American Dream interupted

By 21 years old, most young adults are just hoping for a better-paying job and the end of acne. After a feature published in the Indiana Daily Student, IU junior Qun Sun might be praying just not to be deported.

Last August, Sun opened a restaurant with a few other students, the Lotus Garden. He invested thousands of dollars into his business and his hard work paid off.

He is able to cover his tuition costs, relieving his parents of the financial burden, a goal that will take many students years if not decades to achieve. Bloom magazine praised his restaurant in a review last month.

Then, a feature in the IDS gained the attention of the Office of International Services. Now, Sun and his business partners might face deportation for violating the regulations of their statuses as international students.

When international students come to IU they must apply for either F-1 or J-1 nonimmigrant status.

Students with F-1 status can work on-campus jobs. They may not have off-campus jobs without permission. The job must pertain to the student’s field of study or the student must be experiencing severe economic hardship.

With a J-1 status, IU issues students a DS-2019 to work on campus and they may only work up to 20 hours a week. DS-2019 is a document used by exchange visitor programs’ administrations to provide basic information of the exchange student.

To work off campus, the student must be authorized and the job must be in the student’s field of study and pertain to his or her academic objective.

The IDS article says Sun will graduate in 2015, which we will assume means he has an F-1 status because he has been at IU for longer than a year.

Homeland Security considers starting your own business working, and so permission must be acquired.

To own a business, the student must apply for optional practical training — which, again, must relate to the student’s field of study.

The catch is, this must occur before or after the completion of a program of study, not during.

We don’t know if Sun blatantly disregarded the rules or didn’t understand the
restrictions.

But the true fault of this situation lies with the Office of International Services.
It is supposed to look after international students.

It is supposed to make sure international students understand the rules and conditions of their visas and U.S. residence.

To start his business, Sun would have had to jump through several legal and government hoops. He had to get a tax identification number from the IRS, register for state and local taxes and obtain a series of licenses and permits on federal, state and local levels.

That no one noticed his international status while he went about this is sadly reflective of the competency of our administration and our government.

Sun is in violation of his international status by operating a business while in school, but he does not deserve to be punished for it.

He is a prime example of someone chasing the American dream. He shouldn’t be punished for going above and beyond to get the most out of his experience in America.

opinion@idsnews.com
@ids_opinion