International Students and Graduate Teaching

F-1 On-Campus Employment

If you are an international student with F-1 or J-1 visa status, you may work on-campus for up to 20 hours per week while school is in session. Teaching Fellows appointments, along with any other on-campus employment, count toward the 20-hour-per-week limit. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not to exceed this limit and to comply with the immigration regulations that govern your status. 

  • International students holding TF Level 10 appointments are eligible for an additional 10 hours of work per week. 
  • International students holding TF Level 20 appointments cannot hold another on-campus position. 

Check with the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) if you have questions about your eligibility.

If you are a J-1 student sponsored by Yale, you must also report any on-campus employment opportunity in advance to the Office of International Students & Scholars using OISS Connect

All off-campus employment in J-1 or F-1 status requires advance permission. Any unauthorized employment is a violation of immigration status. Consult OISS before accepting off-campus employment offers.

Except for participation in the GSAS Teaching Fellow Program, part-time employment beyond an average of 10 hours per week requires permission from your director of graduate studies (DGS) in consultation with the appropriate associate dean in the Graduate School.

English Language Proficiency Requirement

The Graduate School requires that all students who teach be in good academic standing. In addition, they must be fluent in English (with the exception of "graders without contact"). If your native language is not English, you must meet the oral English proficiency requirement before you may begin teaching. The standard may be met by:

  1. passing the SPEAK test,
  2. passing the Test of Spoken English (TSE), or
  3. having received a degree from an institution where the principal language of instruction is English. (Degrees awarded en route to the PhD at Yale will not satisfy this requirement.)

In some instances, the DGS may require that students with degrees from English-speaking institutions also pass the SPEAK test to satisfy the language requirement.

If you have not yet fulfilled your oral English proficiency requirement, please contact the staff of the English Language Program at the Center for Language Study. 

Students who have not yet met the English language proficiency requirement may serve as “graders without contact.” The category of “grader without contact” designates a student who grades assignments but does not have other contact with students in the class to which they are assigned. They do not hold office hours, tutor, or advise. “Grader without contact” positions are to be distinguished from “grader/tutor” positions that routinely put graduate students in direct contact with the students in their class. A “grader without contact” assignment is considered part-time employment and does not fulfill academic teaching requirements.

If you are a department or program administrator or registrar and you need assign a student as a “grader without contact,” please contact us teaching.fellows@yale.edu, as these assignments are processed differently from Teaching Fellow assignments.