united-states immigration academia
Being asked to start teaching before being employed as a new faculty
<p>Suppose that a non-US person F is scheduled to join a US university as a teaching-focused faculty member. F's official starting is set to be January 4th and, at that university, classes start in the same week, and F will be teaching 2 courses in F's first term.</p>
<p>F has been inforems by HR hat F will need to apply for an SSN upon arrival in the US, and F will only be able to start working once F receives an SSN by mail, which may take 3-4 weeks. F's department head says this is normal, all foreign hires go through the same process. He also says F is  expected to start teaching F's courses right away, even if F isn't officially working yet.</p>
<ol>
<li>Is this indeed the normal process/expectation for foreign hires? Also, is it even legal for the university to ask new hires to start working without putting them on the payroll?</li>
<li>Does F risk violating the terms of an H1B visa by &quot;working&quot; without being employed/paid?</li>
</ol>
<p>Entering the US before the term starts to apply for the SSN number earlier isn't really an option, as F can only legally enter at most 10 days before the starting date of F's visa.</p>
<p><em>(This was previously asked on academia.stackexchange, but it was suggested to cross-post this question here.)</em></p>

<p>Worth reading <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10107.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this document</a> (pdf) from the US Social Security Administration (SSA). It describes the rules for <strong>Foreign Workers and Social Security Numbers</strong> and on the second page states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Do I need to have my number before I  start working?</strong></p>
<p>We don’t require you to have a Social Security  number before you start work.
However, the Internal Revenue Service requires employers to use your Social
Security number to report your wages.</p>
<p>While you wait for your Social Security number, your employer can use
a letter from us stating you applied for a number, and your
immigration documents can prove your authorization to work in the
United States.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Obviously, you should confirm this approach with your employer.</p>
