Sponsoring faculty for permanent residencyPermanent 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. For new tenure-track or tenured international faculty members need a long-term visa solution, Texas Global strongly recommends departments consider the special route to U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident status called PERM Special Handling for university teachers (PERM SH). Please note that there is an an INLINE18-month filing deadline from the date of the offer letterin order to benefit from PERM Special Handling. PERM SH should be initiated using myIO no later than 8 months from the date of the offer letter. See more at Texas Global: Sponsoring Faculty and Staff for Permanent Residency. National Professional Journal ad requirement for international hiresThe U.S. Department of Labor requires that employers sponsoring non-U.S. citizens for permanent residency (via the EB-2 Advanced Degree Professionals category of I-140 Petitions) have posted at least one ad (print or online) in a national, professional journal for at least 30 calendar days. Departments should keep this in mind if international candidates will be considered for hire. Documentation of start and end dates of the ad, as well as the text of the ad, will be required for permanent residency applications. For more information, see Texas Global: Hiring International Employees. |