Higher education professionals play a critical role in supporting students in temporary and precarious statuses to navigate their career goals. This section offers tools and resources designed to better equip advisors, staff, and administrators to guide, prepare, and assist students and alumni transitioning to employment-based immigration visas. Materials are organized by student or graduate population to support targeted advising.
Webinar on Sponsoring DACA recipients and Other Dreamers for Employment Based Visas: How Higher Education Institutions Can Support Their Employees and Alumni. This 2024 webinar hosted by the Presidents’ Alliance, TheDream.US, Path2Papers, and the University of California’s Immigrant Legal Services Center, focused on the Biden’s administration’s recent executive action to support DACA recipients and other Dreamers’ access to employment-based visas by improving the D-3 waiver process. The speakers and discussion provided updated guidance and recommendations on how institutions of higher education can sponsor DACA-recipient employees and prospective hires who could be eligible for work visas.
Sponsoring Dreamers and TPS Recipients for Employment-Based Visas: How Higher Education Institutions Can Support Their Employees and Alumni. This updated guide, originally created by the Presidents’ Alliance, Path2Papers, and the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center, is intended for leaders and administrators at institutions of higher education who are interested in learning how to support prospective and current employees who are not U.S. citizens, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, with employment-based immigration pathways.
From Campus to Career: A Practical Guide to Employment-Based Visas for Noncitizen Students in Higher Education. This guide developed by the Presidents’ Alliance, Path2Papers & FWD.us shares what noncitizen students in the United States—whether undocumented, DACA recipient, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders, a humanitarian parolees, or on student visas—need to know about qualifying for nonimmigrant and immigrant visa options upon graduation.
From Campus to Career: Preparing for Employment-Based Visas as a Student. This webinar, hosted by the Presidents’ Alliance, Path2Papers & FWD.us, introduced new resources and provided an overview of employment-based visa pathways, such as H-1B, O-1, and employment-based green cards. Panelists discussed concrete steps students can take now to prepare, strategies for securing sponsorship, and where to find additional support and free legal consultation opportunities.
For individuals in fragile immigration statuses, securing temporary employment-based visas usually requires leaving the United States for a consular interview. When some individuals depart the U.S., they may trigger certain inadmissibility bars that prevent them from re-entering. To address these inadmissibilities and re-enter the U.S., a person must obtain a so-called D-3 waiver.
Update on D-3 Waivers and PIP Executive Actions: What You Need to Know to Prepare. This webinar covered updates to the Biden-Harris Administration’s 2024 executive actions to streamline access to temporary employment-based visas for eligible U.S. college and university graduates and parole-in-place for eligible spouses of U.S. citizens. It provided additional resources and discussed ways potential applicants, employers, and colleges and universities seeking to support impacted employees, alumni, and students can start to prepare now. This webinar was hosted by the Presidents’ Alliance, TheDream.Us, and Path2Papers.
Streamlining Dreamers’ Access to Employment-Based Visas Using D-3 Waivers Briefing. This 2024 briefing covered several topics related to the Biden administration’s executive action on D-3 waivers, including the timeline for implementation, how the D-3 waivers may work, who could be eligible, and how businesses and campuses can engage to support eligible beneficiaries, including DACA recipients and other Dreamers. The briefing was hosted by the Presidents’ Alliance.
How To Support STEM International Students and Scholars In U.S. Immigration. This explainer from Presidents’ Alliance & Cornell Law School outlines strategies for higher education institutions to aid international students and scholars in navigating U.S. immigration processes, with a focus on supporting students and young scholars for O-1A visas.
Forging Career Pathways. This article from NAFSA describes how international offices can connect with career services to boost opportunities for international students.
Froghire.ai. FrogHire.ai (formerly F1 Hire) is a browser‑extension-based, AI‑powered career platform designed for international students and visa-holders, helping them filter and match jobs that support OPT/CPT, H‑1B or PERM sponsorship, highlight resume‑job alignment, access employer visa‑history data, and manage applications across major job boards.
Bolstering STEM Talent with the National Interest Waiver. This article from the Institute for Progress explores how recent changes to immigration policy are making it easier for advanced STEM degree holders to get green cards—without employer sponsorship—through the National Interest Waiver (NIW).
Additional Audiences and Resources:
- For students and graduate resources, visit this page.
- For employer and legal counsel resources, visit this page.
- To get legal help, visit this page.
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