Bryn Mawr College

International Academic Guests

Bryn Mawr College welcomes to campus international guests who engage in the academic activities of a host department or program.

An academic department wishing to extend an invitation to an international guest to a brief visit campus to give a lecture, workshop, conference presentation, performance, etc., in exchange for compensation and/or expense reimbursements from the College should review the College’s procedures.

These procedures are in place to ensure that the College carries out its obligation to comply with U.S. tax laws concerning payments to nonresident aliens. Bryn Mawr uses GLACIER, a web-based tax-compliance software, to determine the permissibility of payments to international guests. Also using GLACIER, the College applies tax-treaty benefits, as appropriate.

Payments to international guests are processed accordingly:

• Academic Department extends a verbal invitation to the guest.
• Academic Department notifies the Provost’s Office of the invitation and its terms.
• Provost’s Office transmits to the guest an appointment letter containing the terms and information about receiving payments.
• The guest signs and returns the appointment letter to the Provost’s Office.
• Provost’s Office creates a GLACIER record for the guest.
• The guest completes GLACIER record and submits all required forms/documentation to the Academic Department. 
  
  
  • If the guest does not have an ITIN or SSN, s/he will be required to obtain an ITIN before payment can be processed. 
    • The College could be charged a $50 fee by the IRS for reporting income for the guest on a 1042-S without an ITIN or SSN.
  • GLACIER will generate the required Form W-7 for the guest to use to apply.
    See IRS documentation on how to obtain an ITIN.
• Bryn Mawr College requires an I-94/I-94W to process payments.
• The Academic Department submits the forms/documentation to the Office of International Programs, which verifies them for purposes payment.
• The Academic Department submits to Controller’s Office (Accounts Payable)
  a Request for Payment, attaching the GLACIER forms/documentation.
  
  
  • If the guest does not yet have an ITIN, payment will be held until such time as the guest furnishes the ITIN.
• Requests for Payment are due Mondays at 5PM.  Payment requests submitted by the deadline are processed with a standard one-week turn-around.

The U.S. Department of State maintains a web page containing reference information for temporary visitors to the U.S.   For an overview of the types of nonimmigrant visas available under immigration law, please see the Visa Types for Temporary Visitors webpage. 

For short-term guests requiring visa sponsorship, the College maintains a
J1- Exchange Program. Departments wishing to host a guest on a J1-Visa should contact the Provost’s Office to initiate the process.