Purdue University assigns certain cases to our outside immigration law firm, under coordination by the International Scholar Services office:

• EB-1B permanent residence
• Certain EB-2 National Interest Waiver permanent residence
• O-1 work visas

Purdue policy does not permit employees (or their departments) to hire their own attorneys for these purposes. The law considers these types of filings to be 'owned' by the employer, and as the employer, Purdue University has chosen how these government submissions are to be managed, namely, through the designated law firm for the university's immigration needs, and with oversight by ISS.

If a department wants to request one of the above-listed cases for an employee, please contact PISA@purdue.edu to submit the initial inquiry for this request. 

The first step is for the international employee to be evaluated. Once the request is submitted, an email is sent to the employee with a hyperlink to an online "Awesomeness" eform that asks, in depth, about the employee's accomplishment and impact in their field. Once the employee submits this eform, the results go directly to our outside immigration counsel for evaluation. An assessment usually is provided within 5 business days. The assessment results are emailed directly to the hiring manager, with copy to the International Scholar Services office. 

It is the hiring manager's responsibility to take the required steps to move forward upon receipt of the law firm's assessment

The assessment by the outside immigration law firm will be sent by email to the hiring manager, with copy to the International Scholar Services office. It is the hiring manager's responsibility to take the steps needed to move forward, which might include forwarding the email to the Department Contact for the hiring unit.

The following are the possible responses:

1. If the assessment is positive
   1. and the hiring manager and employee still want to move forward with the request, then the "Outside Counsel Request and Agreement" must be completed and forwarded to intlscholars@purdue.edu (not PISA)
   2. but the hiring manager or employee want to pause before assigning the case (for any reason), they need only email this direction to intlscholars@purdue.edu and we will mark the request as "Paused". If you do this, please be specific about how long you want to pause the request.
2. If the assessment is not positive and either the hiring manager or the employee believes that the assessment was in whole or in part in error, then please email the Director, International Scholar Services, to request a meeting. During the meeting, the Director will provide an explanation of what goes into such assessments, and then will collaboratively discuss the perceived errors or omissions. ISS will always resbmit a case for reconsideration if there has been a misunderstanding about the field or the employee's qualifications. There is no need to provide extensive details in the request for the meeting; a meeting is offered if at any time either the hiring manager or employee are dissatisfied with the assessment.
3. If the request needs to be closed, please email intlscholars@purdue.edu with these instructions. Note that a new assessment can be requested at any time provided there is new accomplishment, impact or documentation to consider.