Communique – Volume 15, Number 2

April 2019

Summer Hiring & Travel Updates from the ISSO

As a world class research institute, we invite many researchers from the around the world for the summer to collaborate with our faculty and gain valuable research and or teaching experience. We know that many of you are already well into the summer planning process. We really appreciate your advance planning, but also recognize that some appointments come together more slowly so want to remind you of a few best practices as you consider your summer hiring.

Our summer hiring & travel update issue includes:

Hiring a Boston University Graduate or Graduate from Another U.S. University

While international students may be eligible to work on-campus during their program of study, the regulations governing employment eligibility change at the completion of the degree program. Graduating BU students MUST cease their student employment as per the strict guidelines set out by the BU Student Employment Office. In order for any recent graduate to commence employment all the following must occur:

  • The graduate MUST obtain the appropriate post-completion employment authorization (usually F-1 Optional Practical Training – OPT)
  • The position that you plan to hire the graduate into MUST be related to the program of study
  • The graduate MUST present the required documents for I-9 completion at the ISSO during our weekly walk-in hours within 3-days of the start of the BU employment

OPT applications are taking up to 5 months for processing at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Therefore, in some cases, the employment start date may be later in the summer than expected. If you plan to transition a BU graduate from ‘student employee’ to ’employee’, be prepared for a potential gap between the end of the student employment eligibility and the start of the new position in your department. If you are in discussions with potential graduates, please remind them to apply for their OPT right away.

It will be very important for departments to pay close attention to student employment deadlines for BU graduates as well as to the effective dates of the OPT authorization to insure that BU is in compliance with all employment regulations and that the new hires do not commence their BU employment without proper authorization. Adjustments to employment start dates in SAP may be necessary so please keep in touch with us if you are hiring recent graduate and consult with your ISSO Advisor to discuss other immigration options if necessary.

J-1 Sponsorship Requests

Please submit any J-1 sponsorship request packets to the ISSO at least 60-90 days in advance of the requested start date. Requests submitted with less lead-time may cause delays in the scholar’s arrival to BU and since summer appointments are typically for shorter periods, the only way to insure your scholar will be here for the desired timeframe is to get the request in early. Visa processing delays are more common during the summer since thousands of tourists and students are also applying for their U.S. visas.

In order to insure that the ISSO can process your J-1 request in the standard 10-day window, please note the following as you prepare the J-1 sponsorship packet:

  • All J-1 sponsorship requests require a BU academic appointment conferred by the Dean. Please review BU Human Resources’ Academic Research Job Family matrix to determine the appropriate BU title.
  • Many of our summer scholars come with independent funding sources. Please be sure to review the source and amount to insure that the J-1 funding minimums are met for the desired timeframe. More details about funding minimums and acceptable funding sources are available on the ISSO website.
  • Make sure that all of the required signatures are on the Form A and that the scholar has signed Form B
  • You can save a lot of time by letting us mail the paperwork directly to your scholar. Just include a pre-completed FedEx or DHL airbill in the request packet. Be sure that you have properly noted your scholar’s address and contact information prior to submitting the packet.

Restrictions in Employment Authorizations

Many immigration classifications that allow for employment in the U.S. are restrictive and employer specific. For example, the H-1B, O-1, TN classifications are limited to the terms requested in the petition to USCIS by the sponsoring employer. Therefore, please note that just because a prospective employee is in the U.S. in some capacity, it does not necessarily mean that they can be employed at BU. The ISSO cannot verify employment for prospective employees who do not present verification that they have authorization that specifically allows for the employment at BU. Please contact your ISSO Advisor with any questions about whether or not a prospective summer hire is employable.

Employment Verification at the ISSO

All summer hires must check-in with the ISSO within three days of commencing their employment in your department so that we can review their immigration documents and complete the Form I-9 employment verification. Please insure that your summer hires bring the following to one of the ISSO’s designated scholar walk-in hours:

  • BU appointment letter from hiring department/supervisor that includes the job title, department, name of host/supervisor, hours (if part-time), employment start and end date. If you are hiring someone into an Academic Research position, the letter must come from the Dean of you school.
  • Immigration documents
  • Employment eligibility documents

In addition, please be reminded that your summer scholars in J-1 status will need to attend the mandatory New J-1 Scholar Check-in and Orientation noted on our weekly schedule.

Summer Travel for New and Continuing BU Scholars

Travelers to the U.S. continue to experience increased visa processing delays at U.S. consulates around the world. Since many individuals are applying for U.S. visas to visit the U.S. in the summer months, it is typical that travelers experience some delays due to the increase of visa interview requests at consulates. However, this summer we anticipate scholars will also experience delays due to the increased scrutiny and security that consular officers are applying to all visa applicants.

Therefore, whether your scholar is applying for an initial visa to enter the U.S. for the first time or if your scholar is a continuing BU employee who traveling over the summer and applying for a new visa to return to BU, advanced planning is crucial. The number of visa applicants who are subject to ‘security clearances’ continues to increase, particularly for scholars from China who are being subjected to lengthy delays of several months. The ISSO will be sending out a summer travel advisory in the coming weeks, but we ask that host faculty and department contacts help spread the word about potential processing delays at U.S. consulates. Unfortunately, once the security clearance is started, there is little to do except to wait out the process. Please remind any of your international scholars to speak with the ISSO prior to international travel and to pay attention to the ISSO website for travel updates.

Thank you for your continued support of the ISSO!