Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Leadership and Policies

First Advisor

Christina W. Yao

Abstract

The F-2 dependent visa in the United States is for spouses and children who accompany a F-1 international student during their studies. One of the defining characteristics of the F-2 visa is that the holder is prohibited from holding any kind of employment. Limited demographic data indicate that the majority of F-2 visa holders are women accompanying their husbands. Many of these women hold advanced degrees and were employed in their home countries prior to relocating to support their husband’s academic pursuits. As a result of the visa restrictions, international student wives typically stay at home while their husbands work on their degrees and generate the couple’s sole income through their student stipends, regardless of the women’s goals, credentials, or skills. This dynamic is not an unfortunate coincidence but rather the outcome of an immigration policy structure that systematically reinforces gendered economic dependency.

This critical feminist narrative study explored the following research questions: 1) How do wives of international students make meaning of their status as a dependent in the United States? and 1a) How do wives of international students make sense of the gender dynamics within their daily lives as a result of their F-2 student visa in the United States? Grounded in critical feminist theory, this study centers women’s lived experiences to examine how structural constraints shape identity, agency, and power within families.

Nine participants took part in this critical feminist narrative study and there were four main findings from their stories. First, participants understood and negotiated their role as a dependent in various ways. Second, visa restrictions shaped gender dynamics within participants’ households, resulting in extensive unpaid labor framed as “support” for their husbands’ academic success. Third, participants expressed concern about the interruption to their professional lives and questioned how this multi-year gap may influence their ability to work again in the future. Lastly, participants described a paradox of experiencing independence in their everyday life yet overwhelmingly identifying as dependent due to their restricted agency and decision-making power.

This study highlights how the F-2 visa functions as a gendered policy structure that reorganizes power, constrains agency, and renders women’s labor invisible within international higher education.

Rights

© 2026, Katherine Jane Hopkins

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