The Immigration Request Form (IRF) is the mechanism that ISSA uses to determine the appropriate immigration status for international scholars at Notre Dame. International scholars are non-U.S. citizen/permanent resident faculty, postdocs, researchers, and staff who are not enrolled full-time as a student at the university; paid or unpaid.
The IRF does not need to be completed for conference attendees without a Notre Dame appointment. The IRF should only be completed after an offer has been made. An official appointment/invitation letter may follow completion of the IRF. ISSA will provide the invitation letter template if an invitation letter is appropriate. Only university administrators may complete the IRF; it cannot not be completed by the international scholar.
ISSA is the only office with the authority to recommend the appropriate immigration status. ISSA’s IRF Recommendation, provided by email, should be included in all hiring packets. The IRF Recommendation must be submitted for all appointments and reappointments.
The IRF has 5 sections that can usually be completed in less than 10 minutes, and the following information is requested:
Position Information (Appointment/Invitation Dates, Position Title, Primary Purpose of Visit, Position Description/Posting)
Department/Unit Contact Information
5 Year U.S. Immigration History (current immigration status, if applicable)
Any additional comments or information (preferred status, etc.)
Requested information is essential to make an accurate immigration recommendation. Failing to provide requested information may impact the accuracy of the recommendation and may negatively impact the appointee’s future U.S. entries and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services petitions.
Appointee’s Immigration History
Section 3 of the IRF pertains to the appointee’s U.S. immigration history. There are two options for reporting this information:
- The department/unit administrator sends a link (embedded in the IRF) to the appointee for their completion (preferred in all cases)
- The department/unit administrator collects and enters the information (acceptable if there is no, or limited, U.S. immigration history)
If the department/unit administrator chooses to send the link to the appointee, the administrator completing the form is still required to complete the remaining two sections and click ‘submit’; the form does not queue for our review until the ‘submit’ button in section 5 has been actuated.
Regardless of who completes the Appointee’s Immigration History, if there is prior U.S. immigration history, documentation will need to be uploaded.
For example:
- If the appointee has F-1 Status with OPT/STEM OPT, all EAD cards must be uploaded
- If the appointee has J-1 status, all DS-2019s must be uploaded; and I-612 waiver if applicable
- If the appointee has H-1B status, all I-797 approval notices must be uploaded
If there is a preferred immigration status (e.g. H-1B or TN), indicate so in the final comments section of the IRF.
Timeline and Next Steps
Allow 3-5 business days for the IRF to be reviewed. Once reviewed, we will send an email with the recommended visa type and next steps to the department/unit administrator who submitted the IRF. Be sure to follow through with the next steps that are identified; we are unable to send reminders as over 400 IRFs are submitted each year.
Additional Notes
Provide an answer for all questions. If a question does not apply, enter N/A.
If you are not sure how to answer a question, contact issa@nd.edu for assistance.