Global Education Office

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.   

Under section 264(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, you are required to carry evidence of your H-1B status with you at all times while you are in the U.S.:

1. Passport
2. Form I-797 H-1B approval notice
3. I-94 record—either the I-94 record attached to your H-1B approval notice or the I-94 record obtained from https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/recent-search --Whichever I-94 is most recent.

It can be practically inconvenient and risky to carry your passport and H-1B approval notice with you at all times.    

If lost or damaged, your passport and H-1B approval notice are difficult and expensive to replace. 

The chance that you will be asked to present these documents (for example, by law enforcement) is low but it is not zero.

You need to balance the requirement to carry these documents against the risk of losing or damaging them.   

In light of this, GEO recommends the following:

• Keep the original Form I-797 H-1B approval notice safely at your home in the Richmond area so that you can obtain it quickly if needed.
• Save a clear digital copy of the H-1B approval notice to your computer (desk top and laptop) and/or smart phone.
• Keep a photocopy of the H-1B approval notice in your wallet, purse, office, briefcase, and car.
• Current I-94 record: If you have traveled internationally since receiving the H-1B approval notice, obtain the I-94 record for your most recent admission to the U.S. from https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/recent-search and save it to your computer and smart phone, and keep a photocopy of the I-94 in your wallet, purse, office, briefcase, and car.
• Carry the original H-1B approval notice only if you travel domestically in the U.S. outside the greater Richmond, VA area and when you travel internationally.
  
  

For the most part, you should expect to be asked to present the original H-1B approval notice only during the following processes:

• I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification process (see below)
• Applying for a Social Security Number (SSN)
• Applying for a new or renewal Virginia driver’s license
• Applying for an H-1B visa stamp at a U.S. consulate outside the U.S.
• Asking CBP to admit you to the U.S. in H-1B status

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.  

Your VCU H-1B approval is specific to your employer (VCU), job title, job duties, worksite address, and wage.   

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.

If you change your U.S. residential address, you are required to update USCIS within 10 days of the change. GEO cannot update USCIS for you. Please follow the information at this USCIS website: https://www.uscis.gov/ar-11 

Before finalizing plans to travel outside the U.S. please review our travel guidance at https://global.vcu.edu/students/travel/   

Some of the guidance is general, but some of it is specific to H-1B visa holders.  For your convenience, here is the international travel guidance for H-1B visa holders:

To return to the U.S. in H-1B status, be prepared to present the following documents either to CBP immediately upon arrival in the U.S.

1. Passport valid for at least six months after the date of your intended admission.
2. Unexpired H-1B visa stamp in the passport. (Citizens of Canada are exempt from this requirement.)
3. Unexpired Form I-797 H-1B approval notice.
4. S. government-required COVID vaccination record (see https://global.vcu.edu/students/travel/).
5. Recently dated letter from your hiring unit's HR manager confirming that you are returning to your job at VCU. For a template letter for your HR manager to use, please email GEOIS@vcu.edu (Subject Line: H-1B Travel Letter).
6. Three most recent VCU pay statements.

Present items 1-4 in every case.  Present items 5 and 6 as well but only if CBP asks to see them.

If you need to obtain a new H-1B visa stamp in your passport before returning to the U.S., contact the US consulate in your home country. H-1B visa stamps are not available from inside the U.S., they are available only at U.S. consulates abroad.https://www.usembassy.gov/   

Citizens of Canada: You do not need to obtain H-1B visa stamps.

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.