Departmental Travel Letter

When an individual in H-1B status travels internationally, he or she may be required to document that his or her employment is ongoing and will resume when the individual is back in the US. Generally, copies of the foreign national's three latest paystubs (available on HokieSpa on the Hokie Team tab) as well as a letter from the department are needed to document this ongoing employment. This letter should

• be on departmental letterhead
• be written by the foreign national's supervisor, chair or HR administrator, and
• include the full contact information for the person signing the letter.

The letter should be concise and to the point. One or two paragraphs may well be sufficient.

Suggested Template

    Date
    Re.: [name of foreign national in H-1B status]
    To Whom It May Concern –

    This is to confirm that [name of foreign national] is employed as a [job title] in [name of department, college, school or institute] at Virginia Tech at an annual salary of [$...]. [Name of foreign national] will be traveling internationally [state purpose, e.g. to attend a    professional conference; for a vacation]. I expect that s/he will return to Virginia Tech on     [date] to resume his/her activities at Virginia Tech pursuant to his/her H-1B status.

    Please do not hesitate to contact me, should you have any questions or concerns about the specifics of [foreign national]'s position. For questions about his or her immigration status, please direct your inquiries to the Global Support Services office at Virginia Tech at +1 (540) 231-3736 or vtgss@vt.edu

    Sincerely,

    [name and contact information]