Employers must certify compliance with U.S. export licensing requirements when petitioning for H-1B, H1-B1, L-1, and O-1A visa classifications on behalf of employees.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-129 (Rev. 11/23/10) — Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker — includes an export compliance certification in Part 6 of the form. Affected employees requiring the export certification could include faculty, postdoctoral candidates, technicians, or other staff categories. This certification is not required for student (F-1) or visiting scholar (J-1) visa petitions.

Understanding the Certification

When UMB makes technology or technical data accessible to a foreign national, it is considered a release of the technology or technical data for export. This release of technology is referred to as a "deemed export," as the export is deemed to have taken place, even though nothing was literally transmitted or exported across the U.S. border. UMB may be required to obtain a government license before the foreign national is permitted to work with or have access to the covered technologies or technical data.

UMB is required to certify that:

1. A license is not required from either the U.S. Department of Commerce or the U.S. Department of State to release such technology or technical data to the foreign person; or

2. A license is required from the U.S. Department of Commerce and/or the U.S. Department of State to release such technology or technical data to the beneficiary and the petitioner will prevent access to the controlled technology or technical data by the beneficiary until and unless the petitioner has received the required license or other authorization to release it to the beneficiary.

Completing the Certification

The prospective employee's faculty sponsor or supervisor will complete and submit a Deemed Export Form with questions about the work planned for the employee (proposed duties in the United States). The UMB Office of International Services or University Counsel will provide information from the visa petition to an ORD export officer for review. When applicable, ORD will review with you the Export Administration Regulations (EAR 15 CFR 730-774) and/or International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR 22 CFR 120-130) and will ask you a brief series of questions to determine whether or not a U.S. government export license is needed to release export controlled technology or technical data to your employee.

When review is complete, the export officer will advise the Office of International Services or University Counsel as to whether a license IS or IS NOT required so that the correct box is checked in Part 6 of the form.

If an export license is needed from the Commerce Department or State Department for your employee, the ORD export officers can prepare license requests and submit them on behalf of the University. Bear in mind though, filing for export licenses takes time (45 to 90 days after license application) for approval from the government after filing. Failure to obtain the appropriate license or other government approval, or failure to file correct export information on the visa petition, can have civil and criminal penalties.