The University of Oklahoma is able to sponsor full-time, regular, foreign employees in certain university job categories (usually academic or academic support positions) for permanent residence in the U.S.:
- U.S. immigration laws do not permit the university to sponsor students, part-time, or temporary employees for permanent residence.
- "Regular" employment means "permanent" within the meaning of U.S. immigration law, that is, without a fixed termination point, or indefinite. Some annual appointments may be included within this definition if they are ones that are usually renewed indefinitely, pending only satisfactory performance and continued funding. The university requires a department to have secured funding for such positions for at least three years in the future in order to initiate permanent residence sponsorship.
If the university is able to sponsor a foreign employee for permanent residence, the HR Office of Immigration Services (OIS) will initiate a permanent residence application with the U.S. government.
- A university-sponsored permanent residence application cannot be initiated without the authorization of the OIS.
- The permanent residence application process can take from eight months to more than three years to complete, depending on the type of case and fluctuations in government agency processing times.
- While most university-sponsored applications succeed, it is not possible in every case to meet the requirements of U.S. immigration law and obtain permanent residence for a sponsored employee.
If you believe that you may meet the requirements outlined below for university sponsorship and would like to pursue permanent residence at the University of Oklahoma, please seek further information appropriate to your situation from the OIS.
Note: If you do not meet the requirements for university sponsorship, you may wish to explore with an immigration attorney the possibility of self-sponsorship for permanent residence under "national interest waiver" or "alien of extraordinary ability" provisions of U.S. immigration law.