Academic Institutions, Higher Education and Non-Profit Organizations

Institutions of higher learning, medical and other scientific research non-profits, university career centers, teaching hospitals, arts organizations, and private companies that hope to sponsor students as they transition to the workforce share a host of immigration challenges. And as secondary education assumes a global scope, private and independent schools have started to experience these challenges as well.

These institutions sponsor a wide variety of populations with vastly different educational and professional ambitions—including students, professors, physicians, researchers, officials and administrative employees. The immigration requirements in this sector vary widely, but remaining in compliance with immigration regulation is always critical and top-of-mind.

With decades of experience behind us and longstanding partnerships with institutions and organizations around the world, we are a unique resource for managing the challenges of academic and non-profit clients.

 

Clients value us for our:

Understanding

Academic institutions and non-profits rely on the brilliance of individuals who can change roles rapidly—for example, a medical practitioner or private researcher may seek a position in a teaching hospital, or harbor ambitions to become a professor.

These transitions pose challenging immigration scenarios that Fragomen is well-positioned to resolve. Because we are familiar with the vast array of visa options across multiple jurisdictions, we can help clients manage even the most unique immigration paths.

Advocacy

We believe that academic and non-profit institutions greatly benefit from shared experience. That’s why we facilitate roundtable discussions, conferences and other events that bring universities and related organizations together to confront the variety of immigration challenges they face and discuss ideas to streamline processes.

Risk Management Mindset

Because educational institutions have a variety of visa requirements, ensuring proper compliance can be daunting. In our experience, any institution—especially those that manage aspects of their immigration programs in-house—could have unknown compliance weaknesses.

And the risks can be quite severe. Running afoul of government-mandated sponsorship obligations or licensing arrangements can close an immigration program down altogether, leading to untold financial and reputational losses.

Fragomen manages stringent self-auditing programs for our clients, administered regularly to capture up-to-date changes in immigration policy. We identify areas of improvement and work with our clients to resolve them, ensuring that they are prepared for any future formal audits that may arise.

Workforce Planning and Advice

We are acutely aware of the challenges faced by in-house program managers and related staff, who often are managing tax and mobility issues in addition to immigration matters.

Our academic and research clients rely on us to develop training for in-house human resource teams and mobility professionals, and to design custom internal policies and initiatives to help our clients make informed choices about which employees to support for permanent residence.

Medical Immigration Experience

Academic and higher education institutions with close working relationships with hospitals, joint teaching initiatives or research institutions seek us out to help manage the challenges unique to the immigration of medical professionals, such as the mismatch between the time allotted for professional medical training and the time required to secure the visa types needed to achieve it.

Ensuring that physicians and other medical personnel realize their ambitions requires careful strategy and planning. Fragomen offers a hands-on, personalized approach to each case.