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UF/IFAS Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion

UF/IFAS Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion

IFAS IMMIGRATION COMPLIANCE SERVICES

Updates:

ABOUT US

OUR MISSION

OUR SERVICES

PROCESSING SCHEDULE

FEE SCHEDULE

EARLY TERMINATIONS

IFAS POLICIES

FORM I-9 EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY RE-VERIFICATION

RELATED LINKS

ABOUT US

IFAS Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusion (IFAS HRDI) is your first stop for all IFAS immigration-related matters. We are a satellite office to the University of Florida Immigration Compliance Services, with specialization tailored to the needs of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. 

OUR MISSION

To consolidate into a central office, immigration-related information and resources to serve as a consortium to IFAS units.  Primary functions are to work cohesively with UF Immigration Compliance Services and Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen, & Loewy, LLP ("Fragomen") to ensure timely submission, oversight, and monitoring of all IFAS immigration petitions, in accordance with established university and federal immigration policy.

Accomplish integration of university policy and federal compliance into IFAS’ best business practice models, which includes cost allocation, accounts payable, budgeting, and pre-offer discussions.  Current models are based upon collaborative efforts of the various core offices, IFAS Human Resources Diversity & Inclusion, IFAS Budget & Finance, as well as IFAS units.

OUR SERVICES

IFAS-HRDI initiates and manages the following employment-based visa classifications*.

OTHER SERVICES

  • consultation with units leaders and/or PIs for pre-offer immigration negotiations
  • consultation to determine the most appropriate start date
  • periodic review of employment authorizations – oversight allows for the identification of employment authorizations nearing expiration; identification of immigration cases that may need intervention such as amendment and/or extension; early intervention to capitalize on potential cost savings of RUSH fees
  • advise foreign national employees on their immigration options at the university

PROCESSING SCHEDULE

As good stewards of funding sources, it is requested, where possible, units allow 9+ months lead time.  Otherwise, units will pay additional attorney fees to rush the cases.  The university cannot accommodate a hire date earlier than 110 days.

Always obtain prior approval from IFAS-HRDI for a proposed start date before executing a letter of offer. A very general timeline is:

  • Center/Department requests immigration sponsorship through IFAS-HRDI.
  • IFAS-HRDI will work with the Department/Center to prepare and submit a case application to UF-ICS for a final review and then to Fragomen.
  • Fragomen will contact the beneficiary directly via email to request support materials and obligatory documents

FEE SCHEDULE

Processing timeline determines fee schedule and costs; timelines below are effective upon case transfer to Fragomen.  Please allow additional time to quoted timelines below for IFAS-HRDI to prepare, review, and transfer a beneficiary’s immigration questionnaire to UF-ICS and Fragomen. 

The current University of Florida and Fragomen published fee schedule is here: Standard Fee Schedule and RUSH Fee Schedule. Because processing times and fees are subject to change, you are encouraged to confirm applicable fees in advance, for expediency and financial planning.

EARLY PROGRAM TERMINATIONS

The UF sponsoring department is responsible to offer a one-way airfare ticket back to the last country of origin should a foreign national employee on an H1B (or an O-1 sponsorship) be terminated, prior to the current expiration date. If the foreign national resigned the position, the sponsoring department is not liable for the return airfare.

Ensure you have documented if the foreign national resigned on his/her own terms and submit, on or before the last day employee works, an End of Program form found in the forms section.

IFAS ADOPTED POLICIES

IFAS Dependent Fee Policy

Effective January 5, 2015, IFAS Administration established an institute-wide policy that IFAS units will support only employer-required application fees for J-1, H-1B, TN, E-3, O-1, and permanent residency of the employee only.  As is currently the case, IFAS units will pay:

  • only ”employer” required fees associated with each of the various VISA classifications outlined above.
  • While the University of Florida allows dependents to be included with the primary beneficiary’s employment-based petition, dependent fees must be paid by the employee. Payment of dependent fees is a separate contract with Fragomen and is outside of the employment-based sponsorship.
  • Dependents have no relationship or employment expectation with the University, therefore, the use of any UF funding source to support dependent applications is inappropriate.

IFAS Vice President - Immigration Support Funds

Effective July 1, 2015, IFAS Administration established a policy to provide a one-time $5,000 allocation to IFAS units, intended to offset unit costs for employer-required immigration fees.  The allocation is available for tenure-track faculty recruitments only.  Budget authority remains with IFAS Budget & Finance; IFAS HRDI is delegated the day-to-day oversight of the IFAS Immigration Support Funds.

