee are benefitting from the employment.

To determine whether an individual is a true volunteer engaged in "ordinary volunteerism," the Department of Labor considers several factors. No single factor is determinative. The factors include:

• Is the entity that will benefit/receive services from the volunteer a non-profit organization?
• Is the activity less than a full-time occupation?
• Are the services offered freely and without pressure or coercion?
• Are the services of the kind typically associated with volunteer work?
• Have regular employees been displaced to accommodate the volunteer?
• Does the worker receive (or expect) any benefit from the entity they provide services to?

Employment authorization is not required when the work performed can be considered volunteering. To be considered volunteering, the work performed by the individual must meet the following criteria:

• There is no compensation or expectation of compensation.
• The volunteer cannot displace a genuine employee, and the services provided by the volunteer should not be the same services for which they were previously paid and/or expects to be hired and paid for in the future.
• Services are performed for a non-profit organization for public service, religious or humanitarian objectives.

• Employees may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers.

Yes! There is a difference between volunteering and engaging in an unpaid internship.

Volunteering refers to donating time with an organization whose primary purpose is charitable or humanitarian in nature, without remuneration or any other type of compensation. F-1 and J-1 students can engage in volunteer work as long as it meets the above criteria. For example, it would be okay to volunteer at a local homeless shelter, charitable food pantry or the American Red Cross.

Unpaid internships, on the other hand, do not usually qualify as "volunteer" activities. Internships, both paid and unpaid, are primarily offered by the private sector and related to the intern's major field of study.

Please see CMU Human Resources' Unpaid Internship Guidance for more information about unpaid internships.

CPT authorization is required for all unpaid internships, whether or not you need to provide employment authorization documents to the company. The F-1 regulations are written in such a way that CPT is an authorization to do practical training as part of the curriculum for the academic program, and as such is significant in more ways than simply for the employer to verify employment eligibility. CPT authorization is more than just permission to get paid.

You must have CPT authorization for unpaid internships for the following reasons: 

• CPT authorization by the university demonstrates that this practical experience is part of the curriculum.
• CPT authorization is a way of reporting your work activity in SEVIS, including your place of employment, and the location where you work, therefore maintaining your status.
• If you are doing a job on an unpaid basis that someone would be hired and paid for in the future, employment authorization will protect your legal status.
• If the unpaid internship at some point changes into a paid one (or if your employer decides to compensate you for your work in any way – for example, by giving you a monetary gift), you won’t be able to accept the payment if your internship was not authorized as CPT. Please keep in mind that F-1 students cannot be retroactively remunerated or compensated for work done in an unpaid internship if they did not obtain work authorization before the work was performed.

Based on the above, if you have an internship offer (paid or unpaid) that meets CPT eligibility criteria, you must apply for CPT authorization. If you have any questions about whether you need work authorization, please contact OIE.