Foreign Visitors & Visa Applications

Michelle Shaylor in the Office of Faculty Affairs and Human Resources generates the Dean's letter of appointment that is a requirement for all visa applications for all faculty and staff based in the School of medicine with the exception of postdoctoral fellows and postdoctoral scholars. For these, the dean's letter is generated by Denise Douglas, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (via Rachel Begley). Here is how you go about getting a dean's letter for your visa applicant.

Post doctoral fellows and scholars:
Denise Douglas, associate Dean of Graduate Studies, together with Rachel Begley, generates letters of appointment for SOM postdoctoral fellows and postdoctoral scholars. In order to receive a dean's letter of appointment, submit the visa application along with the two-page post doc application (http://postdoc.case.edu) directly to Donna Parsell, W174, SOM Office of Finance and Planning (not to Michelle in Faculty Affairs). Donna obtains SOM financial approval and then sends the paperwork to Rachel Begley, Office of Graduate Studies. Rachel generates Dean Douglas's letter and forwards along with the visa application to the Office of Immigration and HR Services. Do not send any part of the visa application for postdoctoral fellows and postdoctoral scholars to the Faculty Affairs office. Do submit a personal data (pd) form and copy of the dean's letter of appointment to Patty Urbon, Faculty Affairs and Human Resources Office, in order to place SOM post doc fellow or scholar on CWRU payroll.

Research Scholars:
Michelle Shaylor generates the dean's letters of appointment for SOM research scholars. Submit visa applications to Michelle and she will arrange for SOM financial office approval (if applicable) and Associate Dean review and then forward the dean's letter and the visa application to the Office of Immigration and HR Services. Michelle also provides copies of the dean's letter of appointment to the administrator who submitted the materials. Do submit a personal data (pd) form and copy of the dean's letter of appointment to Patty Urbon, Faculty Affairs and Human Resources Office, in order to place SOM research scholar on CWRU payroll.

Research Associates and Senior Research Associates (RA/SRA), Staff Members, and Faculty/Visiting Faculty Members:
Michelle Shaylor generates the dean's letters of appointment for SOM research associates, senior research associates, staff members and faculty/visiting faculty members. The dean's letter of appointment is for visa purposes only; the regular appointment/reappointment process that you would follow for hiring or reappointing domestic (non-visa holding) RA/SRA, staff and faculty must also be completed. Please note: if you have requested and sent a dean's appointment letter prior to receiving hiring approval for your candidate and your candidate travels to the US, you run the risk of being responsible for paying his/her return airfare. Submit the visa application directly to Michelle, attaching a note stating which open RA/SRA search#, staff job posting# or faculty search#, as appropriate, is being filled by this person. Michelle reviews, obtains approvals, generates a dean's letter and forwards the letter of appointment and visa application to the Office of Immigration and HR Services and provides a copy of the dean's letter of appointment to the administrator who submitted the materials.

If you have questions, please call or email
Michelle Shaylor (mxs18@case.edu) or 216.368.6201