Visa Information

Overview & Contact Info 

UCSC International Faculty & Scholar Services (IFSS)

Scholar-related questions (faculty, staff, and researchers on a J-1 visa) - ischolar@ucsc.edu 

Resource:    https://ifss.ucsc.edu/departments/

J-1 Visa: Typically, non-U.S citizen, non-faculty research appointments come in on a J-1 Visa. In order for an international citizen to receive a wage – they must be on a visa that allows employment. (Reserved for Postdocs and visiting researchers) 

H1–B Visa: H1-B visas are reserved for tenure-track faculty members and all other researchers. Unless an exception applies, Postdoctoral Employees must come in J-1 Status. For information on the exceptions please see the Postdoctoral Employee Exception Form. 

Timing: minimum 

J1 Visa – 3 months 

H1B Visa – 6 months 

Costs to be covered by faculty

J1: Initial requests will incur a charge of $650. Extension requests will incur a charge of $500.  Paid via FOAPAL via IGlobal

H1-B :  Initial request - $5,830, extension - $2,460 ($2,500 paid via FOAPAL via IGlobal, remaining via Direct Pay to US Dept of Homeland Security)

IGlobal

iGlobal is a secure online portal for the management of international students, scholars, and employee information. Departments and divisions must submit a complete electronic J1 and H-1B application packets through iGlobal. This starts the process with UCSC International Faculty & Scholar Services (IFSS)

What is a DS 2019? 

When a candidate applies for a J1 Visa at the U.S. Embassy in their country– they need to have a DS 2019 issued to them from UCSC. The internal request form(s) and required materials you will submit to the International Scholar Office - who in turn generates the DS 2019 to be sent to the candidate. 

List of Visa Categories

B1/B2 and WB/WT

B1 Business Visa : appropriate for a visitor who plans to engage in business consultations, independent research or other professional activities. It is used most frequently for those attending professional conferences, conventions, or symposia. These must all be short-term, non-salaried academic activities.

• An individual coming for a conference or seminar;

• An individual coming for an interview;

• An individual coming to negotiate a contract;

• An individual coming to participate in a short-term training program (excluding internships or activities that provide students with credits, benefit their program of study in any way or are a requirement by their home institution);

• A scholar who will spend his/her leave at UCSC conducting independent research (no direct benefit to UCSC), and will receive no payment from UCSC)

• A scholar invited to give a talk or colloquium

If the university is benefiting from the visit, if equipment and facilities used are owned or operated by the university, the contents of the visit and/or research activity undertaken might result in the form of published work, patent or discovery at a later date, and/or the visitor is involved in a formally structured program, use of B1/B2/WB/WT visa will contradict U.S. Department of State guidelines. In such cases a J-1 visa would be the appropriate visa status. (see more info below)

See the example of host invite letter below.

B2: appropriate for foreign nationals coming to the U.S. for tourism or for medical treatments. 

B-2 visitor visas are nonimmigrant visas for persons traveling to United States temporarily for tourism, pleasure or visiting.

        Under certain conditions, people holding these types of status may be paid by a U.S. institution or a nonprofit or governmental organization, honoraria and associated incidental expenses for "usual academic activity." Please check with your host department before choosing the B or Visa Waiver Program to be sure you are eligible to be paid or reimbursed.

WB/WT: “waiver business”/“waiver tourist”. Appropriate for travelers coming to the U.S. for tourism or business for 90 days or less from qualified countries may be eligible to visit the U.S. without a visa if they meet the visa waiver program requirements

-        the visitor may not be paid, and they will not have a formal appointment at the university.

Sample invite letter

(print on department letter head)

Date

U.S. CONSULATE

U.S. PORT OF ENTRY

RE: Request for B-1/W-B status for first name LAST NAME

`

To Whom It May Concern:

This is to certify that visitor’s name, a student/professor (etc.) of school name/company name, country name, will be visiting the Department of (dept. name) at the University of California, Santa Cruz to (state the purpose of visit here: short-term training program/independent research/conference or seminar attendance/interview) for the period of (month/day/year to month/day/year).  Name will not receive/will receive (state the amount of honorarium or incidental expenses, if any) from UC Santa Cruz. Name will not be employed in any way. 

We are requesting that you grant name admission under B-1/W-B status upon entry to the United States.

Thank you very much for your assistance to name and to the University of California, Santa Cruz

Sincerely,

Host professor signs here

J-1: Bachelor’s degree or higher

Short-Term Scholar: appointment is anywhere from one day to a maximum stay of 6 month. Can be used multiple times but not back to back appointments. 12 month and 24 month bars do NOT apply. 212(e) may apply.

