Getting a US job as a professor with recent GC, moving with unmarried foreign partner

[capdail]

Hello,

I hold a green card since recently, and will get a job in the US soon for the first time. I have a PhD, so I will be a professor in a US university. My problem is that I have an unmarried partner of foreign citizenship, so I do not know how to make sure we can move together to the US. It's probably impossible to get her to move with me based on my green card because we are unmarried and even if we were to get married, it would take a long time for her to subsequently obtain the right to live in the US. But I'm wondering if you've heard of examples where a university would help its newly recruited professor by offering (or helping to find) a job for an unmarried partner. If there are no such examples, what else would you suggest to do?

Thanks!

[Jackolantern]

You can use your position in the university to find out which jobs are available, and find out to whom she should send her resume, but the universities aren't supposed to give her any special consideration for hiring just because of your relationship.

But getting the job is just one piece of the puzzle. After that she'd need a work visa. If it is H-1B, its quota is oversubscribed and so there is a lottery to decide who gets the visa (and all applications must be in by the first business day in April). Edited to add: If the H-1B job is at the university, she probably would fall under the quota exemption given to tertiary institutions of learning and wouldn't have to worry about that lottery.

Other options include L-1, if she has a management job or other senior position requiring specialized knowledge in a multinational corporation, and the company transfers her to the US. Or O-1 (extraordinary ability), which may be possible if she has a PhD like you and is widely recognized for her research, or is an otherwise famous performer in sports or entertainment or business.

One not-so-good option is an F-1 visa which would allow her to study in a US university. The problem with it is that unlike H-1B, and L-1, F-1 requires nonimmigrant intent, and being married to a green card holder is evidence of immigrant intent (which means her F-1 would become in jeopardy if you get married and she travels outside the US). And she would have to keep studying during the entire 5-6 years until you obtain citizenship and enable to her to get a green card, which could be very costly (unless she can get her own job and switch to H-1B or O-1 during that time).

[thankful]

Academic positions usually do not count toward the cap.

You can negotiate with your university for a job for your wife. It is common in academic to do this.