Advising Current Scholars

We are always pleased when we welcome a new international scholar to campus and help them to settle into their new home, but our involvement really continues well beyond the arrival and on-boarding phase. We need to partner with both the department and the scholar throughout the entire BU employment / activity to insure compliance with both immigration and employment regulations.

We provide information to all scholars about what is expected of them to maintain their immigration status, but as department administrators, there are things you can do to help.  While the ISSO does send courtesy reminders and communications out on a regular basis, it is ultimately the scholar’s and department’s responsibility to insure regulatory compliance.

As an administrator, you can help to insure a scholar is maintaining their immigration status by notifying the ISSO in advance of any employment or activity changes and in situations where you may be extending a scholars appointment at BU.  If your scholar will be changing to another immigration status, it may be helpful for you to review our process overview and timelines and required forms for the requested status.  We also have guidance related to BU Sponsorship of Employment-Based U.S. Permanent Residence (Green Card) as well as instructions for notifying the ISSO when scholars will be ending their employment or activity at BU.

We recommend that you also review our helpful reminders and updates from time to time as well as ISSO news to insure that you have the most recent updates and reminders from our office.  As always, please contact us with any questions regarding your current scholars.