Research Scholar and Professor: appointment is anywhere from 3 weeks to a maximum stay of 5 years. Subject to 12 month and 24 month bars. 212 (e) may apply.

BARS:

12 month

 24 month

 212 (e) or 2 year home residency requirement

-        UCSC must extend an academic appointment. The academic appointment can be a courtesy appointment or a paid position. Not eligible for UCSC staff positions. Must be a non-tenure track and non-career position

-        Must be currently enrolled in a graduate program (or must have an advanced degree), and have sufficient experience in field of research or lecture area

-        Must possess an English language proficiency level high enough to successfully participate in the exchange visitor program and function independently within the community

-        Must meet minimum financial requirements ($2200/self, +$1200 for spouse, +$700 for each child per month for entire program duration). Funding may come from a grant, fellowship,scholarship, salary, personal funds, etc.

-        Must have sufficient funds to purchase insurance that meets Department of State’s requirements for the J-1 and each J-2 dependent for the entire program duration.

J-1: undergraduate researchers

Non-degree student/ J-1 Student Intern: appointment is temporary anywhere from 3 weeks to 12 months

-        UCSC must extend a courtesy appointment.

-        Must be currently enrolled in a bachelor’s program and this “prescribed course of study or research” is part of their degree back home. 

-        Must possess an English language proficiency level high enough to successfully participate in the exchange visitor program and function independently within the community

-        Must meet minimum financial requirements $1800/self. Funding may come from a grant, fellowship,scholarship. For the non-degree student category 51% or more of the funding needs to be from a source other than personal funds.

-        Must have sufficient funds to purchase insurance that meets Department of State’s requirements for the entire program duration.

F-1 Optional Practical Trainings

F-1 STEM OPT Extension

-OPT is a benefit authorized by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that extends the F-1 student status to allow you to work in the U.S.A. in order to gain practical training in your major field of study.

- Example:  Intl Grad student is in F-1 (or J-1) student status at a U.S. university.  They will be hired in a research position at UCSC.  They would apply thru the university that they are a student at in the F-1 status.  No additional paperwork is needed on the department’s part.

H-1B: employment-based visa

-        Reserved for tenure-track faculty members, temporary faculty, and researchers when J-1 is not appropriate or available. The university will only file H-1B petitions for full-time appointments.

-        The hiring unit may request three years of H-1B work authorization at a time, for up to six years (with exceptions)

-        Can have dual intent (work authorization and possible future permanent residency)

  E-3: Specialty Occupations

-        Is a temporary status for Australian citizens

-        E-3 visitors can stay for an initial period of 2 years, with 2 year extensions available after that.

-         E-3 visitors should have nonimmigrant intent.

O-1: (Workers of Extraordinary Ability)

-        Reserved  for individuals with "national or international acclaim or extraordinary ability." This category requires substantial documentation, and can be highly selective and subjective.

-        O-1 visitors can stay for an initial period of 3 years, with 1 year extensions available after that.

-         O-1 visitors can have immigrant intent.

TN : (NAFTA Occupations)

-        Reserved as temporary status for Canadian and Mexican citizens.

-        TN visitors can stay for an initial period of 3 years, with 3 year extensions available after that.

-        TN visitors must have nonimmigrant intent.

Permanent Residency

UCSC divisions and departments can sponsor permanent resident status for employees in permanent, full-time positions that require professional-level credentials.

According to APO policy, these employees include individuals hired in tenure-track faculty positions, researchers in the Professional Researcher Series (at the Associate Researcher level or higher, if funding is guaranteed for a minimum of three years), and for Continuing Lecturers (under very limited circumstances as determined by the USCIS). All university-sponsored permanent residency cases must be processed through IFSS and a UCOP-vetted immigration attorney. 

The Department Manager will:  To start the permanent residency process please log into iGlobal Department Services and complete the Outside Counsel Request for Permanent Residency Form. Upon receipt of the completed form, an initial consultation will be set up with IFSS, an immigration attorney, the hiring unit, and the employee. The meeting will cover strategy for filing, as well as the cost and timeline of the petition.

Postdocs:

US Citizenship and Immigration regulations specify that in order to qualify for an employment-based/employer sponsored green card a position has to be a permanent position. Unfortunately post doc appointments by nature are limited term appointments. University policy just reflects the regulations. It is not that UCSC just doesn't want to sponsor green cards for post docs. 

Postdocs play a vital role in a research university like ours and our broken immigration system does not reflect this reality.

If you are interested in pursuing permanent residency, our best recommendation is to contact UC Immigrant Legal Services to find out options for self-sponsorship of permanent residency, such as National Interest Waiver (EB-2) or Extraordinary Ability (EB-1).