As part of tenure-track offer negotiations, IFAS units may opt to match a portion up to the Vice President’s allocation. When matching, units should be attentive to financial implications of current and future budgetary allocations and/or tenure-track hires – current practice sets precedent and expectation for future practice. Your internal policy should consistently apply to mitigate any perception of preferential conduct.  Departmental allocation of funding support, if any, will combine with the SVP allocation.  VP allocated funds will be applied first then to the unit allocation.

RELATED LINKS

Contact

Katie Davison, Human Resource Specialist III
University of Florida
McCarty Hall D (bldg #0498)

Mailing Address:

PO Box: 110281
Gainesville FL 32611

Physical Address:

1604 McCarty Drive, Suite 2044
Gainesville FL 32611

Phone: 352-273-3592
Fax: 352-392-3226
URL: hr.ifas.ufl.edu
Email: katie.davison@ufl.edu
DocuSign & Dropbox: ktwilson@ufl.edu

  • I-9 Employment Eligibility Reverification

    IFAS-HRDI Employment Eligibility Reverification Policy 

    “Under federal law, employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all individuals they hire, and to document that information using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9.” (Worksite Enforcement. (2018, Jan 9). Retrieved from https://www.ice.gov/worksite) 

    Worksite enforcement by ICE begins with a) compliance; via Form I-9 audits, civil fines, and referrals for debarment from federal contracts; and b) enforcement; through arrest of employers knowingly employing undocumented workers, and the arrest of unauthorized workers.

    The above can be avoided by maintaining an accurate work authorization record throughout an employee’s length of service at the University of Florida, not just at the time of initial hire. It is the policy of IFAS-HRDI to be 100% in compliance with the federal standards to protect our departments, research, and employees from unnecessary worksite inspection audits.

    IFAS Immigration Compliance will stay up to date with any new policies and procedures made by UFHR and Tax Services to re-verify work authorizations and update tax statuses. The following procedure will ensure federal compliance and, at the same time, alleviate a large portion of the process from the department workload.

    Work Authorization Report

    IFAS Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusion (IFAS-HRDI) will provide a quarterly work authorization report to each IFAS unit listing each foreign national. This report may be updated more often as needed. The department should maintain an accurate report of their foreign national employees and report to IFAS-HRDI any potential gaps in employment based on immigration issues.

    The IFAS unit will contact the employee and/or supervisor of all upcoming work authorization expirations and encourage them to file for extensions at the earliest allowable deadline prior to expiration. The foreign national will bring in their new documents to be physically reviewed in person and photocopied by the unit’s authorized representative as soon as they are received.

    Employment Authorization Reverification

    The IFAS unit will reverify all extensions or changes in work authorization on or before the current expiration date by following the instructions for the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, specifically Section 3 of that form.

    No employee will be allowed to work or volunteer in any capacity during a gap in work authorization. The US Department of Homeland Security does allow automatic extensions for some specific expired work authorizations. The unit will confirm with IFAS-HRDI if their employee qualifies for one of these allowances. 

    I-9 Reverification Procedure

    Access the portal by going to the UF Human Resource Services I-9 Reverification Portal and login using your Gatorlink credentials.

    1. Type in the employee’s UFID and hit Enter or Tab to auto-populate the rest of the fields
    2. HRS Representative Name
      • Type in your last name,first name (no spaces). DO NOT CLICK THE DOWN ARROW!! A dropdown automatically appears after you start typing so you can choose your name.
      • Your email and office number will auto-populate. You do not need to type in your Job Title to continue
    3. Choose YES you would like to add an additional email.
      • Another field will open to put Katie Davison’s email address katie.davison@ufl.edu
      • Katie will get all communications from UFHR concerning the reverification so any issues can be resolved, and reports updated
    4. Reverification Reason
      • Status Change – change of visa, newly acquired green card, or naturalized citizen
      • Work Authorization Expired – used for extensions on expired or expiring statuses
    5. Add any helpful information for UFHR to know in the additional information box
    6. Attach the completed Form I-9, Section 3 - *Required
    7. Attach the I-9 support document being updated
      • If the document is in the same pdf as the I-9, this attachment is not required
    8. Click on Submit

    An automatic email will be sent notifying the reverification was submitted and another notifying once the update has been completed.

    **The portal does not allow for multiple entries and you will need to load the page again if you have more than one reverification to enter. I suggest bookmarking the website if you intend to do all your reverifications at once.