Interested in hosting or hiring a foreign scholar?
To invite an international person for a temporary research or teaching program as an exchange visitor (J-1 Visa), please contact Stephanie Gonzalez at 438-5112. To hire an international person as a long-term employee (H-1B Visa), please contact Michael Schmelzle at 438-7901. If you are unsure about how to invite your candidate, you may contact Michael or Stephanie for guidance.
In the mainstream, we tend to think of students and scholars as being the same thing: they are people who are engaged in academic pursuits. However, in the Immigration world, a student is very different from a scholar. They have completely different objectives and pursue different activities while in the U.S.
An international STUDENT is someone who is admitted and enrolled full-time at an American university and is either pursuing a degree or is attending one or more semesters as an exchange student. An international SCHOLAR is not a student. He or or she is engaged full-time in a specially- designed research or teaching program at an institution in the U.S. and is not enrolled or taking classes.
Honoraria and travel expense reimbursements affect scholars differently, depending on their visa type.
TOURISTS: Non-resident aliens who enter the United States as tourists with one of the following visa statuses are eligible to receive payments of honoraria and travel reimbursements: B-1 Visitor for business, B-2 Visitor for tourism, WB Business visitor visa waiver, and WT Tourist visitor visa waiver. Payments may be made only in the following circumstances:
EXCHANGE VISITORS: If your exchange scholar will receive payments or reimbursements, or is invited to consult at another location where some kind of remuneration will be provided (free lodging, free car rental, free meals, etc.), please contact Stephanie Gonzalez in International Studies. She will need to assist you with an important Immigration process that needs to happen before the visitor engages in this activity.
If an employing department and an international faculty member are interested in keeping the option open for employment beyond the 6 years available with H-1B status, Labor Certification (which is the most common first step in the Permanent Residency or Green Card process for faculty) must be filed within 18 months of the job offer.
The most common method of gaining Permanent Residency for faculty at Illinois State generally consists of 3 steps. Individuals must contact an immigration lawyer to work with the Human Resources Office and their employing department at Illinois State on completing the steps.
For more information, please contact Michael Schmelzle at (309) 438-7901.
There are many visa types that international visitors may use to enter the United States. Each visa type has a different purpose. For instance, there are visas for students, workers, asylees, etc. Which visa type is most appropriate for your visitors depends on what they will do while at ISU and their qualifications at home. Please contact the International Studies Office for guidance.
Everyone who starts a new job in the United States (including international visitors and American citizens) must complete a "Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification" for his/her employer to keep on file. All student and scholar I-9 forms are to be completed by the employer (University Central Hiring office or academic department).
The U.S. Department of State requires that all J-1 scholars and their J-2 dependents have specific terms of health insurance for the entire time they are in the U.S. This is an important Immigration law. A summary of the DOS minimum insurance requirements appears below:
Health insurance for international visitors is generally very expensive. At ISU, some departments pay for this insurance on behalf of their scholars, others do not. As an example, the cost of insurance for a J-1 scholar and spouse is about $450 per month. The hosting ISU department and scholar candidate should discuss this expense when you are in initial planning stages. The cost of health insurance may influence whether visitors (and family) can afford to come.
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