Personally I would not take that position but there is no definitive answer to this question so I am voting to close as depends on individual factors.

Please don't close it. I really need to understand from people with more experience if this is usual and what could be done and would appreciate opinions.

I took the liberty of adding the covid-19 tag, because I have the impression (I'm in the US at an R1) that the craziness and uncertainty and unclear messages from high admin and HR make such things much much worse than any other time I've seen. E.g., people and institutions who might be reasonably decent in "normal" times may do nasty things when stressed... I know this doesn't answer your question, hence just a comment...

@carros unfortunately the stack exchange format is better suited to questions with a specific answer rather than gathering opinions. You could visit the chat room to have a more informal discussion. Five votes are needed to close a question so yours will stay open unless four others agree that it's off topic. You may get some other useful comments before that happens (if it does), so don't worry!

This seems like a legitimate question - especially because of covid many other postdocs and academics might be affected too. I don't understand the insistence on closing - it is of public interest.

One thing is unclear: do you have a scholarship / are you bringing your own money, or is that also a misunderstanding?

I do have a scholarship

Why do you want to apply to that junk place when there are so many good places? Contrarily to the answer that you have, this simply shows a very rude and racist approach, quite clearly exactly the opposite of "the result of laws that must be followed".

Because I really love the research and everyone coming out of the lab has been very successful. Though I agree - why do you think racist? Also agree that their interpretation of the law is very different than what I knew e.g. from Stanford

If possible I would talk to other postdocs, especially international ones, to get a sense of whether the bureaucracy at this place is as awful as it seems, and whether the PI is as bad at dealing with it as he seems. If there aren't other postdocs in this group, talk to postdocs in other groups (which all postdoc candidates should do anyway).

I actually talked to them at the beginning (before the admin part). I remembered then one telling me that the PI is a great scientist but terrible with admin. But this seems to me almost iloyal/intransparent behavior, not only being disorganized.

I'm confused by your question description - "I applied for a postdoc" and then in the comments you confirm that you actually bring a scholarship. I'm just guessing, but if you present your situation to their staff in a similar way, the problem could be communication-related with you having a part in it.

No, it was clear that I bring my scholarship from the beginning. Still I had to apply.

@JohnB Racist? Where was race mentioned anywhere?

It sounds to me as though there may be some confusion/misunderstanding between the parties as to what the OP's employment situation is/should be. AFAIK, the usual procedure is for grants/fellowships to be paid to the institution and they then employ the postdoc. Here, the OP appears to receive their money without the institution being involved: it is unclear if the institution gets any financial benefit from the arrangement. If that is the case, I think it is entirely unsurprising that the institution does not want to offer more than office/lab space.

Hey Avid, in short: No. That seems to be misinformed. I was also at Stanford on a fellowship, I was treated like a regular employe with all the benefits and certainly did not receive this kind of treatment.

@user76284 You are right: xenophobia, not racism.

@carros That may be so, but I don't think it necessarily precludes confusion. If I want to go and spend a sabbatical at another institution I can often either (i) apply for an official 'visiting' position, which conveys certain benefits similar to employment, or (ii) email a friend there and ask if they can find me a desk for a few months. Both are valid, but they are not the same thing -- if I do (ii) and expect (i), people will be confused.

I did not do (ii) so I am not sure what you are referring to. I applied for a standard postdoc, and the PI also mentioned he does not understand why the admin is not following up with that as he has other postdocs, also with scholarships, as standard employes. So.

@JohnB You mean because the OP came from Stanford? Or perhaps engineers being cautious of someone coming from a....Chemistry department?

@carros The implication wasn't that was what you did. It was an example of how there can be communication issues even if one person thinks everything is clear. In fact, the ease with which you dismiss the possibility of miscommunication is - to me - a sign that there is definitely a possibility of miscommunication.

I mean because it is obvious. Anyways I've been there in the same situation. You are complicating what is trivial.

@JohnB You are actually right and there have been hints into that direction. I left those out to not complicate things. For instance, they have seen me talk in english and I could give them a language certificate, but they want my previous supervisor confirming that my english is good enough. Also the rules on collaborations are only for visa holders etc.

@user76284 Since OP didn't mention anything of the sort that's indeed speculation. But, to me as well, the seemingly irrational hostility sounds like it would most likely be explained by something like racism or other forms of prejudice.

@KonradRudolph I actually remembered something my PI said at the end of our interview. He said (asking indirectly about my nationality): "So you have a german visa?" I said "yes I am german". He said "ok then there should not be any visa issues". Also, the university is in Texas..don't want to generalize, but maybe still worth knowing.