H-1B Support Letter

The H-1B support letter is a critical piece of the H-1B petition, tying together all of the supporting documents and filling in the gaps that the other paperwork cannot clearly explain. Adjudicators at USCIS pay close attention to the support letter so it is crucial to accurately describe the position minimums and job duties as well as how the BU employee meets those requirements. The information in the letter must be consistent with the information presented in the Form A, H Supplement and the appointment letter.

The basic template outline here provides hiring units a place to start and your ISSO case manager will review and suggest revisions as appropriate to strengthen the petition. Please include a draft support letter when you submit your immigration processing request to the ISSO and we will work with you to finalize prior to submitting the petition to USCIS.

Overview of what to include:

General Formatting: All H-1B petitions should be on BU letterhead, dated and signed by the appropriate department representative (usually the Department Chair), whose name and title should appear with the signature. The letter should be 2-3 pages in length and should be addressed as follows:

Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
California Service Center
2642 Michelle Drive
Tustin CA 92780

Establish purpose

The opening sentence should mirror this one: I am writing this letter in support of Boston University’s H-1B petition for [Scholar Name] to serve as a [BU Appointment Title] in the [Department, Lab Center Name].

Provide background about Boston University, the school and the hiring department or center

  • Start with a few sentences to describe BU: Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and one of the largest independent universities in the United States. Founded in 1869, Boston University is a dynamic university with extraordinary teaching and groundbreaking research, enrolling over 37,000 students from all 50 states and 140 countries and employing more than 10,000 faculty, researchers and staff across seventeen schools and colleges.
  • Then add more details about your school and your particular department or center within the school. We recommend that you review your school and department/center website to find relevant language for the letter.

Description of the position offered and it’s requirements

  • Start by specifying the minimum job requirements, including the degree level and acceptable field or fields of study). Please refer to BU institutional minimums as per Academic Research Job Family Matrix (for research positions), the BU faculty handbook or Human Resources (for graded staff positions).  For example, this position requires a Ph.D. or equivalent in biostatistics/statistics or math.
  • Explain why that degree and specific fields are needed to perform the job.
  • Outline the essential job duties in detail:  This section should confirm the complexity of the position.  In addition to listing the day to day job duties in detail it should also confirm that the position minimums and duties align with institutional and industry minimums . If feasible, we recommend that you provide a breakdown of the essential duties by % effort.  For teaching and research position, please include, for example, specific courses taught, specific research projects and what they aim to achieve (ie. potential impact to a known problem, population, etc.).

Outline the applicant’s qualifications

  • State the highest related degree earned and the specific field of study
  • Name the specific skills, training/prior professional experience or licensure the employee has and how they meet the position requirements
  • It is important to find the right balance here – the letter is not meant to address the outstanding nature of the applicant, but only to explain how the person meets the minimum job requirements. Thus, while you want to include relevant details about the job and employee, you don’t want to ‘over sell’ the employee.

Closing statement

  • The closing statement can closely mirror this one: Based on [scholar name] credentials, we wish to employ [him/her] as a [BU Appointment Title]. We fully intend to comply with the terms and conditions of the Labor Condition Application for the duration of the authorized period of stay and understand that the department is liable for the reasonable cost of the employee’s return ticket home should the employee be dismissed prior to the expiration of the authorized period of stay. Thank you for your consideration.

Here are some examples for some more common appointments: