I Am Unsure How the Visitor I Would Like to Host Will Be Categorized
We understand it may be complicated to determine whether the visitor will be categorized as a visiting student or scholar. Our process is designed to help assist with determining the appropriate visa category, and our office will assist with on-boarding the visitor.
During this process, departments will communicate primarily with representatives from:
- The Office for Global Engagement (Global)
- The International Services Office (ISO)
Questions or concerns? Contact us at URvisitor@rochester.edu or +1 585-273-1665.
To begin the process for hosting a visiting graduate student/visiting researcher or faculty:
- Complete an Indication of Interest form. Simply propose a placement for a visiting student or visiting scholar (“candidate”) by filling out the form. Do not issue a letter of invitation at this time. Global will provide departments with assistance in issuing a letter later in the process.
What happens next?
Global submits your completed form to your department head. During this time, the candidate will receive a link to the Online Application for Visiting Student/Visiting Scholar. The candidate must complete the Online Application. Then he or she will receive information to review about visa documentation, housing, health insurance, etc.Once your department head approves the Indication of Interest and the student completes the Online Application, ISO determines which placement category your candidate falls into: visiting student or visiting researcher or faculty.
Global informs departments of the placement category. At this point, we check your candidate’s information against the Indication of Interest form. If all the information is accurate, Global provides departments with the Letter of Offer.
- Review, sign, and send the Letter of Offer and Intellectual Property Agreement to the candidate via email. Ask the candidate to sign the letter and return it to Global. Please copy Global on this email correspondence at urvisitor@rochester.edu.
What happens next?
Once your visiting candidate signs and returns the Letter of Offer and IP Agreement to Global, Global provides them with information about housing, transportation, health insurance, living in Rochester, and more. ISO helps to facilitate the visa process. The candidate fills out the New Student Request for I-20/DS-2019 or the J-1 Visiting Researcher or Faculty Exchange Visitor Questionnaire. - Complete the Sponsorshop Request Form and the Departmental Host Responsibilities Form (if scholar) for I-20/DS-2019.
What happens next?
Global will request a student record be created in ISIS, if applicable, from your school’s registrar. You will receive communication from Global or ISO once the I-20/DS-2019 the primary sponsorship document needed for the candidate to obtain their visa is issued. It is then the responsibility of the candidate to obtain the visa. - Once the visiting scholar arrives, please remind them that they need to check in immediately with ISO.
NOTE: Obtaining an ID Card for a visitor in the Medical Center may be different from obtaining an ID Card on the River Campus. If your visitor is in the Medical Center, contact the registrar for further instruction.
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR FACULTY:
As the hosting faculty, you are the visiting student’s/visiting researcher or faculty’s supervisor and primary point of contact with the University from an academic, research, and supervisory standpoint. Additionally, should the student complete their stay at UR with any outstanding fees, it is your department’s responsibility to cover those fees.
If the duration of the visiting student/visiting researcher or faculty’s time at UR changes—either shortens or lengthens—you should inform your department head/dean for approval as soon as possible, and then notify Global. This can have immigration implications as well as issues with the bursar and registrar offices, and Global will facilitate as needed.