STEM Degree Immigration Options: Employment with a US College or University

If you have a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) degree and are interested in immigrating to the U.S., one attractive option is through a career with a U.S. college or university.

If you come to the U.S. as an F-1 student and graduate with a STEM degree, you may be eligible for up to three years of work authorization through OPT. This will give you several chances to try to obtain an H-1B number, with a private sector U.S. business (cap-subject employer) petitioner through the H-1B visa lottery.?However, there is a very high chance you will not get a visa number due to the high demand for H-1B visa numbers and very limited actual numbers available each year.?Initially getting your employer to agree to sponsor you for the H-1B, and then going through the H-1B visa lottery in March or April is incredibly stressful and anxiety-producing.

One alternative is a cap-exempt H-1B visa number through a non-profit U.S. university or college.?These are H-1Bs with no limit on visa numbers, for which you can apply at any time of year.?Thus, obtaining a cap-exempt H-1B by working for a nonprofit college or university will make your immigration situation much less stressful and unpredictable. You can feel calm about your immigration status, and focus on other things, like doing the best job possible to advance your career.?

Even though you likely will have to take a pay cut if you go from private business to a nonprofit post-secondary educational institution, you will then be eligible for a cap-exempt H-1B, for which the university or college can file for you at any time of the year without worrying about any shortage of visa numbers.?Not only a position with the university proper, but also a job with a nonprofit entity related to, or affiliated with, a nonprofit college or university will also make you eligible for a cap-exempt H-1B.?

Alternatively, if you already have your PhD from a university outside the U.S., aside from the cap-exempt H-1B, you may also be eligible for a J-1 visa, for example as a Post-Doctoral Researcher.?However, many of the J-1 visas come with a two-year foreign residency requirement attached, so if your plan is to obtain a green card in the U.S., the J-1 is generally a less-attractive option.?If your J-1 visa has the two-year foreign residency requirement attached, you will have to return to your home country and spend two years abroad before returning to the U.S.?If you are here in the U.S. on the J-1 with a two-year foreign residency requirement, you will not be able to change status to H-1B nor will you be able to apply for your green card, unless you obtain a waiver, which is often very difficult.

Another positive aspect about working for a US college or university as a professor or researcher is that you will have the opportunity to publish journal articles, and publish a lot. In addition to being good for your career, publishing journal articles is also good for your immigration options. This puts you in a better position to obtain an O-1A as an alien of extraordinary ability in the sciences.?Once you have an O-1A temporary status as an alien of extraordinary ability, you may then qualify to apply for your green card as an alien of extraordinary ability EB-1.?This allows you to skip the PERM labor certification process. If you are in the sciences, technology, engineering or math, you need to show that you are at the very top of your field.?

Another path to the green card is as an EB-1 as an Outstanding Professor or Researcher.In order to qualify to apply for EB-1 as an Outstanding Professor, first, your position must be as a professor in a tenured or tenure-track position.?The title of the position does not necessarily indicate whether it is tenured or tenure track or just temporary.?For example, at Cornell University, Assistant Professor positions are generally not tenure track and are considered temporary.?At the University of Washington, Associate Professor positions are tenure-track, while some Assistant Professor positions are tenure-track and others are not.?Each college and university has its own policies regarding job titles and requirements for tenure track and tenured positions, so you need to read the individual college’s policy in detail.

Some temporary positions may convert to tenure-track in the future.?You are not eligible to apply as an Outstanding Professor if your position will convert to tenure-track at some point in the future.?At the time of filing the I-140, your position must already be tenure-track.?For example, if at the time of filing an EB-1 I-140, Professor Thinksalot is not in a tenure-track position, even if later on, while the EB-1 is still pending, her position becomes tenure-track, her EB-1 will be denied.

It has become more difficult to qualify for a tenure-track or tenured position.?See, for example, The Chronicle of Higher Education, “How to be Strategic on the Tenure Track”,?https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-to-Be-Strategic-on-the/244863

Even if your position is not tenure-track, you may still apply for the green card through a PERM labor certification application. Even if you are a non-tenure track professor, you will still qualify for special handling application as a professor for purposes of a PERM labor certification.

Of course, there are more considerations than simply immigration in deciding whether to take a position as a non-tenure track professor. Here is a nice article on tenure versus temporary or contract positions in academia, overview of different employment policies colleges and universities may have, and your considerations (outside of immigration) in deciding whether to take a contract position initially.https://www.apa.org/careers/resources/academic/non-tenure

The other option, the EB-1 Outstanding Researcher, requires an offer of permanent employment, which may be tenured or tenure-track, but is not required to be, as long as it is permanent.?However, USCIS has clarified that even though many researchers have employment contracts valid for only one year, because the position depends upon funding from grants received yearly, it still may be considered a permanent position for the purposes of an EB-1 Outstanding Researcher.?The university or college would have to show it intends to continue to seek funding and that it is reasonable to expect funding to continue, in order to prove that the Researcher position is permanent.

Another option through a college or university employer, may be the green card through a EB-2 National Interest Waiver, which avoids having to go through the labor certification process. The National Interest Waiver is for those whose services in the sciences, arts, professions, or business are in the national interest.?You must show that the proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance, that you are well-positioned to advance the national interest through your work in the field, and that it will benefit the United States to waive the labor certification process.

Thus, a career with a U.S. nonprofit college or university may give you many immigration options. This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.

Copyright 2021 ? Heidi J. Meyers all rights reserved.