![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/large-NOV-14_University-of-California-Academic-WorkersStrike-1-1200x900.jpg\")
UC Berkeley academic employees rally on Sproul Plaza on Nov. 14, 2022. The union is currently negotiating a new contract for teaching assistants and graduate student researchers. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\nUC Berkeley academic employees rally on Sproul Plaza on Nov. 14, 2022. The union is currently negotiating a new contract for teaching assistants and graduate student researchers. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n
Graduate student workers are making an unusual request in their contract negotiations with the University of California: a legal fund to help them navigate visa issues.<\/p>\n
The ask from United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 teaching assistants, postdocs and researchers at UC Berkeley and other UC campuses \u2014 including 15,000 at UC Berkeley \u2014 comes amid increasing uncertainty for international students about their future in the United States as the Trump administration ramps up restrictions on immigrants and foreign visitors.<\/p>\n
About 40% of the union\u2019s members come from other countries, according to its leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that has allowed the University of California to be a world leader in education and research is the fact that we welcome people from all over the world,\u201d said Tanzil Chowdhury, a UC Berkeley Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering who chairs the committee negotiating on behalf of teaching assistants and graduate student researchers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been negotiating with the university for months over a new contract; the current one expires Jan. 31. Separate contracts for non-student researchers expire next year.<\/p>\n
Chowdhury said union members decided to make support for international student-workers a priority after witnessing \u201ca lot of attacks on international researchers\u201d in 2025. In addition to the $750,000 legal fund, they\u2019re asking the university to continue paying researchers who are temporarily stranded outside the U.S. due to visa issues, and reimburse them for visa-related fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe University values the contributions of its international student employees and continues to engage in good faith with UAW to bargain a successor contract,\u201d UC spokesperson Heather Hansen said in an email.<\/p>\n
This spring, UC Berkeley international students panicked<\/a> when the Trump administration abruptly canceled 23 visas for students and recent graduates of the university, before reinstating<\/a> them weeks later. Nationwide, the administration has arrested and tried to deport pro-Palestinian international students<\/a> who were legally present in the U.S., required visa applicants to make their social media profiles public<\/a> so the State Department can review them for \u201chostility\u201d to the country, and proposed limiting students\u2019 visa terms to four years<\/a> rather than the time it takes to earn their degrees.<\/p>\n \u201cI have lived in the U.S. for about four years now, and I\u2019ve never felt at risk until this year,\u201d said Rahoul Banerjee Ghosh, a graduate student researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.<\/p>\n Ghosh, who is from India, said they were thrilled to study in Berkeley, \u201cthe bastion of scientific enterprise,\u201d where their research focuses on new materials for storing, transporting and generating energy. They\u2019re scheduled to teach introductory chemistry to first-year UC Berkeley students this semester.<\/p>\n But Ghosh said they and other international students are increasingly worried about either losing their immigration status while in the U.S. or not being able to return to the country after trips abroad. Ghosh has missed opportunities to travel to conferences in Europe with their colleagues, and fears that if they try to renew their visa when it expires later this year, it could be delayed or rejected, leaving them stuck outside the U.S. without their passport.<\/p>\n \u201cAppointments are canceled and rules are changing every day,\u201d Ghosh said. \u201cIt\u2019s an ever-present thought: Will I be able to continue my degree, continue the life I\u2019ve built here?\u201d<\/p>\n Funding challenges on horizon for Berkeley International Office<\/p>\n International student workers can get referrals to legal services from their campus\u2019s international student office, Hansen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the Berkeley International Office faces its own budget challenges: Former Chancellor Carol Christ allocated about $700,000 per year in student service fees to the office \u2014 which provides visa assistance and advising \u2014 over a five-year period, but that money is set to expire after this school year. Meanwhile, the office\u2019s advisors have been working harder as they race to keep up with changes in federal policy, said Rayne Xue, a student government senator who advocates for international students.<\/p>\n \u201cThe advisors are definitely spending more time tracking federal legislation and policy updates,\u201d Xue said. \u201cThey\u2019re supporting and helping out with more students that are more frustrated than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n The demand for support for international employees is unusual in higher education labor negotiations, but not unprecedented. Johns Hopkins University signed a contract<\/a> with its teaching assistants in 2024 that gives international employees up to two weeks\u2019 paid time off if they need to leave the country to renew their visas. The university also set up an international employee fund to which workers can apply for help covering visa fees.<\/p>\n The Institute for International Education reported a 17% decline<\/a> in new international students enrolling at U.S. colleges between 2024 and 2025. Official fall enrollment numbers for UC Berkeley, which in the past has enrolled more international students than any other UC campus, have yet to be released. But the Daily Cal reported<\/a> that the number of international students submitting paperwork saying they intended to register grew this year, an early sign that UC Berkeley could buck the nationwide trend.<\/p>\n The University of California also spends about $3 million per year on legal services for undocumented and other immigrant students through its Immigrant Legal Services Center. A separate UC Berkeley program in partnership with the East Bay Community Law Center serves primarily undocumented students.<\/p>\n Union members and the university have already tentatively agreed that administrators won\u2019t disclose an employee\u2019s immigration status without their permission unless they\u2019ve received a warrant or subpoena, and that the university will notify the union if federal immigration agents are on campus.<\/p>\n