F1 international student, non-residency alien. Filling my tax return for the 1st time. Currently, I am not on OPT but SSR program instead. Can I still issue a refund for FICA?
I got my work permit (EAD) last year because of the economic hardship in my home country. I know that F1 students are not required to pay FICA for being a non-residency alien. However, in my case, since I used a work permit under the SSR program, which meant that USCIS allows me to work anywhere (off-campus) without having to limit the job to my field of study (Business), so I decided to work in a restaurant industry as a server & assistant manger. In this situation, am I still eligible for a FICA refund without complelety working/having to work in a related field like OPT while meeting a non-residency alien and maintaitning F1 requirement at the same time? If not, what would be the options for me to do?