Procedures for Faculty and Staff Recruiting and Hiring Guidelines for International Hires

Any hiring department that seeks to offer immigration sponsorship must adhere to the following procedures:

Important Time Deadline

If an international candidate may potentially be hired for a position, please keep in mind that work authorization steps can take a significant amount of time. To allow for adequate timing, any international candidate's hiring should be completed, which includes a signed accepted letter, no later than March 1st for work commencing August 16th (i.e., at the beginning of a new academic year). This timing allows for the appropriate immigration sponsorship paperwork to be completed promptly following that hiring.

Pre-search Requirement

If it is determined that immigration sponsorship will be supported, a pre-search meeting must be done with the relevant parties and offices to appropriately review and satisfy the necessary regulatory and University pre-requisites for immigration sponsorship. The appropriate offices to include in any review and/or pre-search meeting depend on whether it is a faculty or staff position.

Interview Phase Requirements

Hiring departments may ask applicants to disclose their employment eligibility to determine if the applicant satisfies the immigration requirements. Questions asking whether they are eligible to work in the United States, and most importantly, for how long, are the only questions permitted with respect to immigration status.

Recommendation-for-hire Phase

If the hiring department’s employment recommendation is an international candidate, the department must notify the appropriate offices, OLA and the Office of the Provost and/or the Office of Human Resources (depending on whether faculty or staff position), to discuss next steps. OLA can only begin to assist once it has received all of the appropriate approvals by the relevant parties.

Contingent Hire Phase

For faculty hires, the hiring letter must be approved by the Dean and Associate Provost for Faculty and Administrative Affairs or the Director of Faculty Processes and Hiring. For staff hires, the hiring letter must be approved by the Office for Human Resources. The hiring letter must indicate that employment is contingent upon successful results of a background check and securing eligibility to work in the United States. All communication between the candidate and the University must be directed through the hiring department.

Post-Acceptance Phase

When the international candidate accepts the position, the acceptance letter should be sent to the department chair and forwarded to the Office of the Provost for faculty hires or the Office for Human Resources for staff hires. Once the offer has been accepted, the department chair can specifically ask about the status of the employee and consult with OLA concerning next steps. If sponsorship is needed for faculty, approval must be granted by the division dean and Provost.   

This page last updated on September 7, 2023.