A permanent resident letter of recommendation is a document submitted by an employer, such as the head of a college or university department, explaining why that department head feels that a scholar from another country should be allowed to live in a given country and to work for the institution within that nation's borders. In the United States, such letters are written pursuant to the Immigration Act of 1990, which, according to the Outstanding Professors and Researchers website, provides for a faster approval process for academics, since, unlike a non-academic employer who must file more complicated paperwork--the papers are submitted directly to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services(hereafter USCIS).
Before You Consider Writing the Letter
Write a letter of recommendation for a scholar with whom you have had a previous positive working relationship, or whose work you know really well and admire. If your desire to have this person work at your university is only lukewarm, it will come out in your letter.
Eligibility Criteria
A scholar is eligible for permanent resident status, according to the Ajay K. Arora website, if he has received a concrete full-time employment offer by you, a department head of a university as a researcher or professor in a given field. If you are the head of an institution other than a college or university, then you must employ at least three such other persons in full-time research.
Also, the USCIS must be able to establish that this individual is a researcher or professor with at least three years of experience teaching and/or researching in the field.
Proof: Supporting Documents
You can prove this by showing that the prospective hire has received a major prize or award for his decades of research and/or teaching work. For example, if he is a world-renowned oncologist who has received a Nobel prize because his work has revolutionized the study of how cancer cells grow, and you are able to provide a newspaper clipping of your award ceremony, this is information that will add strength to your recommendation letter.
Also, if you can find works on the Internet in which other scholars in the field have quoted him, or used his statistics to back up their claims, this will also give strength to the application. In order to see that he has a chance of being allowed to live as a permanent resident, you must submit a permanent resident letter of recommendation.
Contents of the Letter
If you are interested in hiring someone outside the country to work at your university as a professor or researcher, the USCIS wants some vital information about you. The USCIS wants to know that you, the person writing this letter, have a strong reputation in the field over which you serve as the department chair. You must include in the letter a summary of your career history as proof that you are a leader in the discipline. For example, if your candidate is applying for a position in the department of oncology at a given United States college, be sure to include any significant research you have done. Include information on the journal in which the research is published. For instance, if you have published multiple studies which have led to a breakthrough in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that has stood the test of time, this is information you should include in this part of the letter. This gives you more credibility with the USCIS as the person's mentor and recommender.
The first paragraph, then, should tell the USCIS reviewer that you are pleased to recommend the individual for permanent residency in the United States because you believe that he has contributed to the field tremendously, and will continue to do so.
Second Paragraph: Establishment of Your Credibility
In the second paragraph, you should discuss your awards and recognition in great detail. You should provide enough information to convince the USCIS that you are qualified to recommend your prospective employee for permanent residency in this country. For example, if you have had many articles published on the isolation and control of the gene that leads to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, that is valuable information to include in the letter. Mention any rewards you have received, or any articles you have published, or peer review boards over which you have presided in this document. Submit proof of these facts, such as clippings from past journal publications. Cite the volume, the issue, the month, the year, and the page numbers. If the publication happens to be online, provide the website URLs to your published articles.
Third Paragraph
Use this paragraph to establish that the scholar you wish to recommend is a qualified candidate in the field. According to the Law Office of Ajay K. Arora website, you must prove that the academic is not only an excellent researcher in his own country, but that his research, writing, and scholarship has received international acclaim in the field worldwide. Mention any awards he has received for his research, whether monetary or otherwise, or any articles he has written and published, with the exact magazine, complete with the volume, the month, year, and page numbers. If the publication happens to be online, quote the exact website and the URL for such site. Test the URL yourself; make sure the links still work.
End of the Letter
Conclude the letter by strongly recommending him as an employee of his college or university, and summarizing why the United States should let your recommended professor or researcher live among its citizens as a scholar. This part of the letter should focus on what your prospective scholar is doing in the field currently. If he is presently researching more progressive ways to treat non-Hodgkins and other lymphomas, this would be information that you should include in your letter. This lets the USCIS know that your prospective employee is continuously learning and growing in his particular branch of knowledge, and will not grow stale during his career at your American institution.
Law Offices of Ajay K. Arora: "Outstanding Professors and Researchers."