Visa Information

ISSS is the department charged with determining if visa support is needed for someone to work legally for Middlebury College, Language Schools, Bread Load School of English, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, and other summer programs.  ISSS also is responsible for determining the visa support needs for Middlebury Institute faculty, staff, and self-funded researchers, as well as CNS faculty, staff, researchers and fellows.  This determination must be done before the person can legally being their employment or activity with Middlebury.

Generally, ISSS is notified of all hires for Middlebury institution-wide.  ISSS will then contact repeat hires that are not U.S. Citizens or U.S. Legal Permanent Residents (a.k.a. “Green Card holders”) and all new hires to determine if visa support is needed. If a non-U.S. Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident person is offered employment at Middlebury in the U.S. and the person has not heard from ISSS within 2-4 weeks of receiving the employment offer, ISSS should be emailed at isss@middlebury.edu so the visa support services process can be initiated.

The most common statuses that Middlebury provides visa support service for are:

• J-1 Exchange Visitor status (usually for temporary/term positions such as visiting professors or summer short-term faculty positions & academic support)
• H-1B status (usually for those hired in tenure track faculty positions or those hired that would not be eligible for J-1 Exchange Visitor status)
• Other statuses that ISSS provides visa support services for are:
  • F-1 or J-1 status sponsored by other institutions/sponsors:
    • ISSS determines  if the authorization is valid for the period of employment offered
    • Should the employment continue beyond the period of authorization presented, ISSS will determine if, when, and what type of visa support may be needed.
  • H-1B statuses that will be concurrently employed with another employer while working at Middlebury:
    • ISSS determines if we can sponsor someone for concurrent H-1B status for the position they were offered employment for.
  • Other statuses that present valid work authorization documentation that will permit them to legally work at Middlebury:
    • ISSS determines if the authorization is valid for the period of employment offered and if Middlebury would need to and is able to sponsor for a visa status, should the employment go beyond the end date of the authorization.

If sponsorship to work at Middlebury and/or to continue to work at Middlebury is needed, the process can take 2-4 months at minimum so it is important for ISSS to be involved as early as possible so it can be planned for timely and to try to avoid delay or interruption of employment to the best of our ability.

ISSS is also charged with determining what kind of, if any, visa support services are needed for short-term guests/visitors who are not U.S. Citizens or U.S. Legal Permanent Residents but will come to Middlebury U.S. site to for their short-term purpose.  The hosting/hiring departments or programs should visit the “Inviting Foreign Nationals for Short-term Purposes to Middlebury” (Link to be added when page developed) to learn more.

updated 09/10/2025