An H-1B visa is one of several types of working visas available to international scholars working at the University. It is appropriate for positions that require the minimum of a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specialized area and for prospective employees with the required degree. The employee must be paid the higher of the wage all other similar employees in the hiring unit are paid or the prevailing wage as determined by U.S. Department of Labor rules. The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (USCIS) charges filing fees for these petitions.

At CU Denver we use the H-1B visa for faculty positions of all types, including the Professional Research Assistant group; exempt professional positions requiring the minimum of a bachelor’s degree; and classified positions requiring the minimum of a bachelor’s degree. H-1B can also be used for postdoctoral fellow positions in cases in which the J-1 visa has been determined not appropriate, though policies for using H-1B visas for postdoctoral fellows can vary by department. Please see the Graduate Medical Education policy (below) for using H-1B visas for medical residents or clinical fellows.

Please click on the tabs to learn about ISSS procedures, see checklists for the forms and documents needed for H-1B visa paperwork in most situations, and obtain Word versions of templates for the required forms.:

H-1B Scholar Process

Effective January 2020, the following procedure is as listed below for ALL H-1B  Requests at the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus.  This includes New, Extensions, Amendments or Porting (Transfer) to the University from another approved H-1B.

Find the H-1B Basic Procedures Document.

As part of our current process, all H-1B Request will be assigned to outside counsel:

To be assigned to outside counsel a department must first complete Initial Request for H-1B Petition. To see all of the required documentation and the basic procedures you may find that here:  H-1B Basic Procedures.

After completion of the initial request form, ISSS will review the request in the order it is received.

After final approval of the H-1B request, the H-1B petition will be assigned to outside legal counsel for preparation and filing to USCIS. Please note that normal processing time from the moment that the complete request has been received by ISSS to the moment when petition is filed with USCIS is two months. Therefore, we strongly encourage departments to submit H-1B requests at a minimum two months prior to the planned start date of the new position/end date of employee’s current H-1B status. Please note that in some cases, Premium Processing might be required to meet this deadline.

Templates Needed for Initial Request for H-1B