Obtaining Services of Foreign Nationals in Countries Outside of the United States

Whenever a University unit, faculty, or staff member finds it necessary to obtain services of an individual who is a foreign national and is residing outside of the United States, the responsible party desiring the services for the University must obtain advance approval from the Provost (or designee) unless the services are for a research purpose, in which case, the Vice Chancellor for Research (or designee) must grant advance approval.

The University prefers that the services performed by a foreign national residing outside of the United States be compensated through an inter-institutional agreement with an identified educational or research institution located in the country where services will be rendered. For research services, inter-institutional agreement opportunities should be explored by the applicable KU unit and the Office of Research Administration, reviewed by the Office of the General Counsel, and approved by Vice Chancellor for Research (or designee). For non-research services, the involved department should work with its supervisory unit to identify a foreign educational institution as a partner, and approval of an inter-institutional agreement must be obtained from the Provost (or designee) following review by the Office of the General Counsel. Contents of such agreements are expected to describe the relationship between KU and the partnering institution, and to establish a method to compensate the foreign national for services.

In the event an inter-institutional agreement is not feasible, the University unit may engage the services of an individual foreign national as an independent contractor if approval from the appropriate administrators has been received in advance. All services rendered shall be performed as an independent contractor under a written contractual agreement between the University and the individual foreign national, after review and approval by the Office of the General Counsel. Such written contracts are often provided as professional services agreements. Payment for services rendered under contractual agreements shall be made by the University in accordance with University accounting procedures. The independent contractor will be responsible for paying any taxes, social security (or its equivalent), health care benefits (if desired), accident and/or disability insurance, in compliance with all applicable laws of the countries where the independent contractor works or resides.

No individual foreign national who resides and is to perform services outside of the United States shall be hired as a University employee or be eligible for employee benefits. In the event that a unit is recruiting for a position and there is a possibility that the best qualified individual may be a foreign national not residing and working in the US, the Department of Human Resources must be notified prior to posting the requisition and related advertisements. In that instance, a statement will be included in the position requirements noting that if the successful applicant is a foreign national residing outside the United States and will be performing the work outside the United States, then the individual will be an independent contractor of the University. With appropriate institutional review, an individual contractor may be designated as an affiliate of the University, e.g., “adjunct research associate.”