How can an International Student make money in the US?

Well…. if you can somehow do work from under your home country address over the internet, and have the money banked or put in a Pay Pal account that is registered in your home country and pay taxes there…. that might work. But there might be residency rules, depending on how long you’ve been away in the US? not sure….but that would be the greyest thing I can come up with.

Otherwise, if you earn money with a job there in the US, it would be illegal. You need a work permit, if not a social security number to work in the US. To accept cash for work would be black market labour.

You could look into getting a summer job at an amusement park. I worked at Cedar Point (http://www.cedarpoint.com/) for a summer and there are a lot of international students who work there. They let you live at Cedar Point so no worries on traveling to work. I know for sure that Cedar Point sets you up with a Social Security Number.

I also know that Disney does student internships at their parks. disney.go.com/disneycareers/wdwcareers/

Talk to the financial aid department in your school. They might have or know of work for you.

you can apply for a student work visa…

“The United States government does not extend college funding to students from foreign countries. Likewise, immigration and travel restrictions can make it impossible to qualify for employment during your stay in the U.S.

Therefore, you must plan ahead and find resourceful ways to locate scholarships and sponsorships that can help you study abroad. Most students who successfully locate financial aid for an American degree program find it from one of three sources:

* They identify a generous, private sponsor.
* They earn funding from an international scholarship program.
* They secure financial aid within their home country by participating in a locally based foreign exchange program.”

Source

You can try in a gas-oil station or maybe you distribute newspapers , or cooking fro your friends

I once knew a couple of foreign students who were good at marketing. They managed to arrange for a shipment of cars {Mercedes I think] from Germany to US. and collected some kind of commission as middle men. I have no idea how they did it—one was a German art student and the other student was an Indonesian prince. Maybe that’s how.

More practically, things over the internet, because of the internationality of it [as others have suggested and as you yourself suggested in your eBay question] or things that are cash payments [art modeling, dog walking, line placeholder standing, quick 1-day craigslist jobs, translating for an individual] may be good bets.

If you are in DC or maybe NY you could get a small job with your embassy or some UN thing that is not considered “American” employment.

You can work as in-home personal assistants for handicapped or elderly, on an “under-the-table” basis, or apply for a work visa and do it legit.

Look at the Babylon website. One of the services is human translation. Maybe they could employ you [I am assuming that you speak more than one language].

I became a teaching assistant in graduate school. There are also research assistantships.