Permanent Resident Sponsor

CSULA will sponsor a full-time permanent position if there is no eligible U.S. worker who qualifies for the position, and the position is essential to the University mission.

Tenure-track faculty members should make the request for CSULA sponsorship no later than 6 months after starting employment.

Obtaining employment-based permanent resident status requires either that CSULA initially obtain Labor Certification for a position from the U.S. Department of Labor, or that CSULA show the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that the employee and the job offer qualify in one of the categories which are exempt from labor certification.

If CSULA sponsors an employee in the categories “advanced degree holder” or “member of the professions,” then labor certification is required, and specific recruitment activities are carried out by the department. For faculty members, CSULA must show that there are no U.S. workers available who are equally qualified as the person for whom labor certification is sought. For all other employees, CSULA must show that there are no U.S. workers available who are minimally qualified for the position.

Once the Labor Certification is approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, the International Office will complete the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (I-140) and submit it to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for processing and approval. Once this petition is approved, the non-immigrant employee will work with his/her attorney to file the Application to Register Permanent Resident or Adjust Status (I-485) to obtain the green card. All application and attorney fees are borne by the non-immigrant employee. If the I-140 and I-485 can be filed concurrently, the International Office will complete the I-140 and forward it to the employee’s attorney so that both petitions can be submitted at the same time.

The Sponsor Package:

The following documents must be submitted to the International Office to initiate the sponsorship process:

Request for Permanent Resident Sponsor letter

Resume/C.V. of employee

Copy of job description

Copy of printed advertisement with the name of journal/newspaper and publication date Processing Timeline:

This is an estimated timeline of how long the process will take for each step. It will change from case to case.

1.	Sponsor Package	- 1 week to 1 month
2.	Labor Certification preparation	- 1 to 2 months
3.	Labor Certification Processing	- 3 to 6 months
4.	I-140 preparation	- 2 weeks to 1 month
4.	I-140 processing	- 3 to 6 months

Fees:

Below is a list of fees involved in the I-140 petition. All fees associated with this petition are borne by the non-immigrant employee.

I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker:	$580.00
I-140 Premium Processing (optional)	$1200.00

* Fees are subject to change without notice. For updated fees, please consult with USCIS website: www.uscis.gov.