Permanent Residency
New US government policies and procedures with regard to permanent residency petitions have necessitated changes in UT policy. Accordingly, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville has recently decided to centralize
all applications filed by The University in relation to US Permanent Residence for University employees. Effective April 2005, all such applications (as with any other immigration-related applications) must be filed by, or coordinated by, the UT Center for International Education.
The Center for International Education, with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs has now finalized a comprehensive policy for permanent resident applications and petitions filed The University. The policy has been posted at <http://web.utk.edu/~jng/perm1105.cie.pdf> and will soon be available on the Center for International Education's website at <http://www.UTInternational.org>.
The UT policy statement refers to a "request form" that must be filed by the employing UT unit. That new form will be ready within a few days and its availability announced over this list.
The policy outlines the required criteria for the University to file a permanent resident application on behalf of a faculty or staff member, as well as some information about the procedure for a department to initiate such an application.
David Lawson in the Center for International Education will be responsible for coordinating the filing of permanent resident applications. Questions about the new policy may be addressed to him or Wendy Syer at 974-3177 (or dplawson@utk.edu and syer@utk.edu).