CAS Professor Faces Unexpected Departure After Visa Sponsorship Denied

Midway through his eighth academic year at Loyola, College of Arts and Sciences professor A.S., who requested to be identified only by his initials, was shocked upon being informed his time at the university was effectively coming to an end, as CAS wouldn’t be sponsoring the extension of the visa which permits him to live and work in the U.S.

Representatives from CAS told A.S. it’s the college’s policy not to sponsor visas for part-time faculty members and stated there’d been a mistake the prior two times his visa applications received Loyola’s backing.

Non-tenure track professors being affected by similar situations has prompted Loyola Faculty Forward, the union representing CAS’ part-time faculty members, to push for greater transparency in the visa application process as part of ongoing contract negotiations with the school. 

Faculty Forward, which is associated with Service Employees International Union Local 73, proposed new immigration standards and practices in negotiations with CAS.

Faculty Forward Co-chair Paige Warren, an adjunct instructor in the English department, said they added the proposed standards to their contract demands as a result of instability brought on by the Trump administration, situations at Loyola like A.S.’ and a general commitment to the common good.

“We would like the university to be practicing what we see is its social justice mission in this and thinking of these things, not just in terms of how they impact faculty, but how they impact students, how they impact members of our community, how they impact staff,” Warren said.

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in CAS David Chinitz said he couldn’t comment on on-going negotiations but said CAS is aware the issue has been raised.

The union said CAS rejected their proposal surrounding visa transparency in a public bargaining update posted on their website March 10.

“We then introduced an article on immigration seeking to clarify communication and timelines for faculty with visa sponsorship,” the union wrote in the update. “Management listened and said they will take it into consideration and will see if they feel it is actually in the university’s best interest. They claim that they have never sponsored visas for part-time faculty and feel it is incumbent upon members to understand their own status and issues around their visa.”

A.S., who’s originally from Israel and has studied and taught at universities in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom, came to Loyola in December 2016 after teaching at other American universities. 

In 2016, Loyola sponsored A.S.’ J-1 visa, a temporary classification for exchange visitors to the U.S. participating in an approved program for the purpose of teaching, studying, conducting research or receiving training such as medical education, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A.S. said, at the time, he covered all of the associated fees required to receive the J-1 visa designation. 

In 2021, when the J1 visa was nearing its scheduled expiration after five years, A.S. said staff from International Student and Scholar Services, the office which coordinates services and support for international students and employees at Loyola, recommended he apply for an H-1B visa as an option for remaining at Loyola.

H-1Bs are a temporary visa category which allow for employers to petition to sponsor educated foreign professionals to work in specialty occupations, according to DHS. H-1B visas authorize individuals to reside in the U.S. for six years, but it must be extended after the third year with additional corresponding costs. 

Loyola sponsored A.S.’ H-1B visa, which was granted in 2022, with sign off from ISSS and the chair of his department, according to A.S.. A.S. said he reached out to ISSS in September to begin the process of extending the visa ahead of its coming Aug. 15 expiration. 

Emails from Jan. 24 obtained by The Phoenix indicate representatives from both ISSS and Zulkie Partners LLC, the law firm which the university works with to process visa applications, were prepared to go ahead with the process of extending A.S.’ H-1B visa for the final three years.

A.S. received an email Jan. 27 from Asim Gangopadhayaya, CAS associate dean for resources and planning, informing him CAS was unable to approve an extension. 

Staff at ISSS declined to comment, pointing to an inability to discuss personnel matters publicly. Representatives from Zulkie Partners LLC didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

“I was really surprised by that and nobody knew about that, not at the department which is responsible for that, not the immigration lawyer, not the [department] chair,” A.S. said. “Nobody knew about this decision.”

A.S. requested a meeting with Gangopadhayaya to clarify the matter. Gangopadhayaya agreed and asked if he could invite Chinitz and representatives from ISSS to their discussion. Ultimately, ISSS wasn’t present at the Feb. 6 meeting, and A.S. involved Warren as a representative of the union. 

The union has assisted A.S. throughout the process in an effort to ensure his rights as a unionized faculty member are being respected, according to Warren.

During the meeting, Chinitz and Gangopadhayaya reiterated they were adhering to CAS’ policy, while A.S. requested documentation of the policy which he said the deans didn’t provide. Chinitz provided The Phoenix a copy of the policy text in an otherwise blank PDF. The policy isn’t available to view on any publicly available CAS webpage. 

Chinitz, who answered questions on behalf of himself and Gangopadhayaya in an email to The Phoenix, said the policy has been in place at CAS since at least 2013 and said no information was withheld from A.S. 

The deans said it was an error that A.S.’ visas had been sponsored in the past. They said a previous department chair used funds from the department’s own budget to sponsor A.S.’ visas outside the purview of the CAS dean’s office, according to Warren’s notes from the Feb. 6 meeting, which were provided to The Phoenix.

Chinitz wrote in an email A.S.’ previous visa requests had bypassed the standard CAS review process and the dean’s office wouldn’t have approved them had they been aware. He said ISSS has been informed of these policies in the past. A.S. said he’s never heard anything about a review process. ISSS didn’t respond to questions regarding their knowledge of the policy. 

A.S. asked for an exception for this instance, saying there’d been a mistake and he’d been teaching at Loyola for many years.

“I had several opportunities throughout the years but because I spent so much time here, you know, it’s my home here, Chicago, all my friends are here,” he said. “If I knew about it in September, I could’ve planned.”

In response, Chinitz said A.S. has benefited from the error and the college isn’t responsible for the error and must uphold its policy, according to Warren’s notes. She corroborated A.S.’ account of the discussion in an interview. 

Chinitz pointed to the cost of the visa application and legal fees as the source of the college’s rationale for not sponsoring visas for part-time faculty. He said Loyola is more generous in this regard than most other universities as the university covers the full cost of the visa process and sponsors visas for the families of full-time faculty members. 

“All told, the College pays around $100,000 per year on faculty visas,” he wrote. “This is a huge commitment for us, but we highly value our outstanding and diverse community of international faculty. At the same time, as responsible stewards of the university’s resources, we need to set reasonable limits on how far to extend this benefit.”

Chinitz said an H-1B extension would cost the college over $3,000. A.S. said he offered to cover all or some of the cost, but CAS was firm in declining to sponsor an extension. 

A.S. said he was disappointed and felt disrespected as a result of the ordeal. He said while he’s appreciated the university’s response to pressures from the Trump administration, he feels in some regards their words have been empty.

“I get constant messages from Loyola, and especially now in regard to this deportation, and so on and so on, that it’s against our Jesuit mission and our Jesuit ethics and we all stand together,” A.S. said. “I asked myself where, where is this Jesuit ethics, Jesuit mission in my case?”