Maintaining H-1B Status
The information here is addressed to VCU employees who have H-1B visas sponsored by the university.
The purpose of the information is to provide VCU’s H-1B visa employees with guidance about maintaining H-1B status.
If you are looking for information about the VCU H-1B visa sponsorship process, please go to https://global.vcu.edu/students/immigration/h-1b_employee_visas/
Keep the original of your Form I-797 H-1B approval in a safe place. Replacing a lost or damaged H-1B approval notice is difficult and expensive, and you may be asked to pay the costs of the replacement.
You are required to carry evidence of your registration with you at all times while you are in the U.S. For GEO's guidance about this requirement, please visit Alien Registration Requirement/Carry Your Documents.
If you have not already done so, please update your I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification to ensure that you can continue to be employed and get paid by VCU.
The I-9 process is a Human Resources (HR) process, not a GEO process. Please contact your hiring unit's HR manager for support with the I-9 process.
Your VCU H-1B approval notice authorizes employment only by VCU. It does not authorize employment by any other U.S. entity, including VCU Health (which is related to, but legally separate from, VCU).
You may engage in normal scholarly professional development activity outside of VCU, such as attending academic conferences, presenting papers or research to fellow scholars, etc.
You must take care that the activity is directly related to your professional development as a scholar and does not rise to the level of employment outside of VCU.
If you have questions about participating in such activities outside of your VCU job, please contact GEO by email to discuss the matter.
H-1B visa holders are not eligible to receive payments for activity from any U.S. source other than their H-1B visa sponsor.
This means if you have a VCU H-1B visa, you cannot accept an honorarium (under any circumstance) from a U.S. non-VCU entity.
You can engage in professional activity for which an honorarium might be offered—but you cannot legally accept the honorarium.
H-1B visas are restrictive visas. They do not provide VCU or you with "free range" or even flexible work authorization. When USCIS approves an I-129 H-1B petition, they are approving you to work onlyfor the employer that filed the petition and onlyin the job (title, duties, worksite address, and wage) indicated on the petition.
This means you cannot change VCU jobs at your or VCU’s convenience.
If any changes are planned to your VCU job title, duties, worksite address, or wage, VCU may need to update the U.S. government before the change can become legally effective.
Updating processes vary depending on the nature and extent of the planned change. Some update procedures take 30+ days to complete and can include attorney and U.S. government filing fee costs.
If any changes are planned to your VCU job, please send an email to GEO about it at least 30 days before the change would become effective.
You are required to update USCIS about a change in your U.S. residential address. For GEO's guidance about this requirement, please visit Report/Update Your U.S. Address.
For international travel guidance for employees in H-1B status, please visit International Travel guidance and scroll down to the section for H-1B and H-4 visa holders.
If you need to obtain an H-1B visa stamp before traveling to the U.S., please visit Apply for an H-1B Visa.
If your H1-B approval notice will expire within the next 6 months, please ask your hiring unit’s HR manager to contact GEO by email to initiate the H-1B extension (renewal) process for you.
If you are planning to terminate your VCU employment and go to work for another U.S. employer, and you expect to do so in H-1B status, your new employer needs to file an I-129 H-1B petition for a change of employer (“transfer”) with USCIS.
Typically, only you and the new employer are involved in the H-1B transfer process. If the new employer has any questions about your current H-1B status, GEO can provide information to them with your written consent.
The easiest, most secure way to obtain timely and effective guidance from GEO about your VCU H-1B visa is to send an email to us at GEOIS@VCU.edu.