International Students Working Group

About Us

The international students working group (ISWG) is an open working group under Columbia University’s student-workers union, the Student Workers of Columbia (SWC-UAW 2710). Since 2014, we have fought for the rights of all international students and scholars at Columbia University. 

Are you a student worker facing issues related to your international student status, such as visa issues, OPT/CPT, and taxes? Do you want to get involved? Reach out to us and we may be able to help. 

• Contact us: ISWG@studentworkersofcolumbia.com

• Open weekly meetings, Fridays 4PM-5PM EST, biweekly. (Zoom Link.) 

• We also maintain a community Whatsapp chat. Join by emailing with the subject line “Whatsapp.”

What We Do

Our goals as the ISWG is to hold Columbia accountable to its stated mission “to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body [and] to support research and teaching on global issues.” 

Currently, we support international student workers by: 

• Holding the university accountable to contract articles related to international student worker protections at all levels. 

• Sharing information that affects international students, particularly related to their immigration status and immigration policies and living in the US. 

• Representing the interests of international students in bargaining, grievances, and negotiations.

• Organizing campaigns to directly pressure the university to support international student workers. 

• Building community for international students through social events and online groups. 

• Coordinating with other communities, unions, and organizations connected to immigration and higher education.

Contract Protections

In our contract, besides general protections that help all student workers, we also secured wins such as: 

• Access to visa support and guidance from the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) related to your academics and employment with the University. 

• Time off for immigration and visa proceedings for yourself, your spouse, or your children. 

• Timely completion of work authorization documentation. 

• Arrangements for remote work if unable to return to the United States due to reasons outside of your control, the University will make reasonable efforts to arrange for 

• Re-employment as soon as possible if you lose university employment due to immigration status or work authorization. 

• Assistance from the University If barred entry to the US through no fault of your own

• Formal inclusion on the University-wide International Student Leaders Committee. 

• Legal presentations on visa issues (two a year) by immigration attorneys

An explicit guarantee of tax guidance from the ISSO, including through seminars, webinars, and workshops.

Our Goals

Our short and long-term goals include: 

• Achieving stronger protections in future contracts for international student workers. 

• Increasing international student worker participation in our union. 

• Ensuring that international student workers have equal opportunities for employment and scholarships, and are protected from sudden changes in individual status and federal policies.

• Free legal assistance for international students/workers facing immigration difficulties, especially those who are affected by policies outside their own control.

• A more responsive, accountable, and democratic International Students and Scholars Office. 

• A hardship fund that is accessible to international students for emergencies.

• Reimbursement or cancellation of discriminatory fees that only international students must pay, such as the SEVIS fee and the International Service fee.

• Litigation and lobbying, both by our parent union and by the university, against discriminatory and xenophobic legislation (as described in UAW’s position on immigration).

• A university-wide contingency plan in the case of future emergencies for international students and scholars.

• Fighting against racism to create a campus where all international students and scholars are truly welcome.

Our History

In the last few years, we have achieved several wins. These are just some of the actions and achievements we can be proud of: 

• During the pandemic, we have pushed the university to acknowledge the issues we face through an email and phone campaign; we have forced ISSO to hold two town halls that it was reluctant to hold and to verbally commit to instituting call-in hours for the first time.

• We have continued to hold Q&As with professionals and also among peers related to immigration law, taxes, healthcare, and housing, including emergency town halls workshops in relation to changing ICE-SEVP guidelines and against COVID-related racism.

• We have led and supported the issuing of statements condemning xenophobic policies and COVID-related racism.

• When Columbia issues incorrect tax forms to international students, leading to international students losing thousands of dollars in income, we campaigned for and achieved the return of misfiled tax monies.

• The ISWG supported the right of international students to a fair workplace, as when it stood behind Longxi Zhao, a Chemical Engineering PhD Student, who was fired as a TA without any due process and was left with no choice but to return home.

• In the first year of its existence, ISWG secured increased summer funding and summer research and language training scholarships for international students in the humanities and social sciences.