Hiring Foreign National Employees

What is the Risk?

Foreign nationals are a vital part of our institutional community.  These individuals may be present as undergraduate or graduate students, post-doctoral candidates, staff, faculty, visiting scholars, or other visitors. However, foreign national visitors may be [knowingly or unknowingly] acting on behalf of an entity of concern from a foreign influence perspective.

The question of whether such foreign nationals are exposed to export-controlled information, emerging technologies, sensitive intellectual property (IP), or in a position to inappropriately migrate such items back to their home institution–must be approached in a way which enables department chairs, supervisors, and hiring managers to proactively and systematically address potential foreign influence concerns while preserving the overall objective of inviting and maintaining global academic and research talent.

Pursuant to Florida law, any citizen of a foreign county who is not a permanent resident of the U.S., or who is a citizen or permanent resident but is affiliated with or has had at least 1 year of employment or training in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, or Syria is subject to additional screening as part of the hiring process and/or prior to engaging in research related positions.  This requirement applies to faculty and staff applying to research-related positions, graduate students and visiting researchers.

FIU’s Response:

A summary of federal and state requirements related to foreign influence can be found here.

FIU conducts restricted party screening on current and past home-country affiliations of foreign national visa candidates from Foreign Countries of Concern (FCC’s) as well as current affiliations where the visa candidate is not a citizen from an FCC.

FIU has developed a screening process for research related positions which includes requiring information related to every institution of higher education attended; all previous employment since the applicant’s 18th birthday; list of all published material; current and pending research funding from any source, including details about the research, role, funding source, and amount; list and description of any non-university professional activities; and any affiliation with an institution or program in a foreign country of concern.

Prior to engaging in a research related position, FIU conducts restricted party screening, an extended employment background check, and publications/research screening.