...

Sponsoring faculty for permanent residency

See Texas Global: Lawful Permanent Residency (LPR) Procedures.

Permanent Residence is a classification that allows a foreign national to remain indefinitely in the United States with legal, unrestricted work authorization. Only full-time employment of indefinite duration meets the legal criteria for lawful permanent residence. Part-time employment and employment with a fixed duration does not qualify for permanent residence. In most cases, the university will pursue permanent residence for a foreign national through the classification of an "outstanding professor/researcher" or, in the case of tenure-track teaching faculty positions, through “special handling” of the labor certification application. In order to take advantage of the streamlined special handling process, the application must be submitted within 18 months of the offer of employment. Sponsoring departments must initiate this process with ISSS early enough to allow for the preparation of the application. Depending on the strategy implemented, it takes an average of 24-26 months from initiation to obtain permanent residency.

It is recommended that the scholar maintain their underlying H-1B status until permanent residency has been approved and their "Green Card" is in hand.

Once permanent residency is approved, the scholar has employment flexibility, and does not require employer sponsorship to work.

PERM Special Handling for university teachers

...