Maintain Status

IFSS is required to notify USCIS if there has been a material change in the terms and conditions of your H-1B employment. You and your hiring unit may not be authorized to make changes to your H-1B employment without having received USCIS approval of these changes first.  If there are any questions about a change to your position, please consult with your Department and/or IFSS before making the change.

Changes to your employment that may require an amendment include, but are not limited to:

• worksite location, including adding or changing remote or home worksites in Madison or Wisconsin
  • Faculty or staff who want to relocate during summer/winter breaks, or take a sabbatical in the U.S. in another location, MUST notify IFSS 3-4 months in advance before relocating. This is considered a material change even if UW policy does not require a remote work agreement.
  • Travel to conferences, professional development, or meetings is still allowed. Normal academic activities such as these that occur on a short-term basis is not considered changing or adding worksites.
• new title series (for example, transitioning from a postdoc/research associate position to a scientist position)
  • Promotions within a title series: these are typically ok as they are deemed a “natural progression” of your duties rather than a change.
• significant change in duties
• significant salary increase (which typically signifies a change in duties)
• change in FTE or percentage of appointment (part-time to full-time and vice versa)
• new employment in a different UW department or UW System institution
• concurrent employment in another UW Department or UW System institution (including overloads)

Form I-94 is the Arrival/Departure Record issued to you when you enter the U.S., change your status in the U.S., or extend your status in the U.S. The I-94 card dictates how long you can lawfully remain in the U.S., what immigration status you hold during your visit, and if you can work or be paid while in the U.S. You must exit the U.S. before the ‘admit until date’ listed on the I-94.

IFSS recommends that every time you enter the U.S., you print your I-94 card to make sure all the information on the I-94 card is correct. If you find an error on your I-94, contact IFSS immediately; do not wait. This is extremely important if your ‘Admit Until Date’ is shorter than your H-1B approval notice ending validity date. We can provide you with instructions on how to contact the appropriate CBP office that can assist you in getting your I-94 corrected. Keep copies of your I-94s for your records (this will be helpful if you ever need to recapture time as an H-1B). Each time you enter the U.S., your online I-94 will be replaced with a new I-94 and you cannot currently retrieve prior I-94s online, only the most recent I-94.

For those who are changing or extending your status while remaining in the U.S., you will be issued a replacement I-94 on your approval document (the I-797A). Your online I-94 will not change until the next time you enter the U.S. However, you will notice that both I-94s have the same number connecting the two.

NOTE: Many H-1Bs are granted a 10 day grace period after their H-1B ending validity date. If your I-94 ‘admit until date’ has this grace period, please note that you cannot work during the 10 day grace period. Therefore, your true ‘work authorization end date’ is the ending validity date listed on the upper portion of your H-1B approval document (the I-797A or B).

IFSS highly recommends keeping records of all travel outside the U.S. while in H-1B status.

Background: When you are outside the U.S., you do not have a U.S. immigration status.  Therefore, as an H-1B employee, you are allowed to recapture days you were outside the U.S., if you can provide documentation of physical presence outside the U.S. Employers can only request to recapture full days spent outside the U.S.; therefore, travel days are not counted towards the time you can recapture since you were in the U.S. at least part of that day.

Whenever you travel outside the U.S. you should:

• Log all dates you entered and exited the U.S. on this “Time spent in H or L status in US” document.
• Keep copies the following documents for each trip (if applicable):
  • I-94 record when you re-enter the U.S. (remember, the online I-94 only shows the most recent I-94, not past I-94 records; you can’t recover old I-94s)
  • flight itineraries
  • entrance and exit stamps in the passport (if you are required to surrender your passport when renewing it, make a copy of the full passport before surrendering it; even the blank pages with nothing on them)
  • frequent flier mile reports
  • boarding passes

The CBP travel history online is a tool to assist you but not an official record for legal purposes. We can include it with a recapture petition, but there must be other evidence to support it.

Legal Citation: 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(C)

You should be aware that, at any time, the University may be subject to inspection/audit by officers of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) with regard to any petition filed by the University.  These site visits can be conducted with no prior announcement. Therefore, IFSS may not be able to give you advance notice of when one might occur.  Please be assured that these inspections are random and routine, and the fact that a petition filed on your behalf has been selected for review does NOT mean that you or the University are under suspicion.  When a site visit occurs, the officer will generally contact IFSS to verify information provided by us on the petition, in addition to requesting to speak with the employee named as the beneficiary of the petition.  The officer may ask to see the employee’s office or work area (if the visit is in person) and may take photographs of the employee’s work area and the hiring unit.

If an officer arrives in-person at your worksite, please ask the officer for identification. Contact IFSS immediately.

Almost all non-citizens, including permanent residents (i.e. green card holders), must notify USCIS directly of any change of home address within 10 days of moving. Changing your address with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will not change your address with USCIS. Please update your information with both USCIS and USPS.

We strongly encourage you submit a paper Form AR-11 to change your address. Keep a copy for your own records. Additionally, we recommend using USPS tracking (no cost) or USPS certified mail (small cost) to have confirmation it was delivered to USCIS.

You may try to submit your change of address to USCIS through a USCIS online account.  If you do not have a USCIS online account, you may create one by following the instructions on our How to Create a USCIS Online Account page. However, because your H-1B is employer-sponsored, we have found this option often tries to change the UW’s address, not your residential address. This is why we recommend submitting a paper Form AR-11.

Important Notes

• If you work remotely, contact IFSS at least 3-4 months before moving your remote work location (even if that is your home address) to determine what needs to be done to amend your work location.
• If you change your address while your application is pending with a USCIS Service Center, indicate your pending application on the change of address request. If you have more than one application pending, include all pending applications.
• If you have dependents, you must complete a change of address request for each person using a separate USCIS account.

You should also:

• Update your address in MyUW. Some benefit plans you have through the UW will update automatically this way (for full list see UW Human Resources).
• If applicable, update your address on your Remote Work Agreement in MyUW under Personal Information > Update My Personal Information.
• Contact others who have your address (banks, doctor’s offices, etc.) to update your information.
• Change your address with USPS. USPS will not forward USCIS mail.