New BTV superintendent waits on work visa

The Burlington School Board in February hired a new superintendent, but the district is unsure when he will start work.

Incoming superintendent Yaw Obeng is a Canadian citizen and must secure a visa from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Depending on what type of visa Obeng ultimately obtains, he might not be able to begin as superintendent until October. The contract he signed with the district has a start date of July 1.

Howard Smith, interim superintendent, said administrators and the School Board knew when they hired Obeng that the visa process would be extensive.

“It was known from the beginning that by bringing someone in from outside the country, we would need to go through a process,” Smith said. “There are no surprises here.”

Smith said the School Board has helped Obeng submit two visa applications, for an H1B visa and O1 visa.

The O1 visa program is designed for highly skilled workers who have demonstrated a high level of proficiency within their field. U.S. immigration officials initially issue O1 visas for three years, and then recipients may apply for unlimited one-year renewals.

An H1B visa is a temporary work permit for highly skilled workers that is issued for three years. Recipients can ask the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to renew the visa for up to three additional years.

Smith said the district hopes Obeng receives an O1 visa, because it would allow Obeng to remain in the U.S. permanently. But the visa would not go into effect until October 1, three months into Obeng’s contract.

His base salary will be $153,000.

Smith said he has indicated to the School Board that he plans to remain superintendent as long as the board needs his services. He said it might be possible for Obeng to begin work as a trainee in July, though he would be unable to assume the role of superintendent officially until October.

If Obeng fails to obtain an O1 visa, Smith said the district hopes he has better luck with the H1B application. But since recipients are chosen at random from a pool of qualified applicants, there is no guarantee Obeng would be selected.

“An H1B visa is less desirable, because it’s a lottery system,” Smith said. “We’re waiting to hear the results for that.”

Smith said it is common for large public employers like the University of Vermont and its medical center to hire foreign nationals for skilled positions, but doing so is less common for the city school district and others. Smith said that to his knowledge, there is at least one teacher in the district who is not a U.S. citizen and thus uses a work visa.

Obeng would come to Vermont from his position as a superintendent of the Halton District School Board in Burlington, Ontario, a city with a population of about 175,000.

Smith said his district spent about $8,000 on immigration lawyers and other resources to help Obeng file his visa applications. He added that the district set aside $40,000 for the superintendent search process, but officials spent only $17,500.

Contact Zach Despart at 651-4826 or zdespart@burlingt.gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZachDespart.