Someone who manages the volunteer program at a public library here in Oregon wrote me. She said:

I’m looking for input from the field about accepting the non working spouse/family member of an H1B Visa holder, as a volunteer. Because these people do not have social security numbers, our background check process can’t accept them. This is counter to our library mission “For Everyone” and seems to run counter to our sanctuary city status. HR/RISK says it’s an issue largely due to our city’s insurance coverage. I say, I’ve mitigated the Risk and volunteers are not in a position that places them one on one with any patron, staff, or other volunteer. I have also run across information that seems to indicate visa holding people may put their visa status at risk by volunteering. Wondering if you have any words of wisdom I can use to advocate for being able to include these folks who wish to share their time and talent with us, but can’t pass a standard background check. (Don’t get me started on background checks).

I’m going to share the advice I gave her here, edited to protect her identity and organization. Perhaps this might help others.

And I have to start with a disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, I don’t have a law degree, and so none of this can be considered legal advice. 

In short: I think it’s absolutely fine to involve an HB1 Visa holder, and even someone here on a tourist visa, in volunteering at a nonprofit organization. But stay away from anything that could be seen as an unpaid internship (ongoing role), even for a student. And it gets even trickier with tourist visas.

Let’s get into the details:

How long has the person that does not have a social security number been in the USA? And in that time they have been in the USA, have they been in the same county and state? So, for instance, if the person has been in the same county for a year or more, then there should be a way to do a criminal background check with the sheriff’s department for the time they have lived here. The local police certainly have no problem arresting people without a social security number… but any check with local law enforcement would be for only the time the person has lived in that state. 

Another option depends on what country the person is from. With online volunteers in mentoring programs, I have asked international participants to provide a letter from their local police in the country where they live to say that they are a person in “good standing” – also called a “certificate of good conduct.” Depending on what country they are from, they may be able to get this through their embassy or consulate here, for the area where they lived previously. No police in any country in Europe had any problem supplying such. But I’ve never had to do it for anyone outside of Europe.

Here’s a UK resource that touches on this.

I also think asking for professional and academic references, and following up on those, is a good idea – no matter what country they are in. I did that as well and I’m happy to provide you with the questions I asked them.    

All that said… you should check with other libraries: maybe someone in the New York City or Chicago public library system, Atlanta, etc. And let me know what they say!

“I say, I’ve mitigated the Risk and volunteers are not in a position that places them one on one with any patron, staff, or other volunteer.”

RIGHT?!?! That should be enough! ARGH!!!

“I have also run across information that seems to indicate visa holding people may put their visa status at risk by volunteering.”

Here’s a resource from Dartmouth that can help.

And one from the US Department of Labor, which says “Individuals who volunteer or donate their services, usually on a part-time basis, for public service, 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.”

and this also from the US Department of Labor, regarding unpaid internships (a no-no for people without work visas).

I read all of this as it being absolutely fine to involve this couple in volunteering. 

Volunteering can turn into a problem for foreigners in the USA, or trying to come to the USA, on a tourist visa, or “volunteering” (working for free) for a family or for-profit company, even via Workaway or whatever.

For instance, Australian traveler Madolline Gourley visited the USA multiple times over several years to cat-sit in exchange for free accommodation – she was never paid money. But this year, she was stopped while transiting through Hawaii to Canada. Officials at a USA airport determined that what she was doing amounted to unauthorized work. She was detained for hours, her visa waiver was revoked, and she was ultimately deported.

Rebecca Burke,, a graphic artist from Monmouthshire in England, was trying to cross into the state of Washington from Canada when she was refused entry. She was planning to stay with a host family where she would carry out domestic chores in exchange for accommodation. Canadian officials told she should have applied for a working visa, instead of a tourist visa. So she went back to Canada, applied for what she thought was the right visa, and then tried again. But when she tried to re-enter the US she was handcuffed and put in a cell before being taken to Tacoma Northwest detention facility in Washington state.

(Workaway warns users that they “will need the correct visa for any country that you visit”, and that it is the user’s responsibility to get one, but it doesn’t stipulate what the correct visa is for the kind of arrangements it facilitates in any given country. )

But what about people who are going to volunteer for an organization – not pet sit or house sit or garden or whatever in exchange for free housing?

That can be complicated as well.

A group of church volunteers from Canada heading south to do relief work in 2017 in New Jersey were denied entry to the USA for fear they would take American construction jobs. The 12-person contingent from Hamilton’s Rehoboth United Reformed Church intended to spend March break cleaning up and rehabilitating neighbourhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy.

U.S. border law says Canadians do not require a visa to enter the country for volunteer work, as long as they can provide proof that their work will not be compensated. The group was told they had failed to have a letter sent from the host church “paroling” them into the country. The border patrol officer told the group he would grant an exception and let them through if the host church managed to fax or email a letter right away.

When the first letter was deemed “not specific enough” by a border patrol officer, the group asked the New Jersey host church send another, being careful not to make any specific reference to construction. 

“In general, mission teams do team-building, tour mercy ministries of the church (food pantries, re-entry programs, thrift shops, etc) and assist with neighbourhood cleanup projects,” said the second letter. It was this last part that was interpreted as “work for hire,” says Hoeksema. Officers denied them entry after they had been stopped for more than two hours. The group was told that, as foreigners, they would be taking American jobs, and that there was no pressing need for relief work anyway this long after Hurricane Sandy hit the region in 2012.

A U.S. border spokesperson said the refusal came down to documentation. The official said groups doing humanitarian work need to provide documentation in advance from the municipality where the work is to be done stating what they will be doing.

Canadian media outlets reported also in 2017 that four Canadian senior citizens on their way to volunteer as ushers a performance of The Color Purple at the Fisher Theater in Detroit were detained, photographed, fingerprinted and eventually denied entry to the USA because non-American volunteers are only allowed to participate in religious or nonprofit events. The women, who had been volunteering for years at the theater, said they never had a problem before. The then USA Customs and Border Patrol Chief Ken Hammond told the Detroit Free Press that he can’t discuss individual cases for privacy reasons, but he referenced the Immigration and Nationality Act, stating that aliens volunteering in a program that benefits USA communities must establish that they are members of and are committed to “a particular recognized religious or nonprofit charitable organization.” 

The Fisher Theater is a FOR-profit (commercial) theater. Had it been a nonprofit theater, even with a for-profit Broadway touring show playing, they PROBABLY wouldn’t have been turned away at the border if they had been carrying a letter from the theater with their 501 c 3 number and a statement that this was a nonprofit organization, stated their mission, and they reserve usher roles specifically for volunteers as a part of their commitment to ensure the arts are accessible to more people.  

I have been telling people from other countries who are coming to the USA on a tourist visa but who might volunteer while here to say to the border enforcement folks that they are coming here as a tourist and to be absolutely open about all the places they plan to visit, and even say “I plan on attending the WHATEVEREVENT (cycling event, running event, motorcycle rally, etc.)”, but do NOT volunteer the information that they will be volunteering. Just emphasize how much they love cycling or running or motorcycling. And to make sure they do NOT have a post on social media saying, “Hey, I’m going to the USA to volunteer at the WHATEVEREVENT!” Carrying a letter from the organization where you are going to volunteer, stating that the organization is a 501 c 3 nonprofit, stating that the role you are doing is one they reserve specifically for volunteers, and with a statement as to WHY they do that (eg “we believe volunteer engagement is a way for people who care about such-and-such to be involved in this cause that they care about in a way that is more intimate and meaningful than merely attending the event”) can be helpful if you need to say that, as part of your traveling, you will be volunteering.

I am not encouraging anyone to do something illegal per the advice in that previous paragraph. But border agents in the USA make mistakes and currently are looking for ANY reason to turn foreigners away, or even arrest people trying to come into the country, including the wrong reason.

I’ve been telling people that are from other countries that are coming here to blog about their trip to either not come at all (there’s a pretty famous motorcycle blogger, Itchy Boots, who cancelled her US trip to promote her book because of the nonsense at the US border) or to NOT mention their YouTube channel or blogging when they are interviewed – emphasize you’re touring the US as a backpacker or whatever, period. 

— end —

Also see Welcoming Immigrants as Volunteers to your Nonprofit.

If you have other advice, please share it. Please cite sources – no “I think I heard that…”

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