Director of Immigration Services, Widener University

Posted by Widener University on June 20, 2023

Widener University is currently seeking a Director for Immigration Services for the Center of Civic and Global Engagement. This role reports to the Executive Director and works closely with the Center team, Human Resources, Academic Affairs, and hiring managers, as it pertains to international student and scholars, and faculty hires and assists with processing visas to meet the immigration needs for all three university campuses (Chester, Wilmington, and Harrisburg). This position may be eligible for hybrid or remote work.

Essential duties:

• Primary subject matter resource for ongoing immigration activities for students, faculty, and scholars.

• Serve as Designated School Official (DSO) and Alternate Responsible Officer (ARO) for students, faculty, and scholar visa holders’ population for all three campuses.
• Oversee immigration compliance with regulations for the F-1 visa program and J -1 visa program.
• Advise F and J international students on immigration matters.
  • Monitor federal compliance of immigration laws and documents.
  • Tracking status of requests for immigration and completion of the immigration process.
  • Ensure the University meets all sponsorship duties to retain sponsorship status, and assisting with sponsorship activities such as license renewal, annual BCA, CAS/COS annual allocations and on-site audits.
  • Serve as campus liaison with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Labor, and other federal authorities and organizations.Collaborate with the team at the Center for Civic and Global Engagement to support international students, study abroad and study away initiatives.

• Partner with the executive director and other team members on international orientation programming for all campuses.
• Develop and implement standard operating procedures for visa application processing. Seek opportunities to continue to improve internal workflows related to the issuance of H-1 visa processes.
• Ensure compliance in all operational and procedural immigration processes
  • Ensure data integrity and compliance for all international scholars/faculty and student records.
  • Partner with university stakeholders to improve services and update policies to enhance the experience for international scholars/faculty and students.
  • Maintain the University’s procedural documents pertaining to visa checks, expiring visas, withdrawals from study, changes to study plans, and visa denials.
  • Ensure timely and accurate record keeping, data analysis, and reporting
  • Assist/coordinate international transcript evaluation and credential evaluation services.
• Act as a liaison to Human Resources (HR), Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs for immigration-related matters.
  • Collaborate with Human Resources on hiring process and standard operating procedures for international employees.
  • Communicate any restrictions/barriers that pertain to employment and onboarding.
• Assist and support development and training of immigration-related services.
  • Provide training to hiring managers related to Sponsor responsibilities, equitable hiring and consideration of international candidates and relevant University policies.
  • Partners with campus stakeholders to improve services and updated policies to enhance the experience for international students and faculty.
• Support and Facilitate Inclusion and Belonging for employees and international scholars/faculty and students.

Learn more and apply.