Administrative Policy

Faculty Requirements for Employment-Based Visa Sponsorship Policy

Policy Owner: Dean’s Office, HR

POLICY STATEMENT

As an employer and educational institution, the University of Minnesota is required to verify that all employees are legally authorized to work in the United States. Therefore, the School of Dentistry (SOD) deems it necessary to clarify the process for hiring faculty who have not obtained authorization to work in the United States at the time of employment. This policy outlines the various categories of faculty within the SOD who are eligible for Employment-Based Visa support from the school. Post-doctoral fellows, residency fellows, and residents are not eligible for Employment-Based visa support from the school.

REASON FOR POLICY

The School of Dentistry supports the hiring of excellent faculty irrespective of their country of residence or citizenship. Therefore, it is necessary to have clarity in the process of approval, hiring, and funding of employees and professionals in training that the SOD sponsors for Employment-Based Visas.

PROCEDURES

Per University of Minnesota Policy, applicants seeking faculty positions at the university must be able to demonstrate eligibility to work in the United States at the University of Minnesota by the start date, and eligibility for a position may not be limited to citizens and permanent residents. The SOD will support visa and green card application fees for tenured and tenure-track faculty in accordance with University of Minnesota policy. Support of visa and green card application fees will be determined on an individual basis, taking into consideration the applicant’s credentials and the difficulty of finding qualified US citizens and naturalized candidates. The procedures for selecting, hiring, approving, and supporting faculty applications for citizenship are outlined below.

Faculty applicant’s eligibility and approval process:

Non-tenure track faculty who seek full-time employment at an 100% FTE level are eligible for Employment-Based Visa support.

Approval from HR and the Dean must be obtained prior to discussing any Visa application options to support a faculty applicant.
Review of the offer by the Dean must be obtained prior to a faculty applicant signing an offer letter.
The offer letter outlines all stipulations regarding the SOD’s support of the specific Visa application.
Faculty applicants must fulfill a significant need of the SOD, such as hard to fill disciplines, or unique skills and competencies.

Qualifications (must meet all overlapping qualifications):

Tenure-track faculty
Non-tenure track faculty with advanced educational dental degrees. (GPR and AEGD are excluded).
Non-tenure track faculty filling any SOD difficult to hire area (example: endodontics, orofacial pain)
Non-tenure track faculty searches that have failed to hire an employee after the first attempt.
Non-tenure track faculty initial searches yielding alumni from an SOD advanced education program.

Note: Non-tenure track faculty without advanced educational degrees are not eligible for Employment-Based Visa support.

Eligible faculty on an H1-B Visa will be informed that the SOD will support their visa for an initial three-year period. Based upon satisfactory performance on the initial annual appraisal, a faculty member with an H1B visa will be informed at their second annual appraisal that the SOD will support their application for Permanent Residency. The department chair and faculty member will work with SOD HR to submit the application in accordance with UMN policies and procedures.