H-1B/International Employees

Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) sponsorships such as H-1B and TN must be elected to by an employer and are occupation and position specific. Prior to finalizing any job offers, hiring departments at the University of Central Florida (UCF) must initiate paperwork for United States (US) work visa sponsorship through UCF Global on behalf of their candidate. The UCF Global Employment & Taxation (E&T) team will provide any necessary paperwork needed to obtain the appropriate visa status prior to employment.

UCF hiring departments should consider the H-1B visa first and foremost when seeking to hire international candidates for temporary employment in specialty occupations. The H-1B visa is valid initially for a period of three (3) years with the option to extend an additional three (3) years, for a total of six (6) years.

H-1B is the only dual intent, employment-based visa that easily affords an employee the option to pursue Permanent Residency (or a green card). To work on H-1B, a department must have a qualifying position, extend an offer to the selected candidate for that position, and be willing to sponsor the individual for said visa. Sponsorship can be requested for the selected candidate of a vacant position or for an existing foreign national employee whose work authorization is expected to end under their current status.

Since sponsorship is employer based, an individual’s supervisor/hiring manager, home department, or college’s/division’s Human Resources Business Center (HRBC) is responsible for initiating the H-1B sponsorship request after determining that they wish to sponsor an individual. UCF Global will then advise what steps will be needed to initiate a case request with our partnered law firm, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP (Fragomen). We can also assist with exploring other work authorization options, such as O-1 and J-1.

If you are applying for a position within UCF and are chosen as the selected candidate, a representative from your area should reach out to us regarding the sponsorship process for you. Again, since sponsorship is employer based, we can only advise on UCF’s policies and procedures surrounding the sponsorship process. If you graduated from UCF and have obtained an external H-1B sponsorship, there are additional steps that will need to be taken with our International Advising team within International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS). Please reach out to them directly at intladvising@ucf.edu if you have any questions regarding their specific reporting process. We highly recommend that you begin working with your new supervisor and future company’s Human Resources (HR) team or provider as soon as possible to strategize the best approach for your situation.

The following information was updated for Fall 2023 and may no longer be accurate. Please check any external links provided for confirmation of current wait times. Please reach out to Nicole.Henry@ucf.edu for assistance with identifying additional timeframe barriers as well as potential variables that may affect a beneficiary’s sponsorship effective date or estimated time-to-hire.

From the time an H-1B case is initiated here at UCF, it can take a minimum of roughly ten (10) months total for a first-time, AKA Change of Status (COS), H-1B visa to be approved with Premium Processing Service (PPS) and up to roughly twelve (12) months total with regular processing. Selecting Rush with our partnered law firm, Fragomen, in addition to PPS may shorten the process to roughly nine (9) months total but is not guaranteed. Selecting Super Rush may shorten this timeline slightly further but is also not guaranteed.

For up-to-date PWD processing times, please click the link below and check the OES Receipt Date column under the Prevailing Wage Determination Processing Times chart for the H-1B Process Queue. Data is made available to the public after the close of the previous month, which will be specified in parenthesis.

https://flag.dol.gov/processingtimes

For up-to-date PWD processing times, please click the link below and select the following dropdowns: I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, H-1B Speciality Occupation Change of Status, California Service Center.

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

In general, processing times are agency specific, fluid, and subject to change without notice. A gap in employment authorization and/or status is always a possibility, and, in general, USCIS approval of any visa sponsorship is not automatically guaranteed.

If a candidate/employee requires Consular Processing (CP), additional time may be required for proper coordination with a U.S. Consulate. This is true for Port of Entry/Pre-Flight Inspection (POE/PFI) cases as well, dependent on the workload of the adjudicating Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Officer. The need for CP would arise when a COS exceeds the allotted grace period for lawful presence based on the expiring visa’s type. For F-1 (including OPT and OPT STEM Extension), this would be 60 calendar days. For J-1 (including Academic Training), this would be 30 calendar days. If UCF cannot secure an original H-1B Approval Notice before the end of a beneficiary’s grace period, they will need to depart the U.S. and conclude the sponsorship process abroad. During these grace periods, prior to departure, the beneficiary does not have valid work authorization and will not be able to work for UCF.

