Workflow Instructions

Source: https://bechtel.stanford.edu/navigate-international-life/visas/h-1b-employment-visa/workflow-instructions Parent: https://bechtel.stanford.edu/navigate-international-life

1. Department administrator initiates the visa transaction.

The Employment Visa Request is available via the AXESS portal under the OPA/Bechtel Center tab.

If you are a Stanford department administrator and do not see the tab or 'Employment Visa Requests', click here to request access to the forms.

Select Employment Visa Initiation.
Click on 'Add' to add a new value.
Enter information about the beneficiary and position.
If the beneficiary is currently at Stanford and has an Emplid, enter the number. This should always be entered for extensions/ amendments but could also be the case for initial H-1B requests if the prospective employee is at Stanford on another visa type. The biographical data will then be autofilled but can be overwritten. For prospective employees who are not currently at Stanford, please leave the Emplid field blank.
Select the Stanford employment category from the drop down menu.
Select the Employment visa type from the drop down menu. The help button at the side provides additional information.
Select Transaction type from the drop down menu.
Enter the Export Control Questionnaire Respondent. (USCIS requires that all H-1B applications include an attestation about whether or not the visa applicant will require an export control license to perform the work).
For Regular Staff and Bargaining Unit Employees, the Export Control Questionnaire Respondent must be on a specific list comprising HRM3/HRM4 level, SoM DFAs or have been identified by DoR/UHR as being the senior HR-associated administrator for their unit
For all other categories, the individual must be on a specific list comprising eligible Faculty, defined as University Tenure Line (UTL), Non-Tenure Line (NTL), and Medical Center Line (MCL) faculty, recalled Emeriti and those granted PI status by an approved waiver. Individuals other than Stanford faculty defined above will not be granted Authority to complete and submit the Questionnaire.

You can use the LookUp feature by clicking on the magnifying glass. If you enter information about a person who is not eligible, you will get a message “No matching values found”. If you click on the magnifying glass and do not enter any information but click LookUp, you will see the complete list of individuals who can be selected as Export Control Questionnaire Respondent. Please select one of these eligible persons from your department who is in a position to answer questions about the job.

In addition, the Export Control Questionnaire Respondent must complete the Level II STARS Cardinal Curriculum course DOR-1130 "Export Controls: An Overview for Research Administrators" before responding to the Questionnaire. Course fulfillment is a one-time requirement only. Email exportcontrols@stanford.edu upon completion of the STARS training to receive Respondent Authority within Workflow.

For more details on export control, please see the Office of the Dean of Research, Export Control page.

Click Send Email. An email to the beneficiary is pre-formatted, and it includes a link to a site where they can enter biographical and immigration information. This email can be edited to add additional information as needed. You may notice that the message contains a percentage sign (%). Please do not delete this. It is a merge symbol that will enter the appropriate information upon sending the message.

2. Employee enters biographical, educational and employment history in Axess or through Secure Portal.

Employees will need to enter their biographical, educational, immigration and employment information in either:

AXESS for applicants who currently have access to the system or
Stanford Secure Portal for applicants who are not currently at Stanford, the applicant will need to create a username and password before logging in. The applicant will need to enter the authentication code sent in the email in order to validate the transaction.

3. Department administrator enters job information details.

Sign into AXESS again in 'Admin' mode. Click on the OPA/Bechtel Center tab and then click Visit Workflow Home Page to bring up all the transactions in your queue. Click on the relevant transaction.
Tab through and complete the 'BioDemo', 'I-129' and 'LCA' pages and then go back to the 'Approval' page to submit the transaction.
Most of the information on the BioDemo Page will be filled in based on what the beneficiary has entered. Enter the Requested Start and End Dates. In some cases the start date will default to the day after the current visa expires but it can be overwritten.
On the I-129 page, enter information starting with the 'Employment Information' box. Use the lookup feature for the Job Code. Please note that the pre-populated wage range shows the highest and lowest salary at Stanford for the same job code. This range should not be used as a basis to set salaries. You should obtain salary approval from your HR manager prior to completing this portion of the request.
Requested period of employment in Workflow must match requested period of employment stated on corresponding Cover Letter.
Complete the information on the LCA page.
The H-1B is a location-specific visa. In concert with Stanford's Work Agreements policies:
- Remote Employees - Address for fully remote work location required at initiation of H-1B visa process.
- Hybrid Employees - Address for all work locations required at initiation of H-1B visa process.
- On-site Employees - Address for all on campus work locations required at initiation of H-1B visa process.

The transaction can be saved and completed at any stage of the process. All the tabs have a print feature associated with them.

4. The Export Control Questionnaire

The Export Control Questionnaire must be completed and submitted by the individual selected by the administrator who initiated the workflow.

The Export Control Questionnaire Respondent will only be able to approve the workflow after completing STARS Course DOR-1130 (“Export Controls: An Overview”). This is a one-time prerequisite.

Once the individual has taken this one time course, workflow will automatically grant access. Authority is generally granted within two hours. However, if the person is a new hire or is changing jobs, the Dean of Research Office will manually grant that person access once the course has been completed. This may take two to three business days.

The Export Control Questionnaire Respondent should sign into AXESS in 'Admin' mode. Click the OPA/Bechtel Center tab and then click 'Visit Workflow Home Page' to bring up the relevant transaction.
Click on the "Export Control" tab at the top of the page.
Read the information on the page.
Answer the export control questions. If the answer is yes, provide a detailed explanation.
Approve the transaction.

5. Additional Approval

Depending on the employment category, the request may require approvals from other offices or individuals—Postdoc Office, Med School or Dean of Research. This may affect timing.

6. Department Approval

For academic staff, regular staff, bargaining unit and postdoctoral scholars, the originating administrator will get a final review of the workflow request. Once the administrator approves the workflow request, it will be routed to Bechtel. After Bechtel receives both the workflow request and the complete document packet the case will be assigned to an advisor to begin work.