An H-1B visa is a temporary visa. To avoid problems and confusion, departments wishing to hire faculty and staff on an H-1B should contact the Employment Equity & Faculty Recruitment Office before making an offer.
The following requirements must be met in order to submit an H-1B visa petition:
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The position must require at least a bachelor’s degree. If the degree is from another country, it must comparable to a U.S. bachelor's degree or higher.
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The person who is selected for the position must have a degree related to the position. For example, someone with a degree in sociology cannot be hired for a computer science position even though that person may have substantial work experience in computer science.
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The proposed salary must be within 95% of the prevailing wage for similar positions in this geographic area.
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If the person selected for the position currently holds a J-1 or J-2 visa and is subject to section 212(e), this person cannot begin employment on an H-1B visa until he/she has received a waiver of section 212(e) from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.
Foreign faculty and staff can hold an H-1B visa for up to 6 years. H-1B status can be requested in increments up to 3 years. Departments who wish to hire foreign faculty and staff for more than 3 years must request an H-1B visa extension before the end of the 3rd year.
H-1B petitions are not always approved and hiring departments must be prepared for this. The applicant's education must match the position. The department may be required to prove that the industry standard requirement for the position is a Bachelor's degree, and, if other people in the same department have the same or similar position, must be prepared to show that the people in those positions also have a Bachelor's degree.
At this time, Cal Poly will not file H-1B visa petitions for part-time lecturer positions.
Departments wishing to hire faculty on an H-1B visa may provide the following form to the non-citizen employee. This form should completed and submitted to the Employment Equity & Faculty Recruitment Office, along with all the required documents: H-1B Applicant Information Form.
The H-1B petition requires a fee of $190. Effective March 8, 2005 a new $500 "anti-fraud" fee for initial petitions is also required. The department is responsible for these fees and must be paid with seperate checks. The supporting document required to submit a check request is included at the end of the "Department H-1B Request Form" above. Further information regarding H-1B petition fees.
Be aware that an H-1B petition can take 3 or more months to process. However, the USCIS offers a "Premium Processing" service which, for an additional fee of $1000, the H-1B petition will be reviewed within 10 working days. Contact the Employment Equity & Faculty Recruitment Office if you are interested in this service.
PLEASE NOTE: IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO RENEW AN H-1B VISA STAMP IN YOUR PASSPORT IN THE U.S. ALL H-1B VISAS, INCLUDING RENEWALS, MUST BE OBTAINED AT A U.S. EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.
