The Department Chair must inform the Center for International Education (CIE) of its intent to hire a non-immigrant faculty or extend the contract of a continuing faculty. The request must be initiated at least six (6) months before the faculty member's current H-1B expiration, if possible, or immediately after a new hire accepts the offer of employment using the H-1B Notification Form.
The Department Chair will forward a copy of the Bio Data Form to the new faculty member in order to request the necessary documents required to file his/her petition with the Department of Homeland Security. As petition approval may take three (3) to four (4) months from the dates of receipt by the USCIS, it is of utmost importance for Departments to submit all requested documents to the CIE six (6) months in advance for initial H-1B applications. If this is not possible, the CIE will have to process the initial H-1B application through “Premium Processing” in order to have an approval from USCIS before the start of the semester for a new hire.
See H-1B processing fees for costs associated with this process.