Dear SHARE Departments and Units,
This is a follow up to my original email sent on 3/8/2024 regarding upcoming bank wire processing changes. SHARE will discontinue some services related to bank wire transfers from Visiting Scholars (VS) or Visiting Student Researchers (VSR), effective 4/8/24. These services are inconsistent in our region and fall outside BRS HR responsibilities. We are not staffed to continue these services and provide details below on exactly what is changing and suggested options for the department/PI moving forward.
Specifically, SHARE has been coordinating the following for some of our departments and units that are not comfortable with providing an IOF for a scholar’s visa fees at the beginning of the process without securing payment:
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Providing scholars instructions on how to wire UC Berkeley payment for Visa fees. Answering questions about bank wire instructions and helping guide them through the process.
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Waiting until proof of bank wire is sent to UC Berkeley until SHARE can start the visa process.
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Follow up with the UCB bank wire office to ensure the funds transferred to UC Berkeley are deposited in the department's account.
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Troubleshooting any bank wire delays or chart of account corrections.
Processing and issuing bank wire transfers for Visiting Scholars or Visiting Student Researchers will discontinue effective 4/9/24. For any Visiting Scholar or Visiting Student Researcher case submitted by 4/8/24 or earlier that requires a wire transfer, we will honor it and do the work associated with securing the wire transfer.
We have asked Berkeley International Office if they would consider credit card payment for Visa IOFs and unfortunately they are not able to do so at this time. Some of our departments or campus units have been able to successfully manage this process by implementing some of the following actions:
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Upon arrival of the scholar, they ask the scholar to write a check to the “The Regents of the University of California, Berkeley” for the visa fees and collect payment through this Campus Deposit Method or you can review other accounts receivable methods.
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Some central offices such as VSPA have been using campus-supported payment solutions to collect payment directly from scholars. This may have a small cost associated, so this will need to be considered.
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The PI can agree to pay for the Visiting Scholar or Visiting Student Researcher’s fees without asking for repayment.
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The department can continue to do the wire transfer process before providing a completed IOF when submitting the ServiceHub case. If you need assistance with training for wire transfers, please contact your HR Generalist and they will be able to provide training.
We hope that you will consider some of these alternative options in preparation for the upcoming service changes. SHARE HR will continue to process Visiting Scholar requests once we receive a completed and signed IOF from the department or unit. SHARE will no longer be responsible for repayments from the Scholar to the department or unit. Any agreement or contingencies in reference to repayment of fees should occur between the department, unit or PI and the scholar directly and SHARE is not responsible for any form of repayment for visa fees.
Thank you,
Karla Sanchez, Teal Sexton and Leonardo Arriola