Graduate student workers across the University of California system are seeking the creation of a dedicated legal fund to assist international employees with visa-related challenges.
The proposal comes from United Auto Workers Local 4811, the union representing roughly 48,000 teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars, and researchers across UC campuses, including about 15,000 at UC Berkeley. Union leaders say the request reflects growing anxiety among international scholars as the Trump administration tightens immigration and visa policies affecting students and researchers.
According to the union, nearly two in five of its members are foreign nationals, making immigration stability a central workplace issue rather than a peripheral concern.
“One 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,” said Tanzil Chowdhury, a UC Berkeley doctoral student in materials science and engineering who leads the union’s bargaining committee for teaching assistants and graduate researchers.
Contract talks between the union and the university have stretched on for months, with the current agreement set to expire on Jan. 31. Separate contracts covering non student researchers are not due to lapse until next year.
Chowdhury said the focus on international student workers intensified after union members observed what they described as escalating pressure on foreign researchers throughout 2025. Alongside a proposed $750,000 legal assistance fund, the union is seeking commitments from the university to continue paying researchers who are temporarily unable to reenter the United States because of visa complications and to reimburse visa related expenses.
“The University values the contributions of its international student employees and continues to engage in good faith with UAW to bargain a successor contract,” UC spokesperson Heather Hansen said in an email, according to AP’s report.
The sense of vulnerability among international students is not theoretical. Earlier this spring, UC Berkeley students were alarmed when the federal government abruptly revoked 23 visas held by current students and recent graduates, only to restore them weeks later. Nationally, the administration has detained and sought to deport some pro-Palestinian international students who were legally in the country, mandated that visa applicants make their social media accounts public for government review of perceived “hostility,” and floated proposals to cap student visas at four years regardless of degree length.
“I have lived in the U.S. for about four years now, and I’ve never felt at risk until this year,” said Rahoul Banerjee Ghosh, a graduate student researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Originally from India, Banerjee Ghosh said coming to Berkeley felt like entering “the bastion of scientific enterprise,” where their work centers on developing materials for energy storage, transport, and generation. This semester, they are slated to teach introductory chemistry to first year UC Berkeley students.
Despite that enthusiasm, Banerjee Ghosh said daily uncertainty now shadows academic life. International students worry about losing legal status while in the United States or being denied reentry after traveling abroad. Banerjee Ghosh has already skipped conferences in Europe out of fear that renewing a visa later this year could lead to delays or denial, potentially leaving them stranded overseas without a passport.
“Appointments are canceled and rules are changing every day,” Banerjee Ghosh said. “It’s an ever-present thought: Will I be able to continue my degree, continue the life I’ve built here?”
Hansen said international student workers can currently receive referrals to legal services through their campus international student offices.
At Berkeley, however, those offices are under strain. Former Chancellor Carol Christ directed roughly $700,000 annually from student service fees to the Berkeley International Office for visa advising and support over a five-year period, but that funding is scheduled to end after the current academic year. At the same time, advisors are spending more time tracking rapid shifts in federal immigration policy, said Rayne Xue, a student government senator who advocates for international students.
“The advisors are definitely spending more time tracking federal legislation and policy updates,” Xue said. “They’re supporting and helping out with more students that are more frustrated than ever before.”
While uncommon, the union’s demands are not without precedent. In 2024, Johns Hopkins University agreed to a contract granting international teaching assistants up to two weeks of paid leave to travel for visa renewals and established a fund to help cover visa costs.
The broader national picture remains uncertain. The Institute for International Education reported a 17% drop in new international student enrollment at U.S. colleges between 2024 and 2025. UC Berkeley’s official fall enrollment figures have not yet been released, though the Daily Cal reported an increase this year in the number of international students submitting intent to register forms, suggesting Berkeley may defy the national decline.
Systemwide, the University of California already spends about $3 million annually on immigrant legal services through its Immigrant Legal Services Center. UC Berkeley also operates a separate program with the East Bay Community Law Center that primarily assists students without legal authorization to remain in the country.
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In ongoing negotiations, the union and the university have tentatively agreed on some protections. Administrators would be barred from disclosing an employee’s immigration status without consent unless presented with a warrant or subpoena, and the university would notify the union if federal immigration agents appear on campus.
