Legal Permanent Residency

Legal permanent residents of the U.S. hold the same employment rights and privileges accorded to U.S. citizens. Documented immigrants are issued a Legal Permanent Resident Card, commonly known as the “green card”, as proof of their legal right to live and work permanently in the U.S. There are no special recruitment or hiring requirements to fulfill when employing a legal permanent resident. A legal permanent resident can use the green card to complete the I-9 form.

Application for Immigrant Status or Legal Permanent Residency

BGSU will assist faculty and staff in obtaining legal permanent residency (i.e. green card) on the basis of employment in a permanent position only with the endorsement of the unit supervisor or hiring official. By BGSU's current policy, the application process begins after completing one semester of employment. In that way there are some performance measures to evaluate.

There are three major steps in the application for legal permanent residency:

1. BGSU petitions for permanent employment certification (ETA 9089) (also known as PERM). PERM is U.S. Department of Labor certification that a competitive national search has been conducted as evidenced by a print or web ad in a national publications or websites and DOL’s acknowledgment that there are insufficient qualified U.S. workers willing and available to fill the position the foreign national holds.  PERM must be filed within 18 months of the date that the foreign candidate was selected as the most qualified candidate.  
2. BGSU sponsors the employee for legal permanent residency on the basis of employment by endorsing the filing of the I-140 form. An approved outside agent must be retained to file the petition and all costs are the responsibility of the employee.
3. The individual makes application to adjust status to that of legal permanent resident. All costs are the responsibility of the employee 

While BGSU will sponsor a long-term employee for legal permanent residency, preparation of the application for an employment-based green card (I-140) and the request to adjust status to that of legal permanent resident (I-485) is a complex and time-consuming task and is work that is not done on-site. Such work must be done by an agent or agency external to the university. However, in any case where BGSU is the sponsor for the employment-based green card, the agent or attorney the employee retains must be cleared by The Office of Faculty and Staff Immigration Services prior to any work being done.