There are another 259 Tech employees on H1-B visas. About half of them will be applying for green cards. Berkley-Coats said costs for obtaining a green card usually run between $3,000 and $5,000. The wait usually ranges from two to three years, though it can extend up to five years because of backlogs of immigrants from countries such as China and India.

Under Tech’s new policy, only employees applying for full-time, salaried positions with the potential to keep them at Tech for several years qualify. The position must be considered “significant” by the department and requires approval of the department head, dean or other senior managers, depending on the position. Postdoctoral employees–scholars or researchers paid to do academic study at the university, usually by grants that fund their work for a limited time–are not part of the policy.