June 29, 2016

In order to provide the best customer service across the board, we recently reorganized our advising assignments. As you know, ISSS advisors work with international students and scholars as well as directly with departmental administrators. Our joint goal is to provide you with accurate and timely assistance and to ensure you have the smoothest immigration experience possible.

In the past, some advisors specialized in serving international students, and others specialized in serving international scholars. Sometimes this specialization presented challenges, as people might accidentally contact a scholar advisor with a student question, or vice versa. Additionally, at any given time, one scholar advisor and one student advisor were on hand to serve walk-ins. If we had more student walk-ins than scholar walk-ins on a given day, the groups would experience uneven wait times.

We felt we could improve both of these experiences for you.

Our new structure will ensure all advisors are cross-trained to serve the immigration needs of both students and scholars, providing a single point of contact for any questions and ensuring the shortest possible wait times for walk-in consultations. This cross-training takes time, so our new structure will be implemented in two phases.

Beginning August 1, 2016, F-1 and J-1 students and J-1 scholars will have new advisor assignments. Until then, you’ll continue to see your current advisor.

H-1B scholars will transition to the new structure after January 1, 2017. Until then, H-1B advisors will remain the same.

To find your student advisor, click here.

To find your scholar advisor, click here. If your department name is not listed here, please contact isss@emory.edu so that an advisor may be assigned to your department.

Thank you for working with us through this transition.