Talent Immigration
Talent Immigration supports hiring processes and visa requests for international Ohio State faculty and staff as a part of the Talent Acquisition Department in Ohio State’s Office of Human Resources. We partner with the Office of International Affairs, under Ohio State’s Office of Academic Affairs, and with Ohio State’s Office of Legal Affairs to ensure compliance with U.S. immigration regulations and Human Resources policies. Talent Immigration works with unit HR and college and unit leaders to support individuals through the appropriate requirements, as well as consults on visa and immigration processes to current and potential Ohio State employees and visiting scholars.
For questions related to visa regulations, especially for student visas, please visit the Office of International Affairs website.
J-1 Visas
A J-1 scholar visa at Ohio State may be used for a paid or an unpaid position and is for educational and cultural exchange programs designated by the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. The “J” exchange visitor program is designed to promote the interchange of persons, knowledge, and skills in the fields of education, arts and sciences.
Participants through Ohio State include visiting or non-tenure track professors who are coming to teach or research, research scholars, post-doctoral scholars, or visiting scholars coming for the purpose of teaching, observation, consulting, conducting research, sharing or demonstrating specialized knowledge or skills.
H-1B Visas
The H-1B non-immigrant classification allows a U.S. employer to hire non-citizen workers to perform temporary labor in a “specialty occupation” that in theory is difficult to find in the United States. The H-1B visa is commonly used for staff positions, Faculty, and Physicians at Ohio State. The H-1B visa requires an accepted offer from non-citizen candidates. Before requesting new H-1B visa processing, please continue to work with your unit’s HR talent acquisition consultant/recruiter to confirm the recruit-to-hire process has produced an accepted offer.
Observation Visas
Non-U.S. Citizens proposing a visit to The Ohio State University should communicate with an Ohio State unit and faculty member to confirm the observation opportunity. Once the Ohio State faculty member accepts the proposal, they will work with their unit on the invitation process and/or the appropriate visa request.
If an international visitor is coming to the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, the invitation process goes through Ohio State’s Office of Global Health.
Visitors coming to Ohio State to observe may come on several different visa statuses.
Volunteering Visas
Volunteering, from an immigration perspective, can be understood as spending time serving a charitable agency in a role typically not paid and receiving no remuneration (like feeding the homeless at a shelter or soup kitchen). Non-citizen students and scholars may spend their time volunteering by serving a charitable agency in this way without negatively affecting their immigration record.
Work in Ohio State units is typically paid. Anyone who works at Ohio State needs work authorization and if they are on a visa, their visa status must support the work being done. For example, J-1 scholars have work authorization and, in some units at Ohio State, they may work as unpaid Visiting Fellows with their own funding to support themselves. J-2 dependents do not have work authorization, cannot be paid, and cannot work.
The U.S. Department of Labor sees “work” for visa holders based on activity whether paid or unpaid and holds the visa holder accountable for their activities. Visa holders who work when they do not have work authorization, or their visa status doesn’t support the work in question, risk future visa and immigration application denial. See the U.S. Department of Labor Section 3(e)(4) of the FLSA defining volunteers. For questions on visa regulations, contact the Office of International Affairs.
Other Employment Visas
The decision to sponsor a candidate or employee in a visa status at The Ohio State University comes from the hiring unit and in many cases requires sponsorship from a supervising faculty member.
Permanent Residency
Candidates who are permanent residents or hold green cards are employable in any position in which they are qualified and may be hired without any additional without any additional visa processing. To gain permanent residency, a green card could be granted in about 18 months in an ideal situation. However, most green card processing takes years. Sponsorship of an employee or candidate for permanent residency goes through the Office of Legal Affairs and interested units should submit a Permanent Residency Request through HR Connection and Talent Immigration will follow up. Please see the Office of International Affairs website for more information on the permanent residency process at Ohio State.