Overview
The University of Washington hosts hundreds of faculty and other academic personnel from around the world each year. These individuals are collectively referred to as “international scholars.”
International scholars engage in a variety of teaching and research activities but are not enrolled as students at the UW or abroad. They hold a UW appointment and generally require a temporary, non-immigrant visa to enter the U.S.
International Scholars Operations (ISO) processes requests for visa sponsorship, provides training and guidance to UW academic units, and supports international scholars in compliance with their visas.
For questions about visas, including relevant academic appointments, contact the ISO team.
Campus departments that sponsor international scholars for visas undertake several obligations. These include, but are not limited to:
- Assigning the international scholar a UW appointment title that is appropriate for the intended activity
- Documenting that the scholar is fully qualified to participate in the proposed activity
- Completing visa sponsorship paperwork (UW J and UW H Visa Request Forms)
- Advising the scholar, before and after arrival in Seattle, of the services and facilities (e.g., housing, insurance, office or lab space) available
- Emailing acadvisa@uw.edu in advance of changes in the scholar’s start or end date, financial support, appointment title, percent of FTE, worksite location and the like
Visa-related news and announcements
USCIS no longer accepting filing fee checks as of 10/29/25
October 2, 2025
USCIS has announced that it will no longer accept checks as a payment method for any filing fee as of October 29, 2025, and will transition entirely to electronic payment methods instead. Those methods include the Form G-1450 Authorization for Credit Card Transactions. ISO has experienced higher USCIS rejection rates with petitions filed using G-1450…
Effect of Federal Shutdown on ISO Visa Processing
October 2, 2025
As of October 1st, the U.S. federal government has entered a shutdown pending Congressional approval of a budget for the new federal fiscal year. ISO and government agency processes that will be affected: U.S. Department of Labor processing ISO cannot draft or submit ETA-9035 Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) for H-1B/E-3 sponsorship, or ETA-9141 Prevailing Wage Determinations or…
New H-1B Visa Fee Updates
September 20, 2025
Pause on Filing New H-1B Petitions Posted 09/23/2025 According to current USCIS guidance, all new H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025 are subject to the new $100,000 H-1B fee. Based on this guidance and in consultation with UW leadership, filing of new H-1B petitions for employment at the UW is being paused until at least October 8th as the University seeks additional clarity…