Recruiting and Hiring Critical Shortage Teachers on an H1B

Transcription

1 Recruiting and Hiring Critical Shortage Teachers on an H1B Aracely Chavez, Executive Director, Classified Learning, FWISD Keely Sewell, Attorney, Jason Mills Law Firm Olga Quiroz, 4 th Grade Teacher Manuel Jara Elementary September 26, 2016

2 Preparing ALL students for success in college, career and community leadership. We start with the end in mind!

3 Recent FWISD and H1B teacher experience In 2008 as the Minority High Need Coordinator, I convinced the HCM director to consider H1B Visas because of the critical shortages in bilingual education. In 2009, the Superintendent agreed that we attend the Region 4 Mexico Job Fair. That year, we hired 69 teachers from Mexico, Peru, Columbia and Venezuela. Region 4 teachers go thru an intensive certification program. Fast forward to 2013 and our HCM Chief decided to do H1B Visas again because of the critical shortage in bilingual education. He also decided to pay for the perms for the original teachers from This when we hired the Jason Mills Law Firm

4 During the school year I recruited, recommended for hire and placed 29 new H1B teachers

5 Sol Tager was hired at MH Moore Elementary. Sol is from Queretaro, Mexico and had 17 years of teaching experience.

6 In addition to bilingual teachers, we hired a Qui Hu a Mandarin Chinese teacher and two International students from TCU. Andrew Paolo is math teacher from Canada and Hiroko Saigo is Japanese teacher from Japan.

7 Nelson Cedillo, was a dentist in Mexico and was hired to teach Spanish at McLean Middle school. Nelson now teaches dual language at George C. Clark Elementary

8 Mario and Maria Razo where named Teachers of the Year in They both work at different schools. They have been teaching for 8 years for FWISD. mmunity/fortworth/article html

9 Olga Quiroz is a teacher at Manuel Jara Elementary, has written curriculum and translates for the district.

10 s E-I_/Human_Capital_Management

11 Employment Options: OPT Immigration Law Students can apply for the 12-month OPT authorization without a job offer. Students are eligible for 12 months of full-time OPT per academic level. Students may apply for OPT authorization during their academic program, after their program completion, or a combination of both.

12 New OPT STEM 24 Month Extension Immigration Law - Students who graduate with a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degree are eligible to remain in the United States for an additional 24 months on an OPT STEM extension. - Link to list of acceptable STEM degrees: /Document/2014/stem-list.pdf

13 What is H-1B Status? Immigration Law Employment Options: H-1B Nonimmigrant (temporary) visa Six years Professional or specialty occupation requiring a bachelor s degree Employer specific Location specific

14 The H-1b Cap On Visa Numbers Immigration Law 65,000 for the bachelor s degree 20,000 additional numbers for those with a master s degree or higher from a U.S. institution.

15 Fiscal Year for the H-1B Cap Immigration Law Visas become available October 1 st of each year. The fiscal year runs from October 1 st to September 30 th.

16 H-1B Cap Cont. Immigration Law The earliest an employer can file an H-1B petition subject to the cap is April 1st of each year (cannot file more than 6 months in advance of the start date). The H-1B cap in both the bachelor s and master s categories for this fiscal year was reached on April 7, 2016.

17 H-1B Cap Continued Immigration Law Petitions received from April 1 st to April 7 th are subject to a computerized random lottery. USCIS received over 236,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period for FY 2017

18 Changing status from OPT to H-1B Immigration Law Processing via Change of Status Any F-1 student with a timely filed H-1B petition and request for change of status will be allowed to extend the duration of F-1 status and any current employment authorization until the first day of the new fiscal year.

19 Immigration Law Changing status from OPT to H-1b Petitions Exempt from the H-1B Cap - Certain employers and petitions are not subject to the visa cap. - If not subject to the cap then the H-1B petition can be filed and the employment may commence at any time during the year

20 Immigration Law Changing status from OPT to H-1b Cap Exemption Cont. Cap exempt petitions and employers include: - Any alien counted against the cap within the past six years - J-1 who has obtained a waiver through the State 30 program - Institutions of higher education - Nonprofit entities affiliated with institutions of higher education - Nonprofit or governmental research organizations - Extensions of H-1B status

21 Immigration Law Filing Fees and Attorney Fees The employer must pay certain fees (ACWIA, fraud) Certain employers are exempt from those fees

22 Immigration Law Premium Processing $1,225 filing fee UCIS must adjudicate the petition within 2 weeks of receipt or request additional evidence within this time frame

23 Immigration Law Portability H-1B change of employer petitions The employee can commence employment with the new H-1B petitioning employer upon the filing of an H-1B petition.

24 Admission and Extension Immigration Law H-1B status granted for up to three years at a time and for a maximum of six years. H-1B status can be extended beyond six years if the process for legal permanent residency through an employer has reached a certain stage.

25 Filing for Permanent Residency Immigration Law The employer can start the permanent residency process for an H-1B employee either before, during or after filing the H-1B petition.

26 Immigration Law 1403 Ellis Avenue Fort Worth, TX