On occasion, departments may wish to sponsor an individual for permanent residency when the temporary immigration status (H-1B, J-1, TN, etc.) will not cover the period of time an individual's services are required, or satisfy certain unusual or specific conditions of employment.

The Office of International Affairs assists departments wishing to sponsor individuals for permanent residency who have been offered tenure-track faculty teaching positions as a result of a national recruitment effort. The initial paperwork for such requests must be submitted to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services within 18 months of the date on the original faculty letter of offer. Thus, to ensure this deadline is met, we request that departments initiate this process with International Affairs immediately upon the start of faculty employment at OSU, but not later than 12 months from the date of the original faculty letter of offer or 12 months before the start of the individual’s sixth year in H-1B status, whichever occurs first.

University departments may wish to sponsor other individuals for permanent residency who do not hold tenure-track faculty teaching positions. Such cases must be handled by an outside immigration attorney at the expense of either the department or individual. An immigration attorney list is available from International Affairs. International Affairs is not involved in the processing of such cases.

For any university department to sponsor an individual for permanent residency, the following criteria must be met:

• the position must be full-time;
• the position must be defined as "regular" by the Office of Human Resources;
• postdoctoral researcher and fellow positions are not "regular" university positions and therefore cannot be used as a basis for permanent residency sponsorship;
• the salary must be 100% paid by OSU;
• there must be no set end date to the employment arrangement;
• the foreign national must have no plans to cease employment at the university throughout the process;
• the position must require at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field (or fields) of study; and
• the department must be prepared to write a letter of offer stating that the employment is indefinite (i.e., permanent)—US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) uses the term "permanent" to contrast with employment that has a definite end date. "Permanent" does not mean "forever."

There are several routes which may be followed in order to obtain permanent residency. The most common categories used for University positions which have been offered indefinitely are "Outstanding Researcher" and "Alien Employment (or 'Labor') Certification." Cases requiring Labor Certification may require additional consultation with the Office of Human Resources.

The immigration attorney handling a case may have various forms for the department to sign. Typically, the chair or individual's supervisor may sign these forms, but each department should follow its own protocol. By signing Form I-140, "Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker", the department is committing to an indefinite (i.e., permanent) offer of employment to the individual.