Overview

PR holders are allowed to remain permanently in the U.S. To maintain your status as a permanent resident in the United States, you must have a primary residence in the United States and obtain a re-entry permit from USCIS for any trip outside of the United States which will last longer than six months.

UW-Madison is only able to file a permanent residency application for certain employees:

New tenure-track or tenured faculty who were offered the job within the past 18 months after a proper national recruitment was conducted;
Clinical and CHS faculty with primary teaching responsibilities who were offered the job within the past 18 months after a proper national recruitment was conducted;
Tenured faculty who appear to meet the “Outstanding Professor” qualifications, regardless of when the initial offer letter was issued;
High level research staff and scientists who hold or have been offered a permanent research position in the Researcher or Scientist title series and who appear to qualify for the “Outstanding Professor/Researcher” (OPR) category, regardless of when the initial offer letter was issued.
Additionally, there are numerous other ways to obtain permanent residency on your own without UW-Madison sponsorship. The most common ways are by a petition you file that prove national interest or exceptional ability, sponsorship by a qualifying family member, investors, religious workers, asylum, and the diversity lottery.

An individual who was previously on a J-1 or J-2 visa and is subject to the two year home residency requirement is not eligible for PR until the individual has either waived that requirement or been in their home country for two years.

When a foreign national obtains permanent residence, the spouse and all children under the age of 21 are also eligible to receive permanent residence, as long as they were included in the application.

The decision to file a permanent residence application must be authorized by the appropriate Dean’s office in consultation with IFSS. No promises can be made to current or prospective employees that the University will file or obtain permanent residence on their behalf. The petitioning process is lengthy, involving up to three government agencies, and the final decision to grant the permanent residence must be made by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. It is never a certainty that the permanent residence will be approved.

The University of Wisconsin (UW) has the following employment-based (EB) options for sponsoring PR:

1. EB-2 Special Handling Labor Certification (“PERM”)
   • Available only for permanent full-time teaching positions
   • Requires the UW Hiring Unit to appropriately test the national labor market and provide evidence of such according to the regulations. See below for more information.
   • Employees hired using a waiver are not eligible for PR under this category.
2. EB-1B Outstanding Professor or Researcher (OPR)
   • Available primarily for our academic staff researchers and scientists who meet the federal standards for this type of petition. See below for more information.
   • May also be available for incoming faculty who already have received Tenure.

There are many pathways to PR that do not require employer sponsorship as well (for example: National Interest Waiver, Family-Based, EB-1A Aliens of Extraordinary Ability, Refugee/Asylee, Alien Entrepreneur, etc.). These options can be pursued by the employee, on his or her own, or with the assistance of an immigration attorney at any time. Departments can offer their support for those personal petitions by writing support letters, etc. but cannot pay for filing fees, attorney fees, or allow the immigration attorney to represent the UW in any way. IFSS can offer general information about other options, but cannot provide legal advice to employees for personal legal matters.

Is your employee asking about options for PR that don’t require UW sponsorship?

Send your employee the link to Green Card Eligibility Categories.

Please be aware: never sign a Form G-28. This form gives an outside attorney the ability to represent and act on the behalf of the UW for a particular petition, which is strictly prohibited by Wisconsin State Statute. See UW Legal website regarding Outside Attorneys.
If the UW sponsors a PR petition, a UW employee may choose to hire a private attorney to assist with the final step of PR (filing the I-485, aka “Adjustment of Status”). Using a private attorney is permissible at this step in the process since the I-485 is considered a personal petition. The employee must pay all filing fees and attorney fees if they choose to do so. It is not appropriate for the UW to reimburse private attorney fees.

ATTORNEY/LAWYER RESOURCES

The UW cannot provide recommendations.

AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (AILA)
WISCONSIN BAR ASSOCIATION

EB-2 Special Handling Labor Certification Petition

• Involves multiple steps
• Entire process can take generally 2-3 years (more for some individuals)
• The Labor Certification must be filed no later than 18 months of date of selection.
  • “Date of selection” is widely interpreted as the date on the first original offer letter.
  • This deadline is somewhat of a misnomer. Depending on when certain parts of the EB-2 application are completed, our timeline may be less than 18 months.

EB-1B OPR Petition

• Involves two (2) steps
• Entire process can take generally 1-2 years (more for some individuals)
• Does not require a test of the national labor market (i.e. a national recruitment)
• No time limit based on offer letter date. The UW can file these types of petitions at any time during the employee’s career at the UW.
• Please talk to your department chair and dean’s office if you are interested in this type of petition.  They will reach out to IFSS to begin the discussion.

Employees are responsible for all filing fees related to the PR petition. The UW hiring unit will not pay for or reimburse those fees. USCIS will accept a personal check or money order from a U.S. bank payable to US Department of Homeland Security.

Effective 9/1/2023, IFSS will generate and cover the cost to mail the I-140 petition to USCIS. Departments no longer need to provide a mailing label to USCIS.