{"id":11288,"date":"2019-04-08T09:48:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T13:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/?page_id=11288"},"modified":"2020-12-10T14:36:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T19:36:17","slug":"communique-volume-15-number-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/administrators\/forms\/communique\/communique-volume-15-number-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Communique &#8211; Volume 15, Number 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>April\u00a02019<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Summer Hiring &amp; Travel Updates from the ISSO<\/h3>\n<p>As a world class research institute, we invite many researchers from the around the world\u00a0for 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.<\/p>\n<p>Our summer hiring &amp; travel update\u00a0issue includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#hiring\">Hiring a Boston University Graduate or Graduate from Another U.S. University<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#sponsorship\">J-1 Sponsorship Requests<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#restrictions\">Restrictions in Employment Authorizations<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#employment\">Employment Verification at the\u00a0ISSO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#travel\">Summer Travel for New and Continuing BU Scholars<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"hiring\"><strong>Hiring a Boston University Graduate or Graduate from Another U.S. University<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/seo\/\">BU<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/seo\/\"> Student Employment Office<\/a>. In order for\u00a0any recent\u00a0graduate to commence employment all the following must occur:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0graduate MUST obtain the appropriate post-completion employment authorization (usually F-1 Optional Practical Training &#8211; OPT)<\/li>\n<li>The position that you plan to hire the\u00a0graduate into MUST be related to the\u00a0program of study<\/li>\n<li>The graduate MUST present the required documents for I-9 completion at the ISSO during our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/administrators\/calendar\/\">weekly walk-in hours<\/a> within 3-days of the start of the BU employment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>OPT\u00a0applications are taking up to 5 months for processing at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Therefore, in some cases,\u00a0the employment start date may be later in the summer than expected.\u00a0If you plan to transition a BU graduate from &#8216;student employee&#8217; to &#8217;employee&#8217;, be prepared for\u00a0a potential\u00a0gap\u00a0between 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0new 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\u00a0and consult with\u00a0your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/contact\/scholar-advising\/\">ISSO Advisor<\/a>\u00a0to discuss other immigration options if necessary.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"sponsorship\"><strong>J-1 Sponsorship Requests<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Please submit any J-1 sponsorship request packets\u00a0to the ISSO at least 60-90 days in advance of the\u00a0requested start\u00a0date.\u00a0Requests submitted with less lead-time may\u00a0cause delays in the\u00a0scholar&#8217;s arrival to\u00a0BU and since summer appointments are typically for shorter periods,\u00a0the only way to\u00a0insure 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.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/administrators\/checklist\/\">J-1 sponsorship packet:<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All J-1 sponsorship requests require a <strong>BU academic appointment<\/strong> conferred by the Dean. Please review BU Human Resources&#8217; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hr\/manager-resources\/compensation\/academic-research-job-family\/\">Academic Research Job Family<\/a> matrix to determine the appropriate BU title.<\/li>\n<li>Many of our summer scholars come with independent funding sources. Please be sure to <strong>review the source and amount to insure that the J-1 funding minimums are met for the desired timeframe<\/strong>. More details about funding minimums and acceptable funding sources\u00a0are available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/administrators\/checklist\/j1\/minimum-funding\/\">ISSO website.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Make sure that all of the <strong>required signatures<\/strong> are on the Form A and that the scholar has signed Form B<\/li>\n<li>You can save a lot of time by letting us mail the paperwork directly to your scholar. Just include a <strong>pre-completed FedEx or DHL airbill<\/strong> in the request packet. Be sure that you have properly noted your scholar&#8217;s address and contact information prior to submitting the packet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"restrictions\"><strong>Restrictions in Employment Authorizations<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>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.\u00a0Therefore, 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/contact\/scholar-advising\/\">ISSO Advisor<\/a> with any questions about whether or not a prospective summer hire is employable.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"employment\"><strong>Employment Verification at the\u00a0ISSO<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><\/strong>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.\u00a0Please insure that your\u00a0summer hires\u00a0bring the following to\u00a0one of the ISSO&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/administrators\/calendar\/\">designated scholar walk-in hours<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>Immigration documents<\/li>\n<li>Employment eligibility documents<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition, please be reminded that your summer scholars in J-1 status will need to attend the mandatory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/administrators\/calendar\/\">New J-1 Scholar Check-in and Orientation<\/a> noted on our weekly schedule.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"travel\">Summer Travel for New and Continuing BU Scholars<\/h3>\n<p>Travelers to the U.S. continue to experience increased visa processing delays at U.S. consulates around the world.\u00a0Since many individuals are applying for U.S. visas to visit the U.S. in the summer months, it is typical\u00a0that travelers experience some delays due to\u00a0the increase of visa interview requests at consulates.\u00a0However, this\u00a0summer we anticipate\u00a0scholars will also experience delays due to\u00a0the increased scrutiny and security that consular officers are applying to all visa applicants.<\/p>\n<p>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.\u00a0The number of visa applicants who are subject to &#8216;security clearances&#8217; 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\u00a0host faculty and\u00a0department 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/news\/\">ISSO website<\/a> for travel updates.<\/p>\n<h3>Thank you for your continued support of the ISSO!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April\u00a02019 Summer Hiring &amp; Travel Updates from the ISSO As a world class research institute, we invite many researchers from the around the world\u00a0for 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7561,"featured_media":0,"parent":195,"menu_order":33,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7561"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11288"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11337,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11288\/revisions\/11337"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}