Employment Based Permanent Residency

Historically, many tenure-track faculty and some probationary or indefinite status instructional academic staff have been sponsored through the PERM process to begin a move to U.S. permanent resident status. Additionally, some tenured or tenure-track faculty and research academic staff in positions with anticipated “permanency” have been sponsored for Outstanding Professor/Researcher petitions to USCIS.

Permanent Labor Certification at UWM

A permanent labor certification (aka PERM) issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the United States. In most instances, before the U.S. employer can submit an immigration petition to the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the employer must obtain a certified labor certification application from the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The DOL must certify to the USCIS that there are not sufficient U.S. workers able, willing, qualified and available to accept the job opportunity in the area of intended employment and that employment of the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

Contact Brooke Thomas (bathomas@uwm.edu) as soon as a foreign national faculty member is hired for more information and to discuss the timeline for your employee’s individual PERM case.

Outstanding Professor/Researcher Petitions

Upon occasion, UWM’s Schools or Colleges will sponsor faculty or academic staff with positions of anticipated long or ongoing duration or “permanency” for the employment-based Outstanding Professor/Researcher petition with USCIS. Feel free to contact Brooke Thomas (bathomas@uwm.edu) for more information and to discuss your or your employee’s individual case.