Global Education Office

The information here is addressed primarily to hiring officials in an international employee’s VCU hiring unit, such as a Dean, Chair, or Human Resources Professional (HRP) or Human Resources Associate (HRA). International employees may find the information here instructive and helpful as well.

An H-1B visa is a common U.S. employment visa.   VCU can sponsor an international employee for an H-1B visa through the filing of a Form I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker with USCIS.  

VCU’s H-1B petitions must be processed through the Immigration Services unit of the Global Education Office (GEO).

The H-1B petitions themselves must be prepared by law firms under contract with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

If your department decides to sponsor an employee for an H-1B visa, GEO Immigration Services will work with University Counsel to ask OAG to assign the case to a law firm.

For information about, or support with, VCU’s H-1B visa program, please send an email to GEO Immigration Services.

Please use our new generic email address for work visa processing: workvisas@vcu.edu

The basic U.S. government eligibility criteria for an H-1B visa are:

1. The job offered to the employee must require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge for which attainment of a Bachelor’s or higher degree (or the U.S. equivalent) in the specific specialty is required as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the U.S. (A higher degree in the specific specialty may be required depending on the job duties.) Regulatory citation: 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(ii) and 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)
   
   
2. The employer must pay the employee the higher of the prevailing wage or the actual wage for the job for the duration of the USCIS H-1B approval. The prevailing wage for the job is determined by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The actual wage is the wage the employer already pays similarly employed workers. Regulatory citation: 8 USC 1182(n) and 20 CFE 655.700(a)(2)
   
   
3. The employee must have the required degree in hand at the time the Form I-129 H-1B application is filed with USCIS. Regulatory citation: 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C) and 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(D)
   
   
4. Not otherwise be ineligible for an H-1B visa due to their immigration history. For example, employee’s subject to the 2-year home country residency requirement of the J-1 regulations may be unable to obtain an H-1B visa approval from USCIS. Regulatory citation: 8 CFR 248.2

Each H-1B visa application is unique and other U.S. government eligibility requirements may apply in a specific case.

The statutory maximum allowable time in H-1B status is six (6) years in increments of no more than three (3) years at a time.

Extensions beyond the statutory 6-year maximum may be possible if the employee has spent considerable time outside the U.S. since first obtaining H-1B status or (in some cases) if they have a Form I-140 approval notice (part of the Permanent Residence process).

As employment visas, H-1B visas are highly restrictive.    

They do not provide VCU or the employee with flexible employment authorization.

When USCIS approves an H-1B petition, they are authorizing the employee to work in the U.S. only under the working conditions indicated on the H-1B petition.

The working conditions indicated on an H-1B petition include the:

• Employer (VCU)
• Job title
• Job duties
• Worksite address(es) (including remote worksites, if any)
• Wage
• Whether the job is part-time or full-time

Except for separation (getting fired or laid off or quitting), the employer or employee cannot make changes to the working conditions at their convenience.

In most cases of a planned change, an H-1B amendment must be filed with USCIS before the change can become legally effective at VCU.

It can take 1 to 2 months to prepare an H-1B amendment for filing with USCIS.

Changes can be made to the employee’s job as soon as the H-1B amendment has been delivered to USCIS.

Employment not authorized by USCIS is a violation of immigration and labor regulations and can lead to government penalties against the employer and the employee.

GEO Immigration Services has no way to know if a change is planned for an H-1B employee’s working conditions unless we are intentionally told about the plan in advance.

For this reason, planned changes to an H-1B employee’s working conditions must be reported to Immigration Services by email before the change becomes effective.

The recommended time-frame for reporting planned changes to GEO Immigration Services is at least 30 days before the desired effective date of the change.

This is to allow GEO Immigration Services and a law firm time to review the planned changes to see if an H-1B amendment needs to be filed with USCIS before the changes can take effect.

The employee’s HR manager and the employee are responsible for informing GEO Immigration Services of planned changes in a timely way.

VCU (the university) and VCU Health (the network of hospitals and clinics) are affiliated but legally separate organizations.

Concurrent employment here means that the employee has two jobs at the same time, one job for VCU (example: Assistant Professor) and one job for VCU Health (example: Physician).

Concurrently employed workers need two H-1B visas: One for their VCU job and one for their VCU Health job.

The employee cannot use their VCU H-1B visa to work for VCU Health, and they cannot use their VCU Health H-1B visa to work for VCU.

GEO Immigration Services is part of VCU and supports VCU’s immigration needs.

VCU Health has its own, separate immigration services unit.

If an employee will be concurrently employed by VCU and by VCU Health, you need to do the following:

1. 1. First work with VCU Health’s immigration services unit on the employee’s VCU Health H-1B visa, and
   2. Work with GEO Immigration Services on the employee’s VCU H-1B visa.

GEO Immigration Services and the VCU Health immigration services unit have a collegial professional relationship, but we cannot legally “do each other’s work”.

The employee’s HR manager is responsible for connecting with GEO Immigration Services for the VCU H-1B visa and VCU Health’s immigration services unit for the VCU Health H-1B visa.

The VCU Health immigration services contact is Jose Fleming (jose.fleming@vcuhealth.org).

H-1B costs include a law firm service fee and USCIS filing fees.   

The law firm service fee is a set, flat fee that is the same for every H-1B petition. USCIS filing fees vary by the type of H-1B petition filed.

For example, the USCIS filing fees for a new H-1B petition are higher than the filing fee for an H-1B extension petition.

The law firm service fee and all required USCIS filing fees must be paid by the department with no contribution from, or reimbursement by, the employee.

For a cost analysis of a specific H-1B case, please contact GEO Immigration Services.

If a new employee is currently employed by a non-VCU employer in H-1B status and VCU files a Form I-129 H-1B application for them with USCIS requesting a change of employer (COE) from the non-VCU employer to VCU, the employee is eligible to start to work for VCU while USCIS processes the H-1B transfer application.

U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #62, What is "Portability"

This is an I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification issue. GEO is not authorized to provide guidance for I-9 issues. If you you have questions about how to authorize a new  employee's H-1B employment via H-1B portability including what document or documents are acceptable for that, please contact HR Compliance (hrcompliance@vcu.edu).