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Permanent Residents

Pursuant to U.S. Department of Labor regulations, CSUN may file a PERM labor certification application to start the process to sponsor a Tenure-track Faculty employee for Permanent Resident status under the “special recruitment” process for university teachers.  

The permanent resident status is reserved for international faculty who has been offered permanent positions at California State University, Northridge.  CSUN will sponsor permanent resident status only for an individual of exceptional ability who has been offered a full-time, permanent position as a faculty member. 

CSUN policy requires that the international faculty seek the assistance of an outside attorney with his or her permanent resident case.

The Office of Faculty Affairs will serve as the liaison between the international faculty, California Faculty Association (CFA) union representative and the immigration attorney hired by the international faculty who is seeking permanent resident status.

For information about CSUN sponsorship for permanent resident status, please contact Ashley Thompson at (818) 677 2962 or at ashley.thompson@csun.edu to initiate the process.

Procedure

Under the "special recruitment" process, CSUN must file the labor certification within 18 months of the faculty's date of hire. Due to pre-filing requirements, faculty are strongly advised to start this process before the 14 month mark from the date of hire, as shown on their offer letter.

  •  Step One – PERM Labor Certification - Special Recruitment.
    *CSUN pays all fees related to the PERM application and the University has retained a law firm to handle every aspect of this processing on behalf of the faculty member. 
  •  Step Two – Immigration (USCIS)  I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. The University’s retained attorney will assist the University in preparing and filing this petition. 
    *The faculty member is responsible to pay for the government filing fee of $700. 
  • Step Three – Immigration (USCIS) Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status is the actual green card application. 
    *The faculty member will be responsible for this step including all the required government filing and attorney fees, if any.  The current government filing fee is $1,140 for each applicant ages 14 and over.  If the applicant is less than 14 years old the filing fee is $750.  USCIS will also require each applicant to submit a medical exam conducted by a sanctioned USCIS Civil Surgeon.  The civil surgeon will likely charge a fee of $175 to $250 for this medical exam. 

U.S. immigration laws are very complicated and as such we strongly recommend that you seek out the advice of a competent immigration attorney to help you with this last step.  Should you retain legal counsel to help with the filing of the I-485, please communicate with Carmen Lichtscheidl in the Office of Faculty Affairs so that we can have the university’s attorney filing the I-140 to coordinate the filing with your legal representative.