Renewals, AKA Extensions (EOS), porting cases, AKA a Change of Employer (COE), and Concurrent (CONCUR) cases typically require less lead time by the department and may result in a faster time-to-hire; however, the total sponsorship process time is the same overall length across all action types.

If the position is a Faculty classification and will be teaching, the time-to-hire may be as short as roughly six (6) to ten (10) weeks with all possible exceptions and concierge options pursued. It is important to keep this in mind when determining a start date and equally as important to consult Fragomen in terms of sponsorship feasibility and immigration limitations. We typically see departments take about one (1) to two (2) weeks to complete the case initiation phase and prepare all the needed paperwork to include with their case submission. This amount of time is not included in the calculations provided above.

When H-1B sponsorship is initiated here at UCF, it is always recommended that OPT be exhausted prior (if applicable). This option gives an individual more time in the country and allows them to plan for their career goals accordingly. The natural progression that we see most often is F-1 to OPT, OPT to OPT STEM Extension (if applicable), OPT to H-1B (up to the maximum allowed), H-1B to Permanent Residency.

Fees	Cost
USCIS Government Filing Fee	$460
USCIS Anti-Fraud Fee (required for all cases except EXTs)	$500
USCIS Premium Processing Fee (currently required for all case types due to USCIS processing delays)	$2805
Fragomen Rush Fee (optional)	$900 – $1500
Fragomen Checks Advanced Fee (currently required due to the Workday transition)	$100

UCF Financial Affairs (FA), Vendor Payables, previously required that a department encumber funds for potential Fragomen (non-government) fees before incurring services. In PeopleSoft, we commonly saw departments create a single line Purchase Order (PO) for the entire fiscal year. The dollar amount encumbered was ultimately at the department’s discretion, as blanket POs could also be used to cover multiple cases. Encumbered funds covered expenses such as:

• Advanced USCIS Government Filing Fee: $460 per Case
• Advanced USCIS Anti-Fraud Fee: $500 per Case
• Advanced USCIS Premium Processing Fee: $2,805 per Case
• Rush Fee: $900 per Case
• Super Rush Fee: $1,500 per Case
• Checks Advanced Fee: $100 per Case
• Petition Withdrawal Fee: $250 per Occurrence
• Request for Evidence (RFE) Preparation Fee: $350 per Response
• Premium Processing Service (PPS) Conversion Fee: $500 (Checks Advanced Fee waived)

These prices were and continue to be set by Fragomen and are subject to change at any time.

Due to the recent Workday system implementation, departments will need to request that Fragomen advance the necessary USCIS checks for each petition filing. Departments should coordinate with their college’s or division’s Finance Business Center (FBC) to begin the Vendor Payables process in Workday. Failure to do so in a timely manner could result in a procurement violation in the long term. Please refer any questions about the payment process to Vendor Payables or Financial Support Services directly.

Permanent residency is defined as being granted lawful permission to reside in the US on a permanent basis, or indefinitely, as an immigrant. The process of sponsoring an employee for permanent residency requires that UCF petition USCIS on behalf of the employee. Employment Based Permanent Residency sponsorship requires the employee to be in a permanent and/or tenure-track position before the university will allow for sponsorship. Sponsorship cannot be processed before employment begins or be processed for anticipated positions other than for impending re-classifications or promotions.

In most circumstances, the permanent residency process is initiated as early as possible, but no later than by the fourth year of the employee’s six (6) year H-1B eligibility. The entire process can be lengthy as it involves up to three (3) government agencies, and the final decision to grant permanent residence is made by USCIS.

For guidance on green cards specifically, since there are multiple categories and options, we rely on Fragomen to advise which pathway would have the highest chance of success for the individual. This is a separate, secondary sponsorship that a candidate may ask the department’s eventual commitment for during the recruitment process. There are also several self-petitioned categories, such as EB-1A or EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIV), which may be recommended as alternative options for Permanent Residency.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is responsible for collecting taxes and interpreting and applying federal tax law. The IRS requires that the University of Central Florida apply specific tax withholding and reporting rules to payments made to international scholars. Filing federal income tax forms is the responsibility of each international scholar. UCF Global is able to provide general guidance but cannot give specific advice regarding individual tax returns. Each scholar is ultimately responsible for the accuracy of his or her income tax return.