Scope
This procedure outlines the proper charging and documentation of standard Non-Immigrant Visa Application Fees to sponsored projects along with the applicable service processing fees levied by the International Studies Office (ISO).
Responsibility
Principal Investigators are responsible for:
- Working with Departmental/School Administrators and ISO in the proper cost placement and allocation of the employment visa fees onto sponsored awards.
Subsequent review and approval of all costs charged are required by University policy according to University policy FIN-023.
Departmental/School Administrators are responsible for:
- Retaining all documentation relating to these and all costs charged to sponsored projects.
Accurate charging worktags must be provided upon request to ISO so that sponsors can be billed after determining allowability and allocability.
The Office of Sponsored Programs is responsible for:
- Reviewing allowabilty and allocability of the visa fees.
If deemed disallowable on the sponsored program, the fees are moved off by OSP Post Award.
The ISO is responsible for:
- Timely billing/recovery of applicable employment visa application fees and related service costs charged to the academic units based upon worktag information supplied to the ISO.
Related visa fees and service fees will be charged to the appropriate spend category, Services Visa Fees/Passport.
Distribution
- Departmental/School Administrators
- Principal Investigators
- ISO
- Office of Sponsored Programs
- Departmental Payroll Personnel
Procedure
Employment Visas are defined as H1-B, O-1, TN, and other employment visas. Employment visa charges to sponsored program awards should be handled in the same way as they are processed to other sources of funding. Employment visa application fees and the corresponding ISO processing fees should therefore be charged to any University funding source that will support the salary and thus the work that the foreign employee is hired to perform.
In exceptional circumstances, and with supporting and detailed documentation, the fees for ‘expedited’ processing of employment visas may be considered allowable charges and be paid from University funding sources, including non-federal sponsored projects. In accordance with the federal cost principles, direct charging an expedited fee may not be a "reasonable" cost and thus cannot be charged to federal programs. If the individual is to to be provided support/be paid from more than one funding source, the allowable visa fees should be allocated accordingly along with the corresponding salary or wage and benefits.
As with non-sponsored programs, the applicant may opt to pay the expedited fee him/herself or the department may elect to cover the expedited fee from non-restricted funds.
Note: Fees associated with obtaining permanent residence (“green cards”) are not allowable on federal and federal flow-through sponsored projects or on any other sponsored award having specific terms and conditions prohibiting these costs (since the awarding of a green card is not conditional on employment at UVA). These fees can be supported from non-restricted funds.
Dependents are generally responsible for their own fees (the dependent I-539 filing), although departments may, at their own discretion, pay these fees from non-restricted funds.
Ownership
The Executive Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs and the Director of the International Studies Office are jointly responsible for ensuring that this procedure is necessary, reflects actual practice, and supports University policy.
Related Policies
FIN-017: Consistent Treatment of Sponsored Program Costs