Student Support Specialist Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Student Support Specialist roles at U.S. colleges and universities frequently qualify as specialty occupations under the H-1B visa, making employer sponsorship more common than candidates expect. Positions focused on academic advising, accessibility services, or international student programming often require a directly related bachelor's degree, clearing the specialty occupation threshold.
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Get Access To All JobsTitle: Student Support Specialist II
Salary Range: $40,000
Contract Term Length: 12 Months
Standard Hours: 37.5
Work Location: On-Site
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
College: Madisonville Community College
Campus Location: North Campus
Department: Student Services - Learning Space
Total Rewards
Madisonville Community College offers a competitive benefits package and an attractive work environment that supports excellence, innovation, and creativity, including:
- Exceptional health care, vision, and dental coverage for you and your family
- Tuition reimbursement/waiver for you, your spouse, and dependents
- 403(b) retirement plan: a 5% employee contribution receives a 10% employer match
- Vacation/Sick Time
- Work-Life Balance
- 9.5 Paid Holidays
- 2 Weeks Institutional Closing Pay (Last 2 weeks of December) for qualifying positions
- Employee Assistance Program
Job Summary
Coordinates and supports the delivery of comprehensive academic support services, including tutoring, instructional technology assistance, and student success workshops, to promote student learning, persistence, and completion. Travel is required.
Job Duties:
- Assist the coordinator of The Learning Space in addressing Title III grant objectives and delivering academic support services that promote student persistence, retention, and completion.
- Deliver and coordinate comprehensive academic support services that promote persistence, retention, and completion.
- Coordinate in-person and virtual tutoring programs to ensure equitable student access to academic assistance.
- Recruit, train, schedule, and supervise tutors.
- Create and maintain academic support resources for tutors and subject-specific instructional resources.
- Monitor tutoring utilization, participation, and student success outcomes using data-informed practices.
- Support learning lab operations, including coordination with Information Technology staff on software, hardware, and technology resources needed by students.
- Train staff on student account setup, access, authentication processes, and basic technology troubleshooting.
- Provide Blackboard support for faculty and students.
- Develop and facilitate student success workshops, including learning strategies, and academic preparedness; assist with student orientation and related programs.
- Collect, maintain, and analyze tutoring and academic support data for assessment, reporting, and continuous improvement efforts.
- Collaborate with faculty and the retention specialist to provide timely academic interventions and referrals.
- Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, oral, and written skills.
- Demonstrate ability to work with limited direction.
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in related area and two years of related experience.
To Apply: Please visit our website to make application online:
https://careers.kctcs.edu/madisonville
Application Deadline: November 24, 2026
Applicants will be notified if selected for an interview. Search may be extended if additional candidates are needed.
Application Process:
Applicants must complete and submit:
- Online application – https://careers.kctcs.edu/madisonville
- Cover letter
- Resume/CV, Copy of all college transcripts. Official transcripts needed within 30 days of hire.
- Kentucky State Law requires state and national pre-employment background checks as a condition of employment.
Employee Rights - Employee Polygraph Protection Act
Equal Opportunity Employer - The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution.
Title: Student Support Specialist II
Salary Range: $40,000
Contract Term Length: 12 Months
Standard Hours: 37.5
Work Location: On-Site
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
College: Madisonville Community College
Campus Location: North Campus
Department: Student Services - Learning Space
Total Rewards
Madisonville Community College offers a competitive benefits package and an attractive work environment that supports excellence, innovation, and creativity, including:
- Exceptional health care, vision, and dental coverage for you and your family
- Tuition reimbursement/waiver for you, your spouse, and dependents
- 403(b) retirement plan: a 5% employee contribution receives a 10% employer match
- Vacation/Sick Time
- Work-Life Balance
- 9.5 Paid Holidays
- 2 Weeks Institutional Closing Pay (Last 2 weeks of December) for qualifying positions
- Employee Assistance Program
Job Summary
Coordinates and supports the delivery of comprehensive academic support services, including tutoring, instructional technology assistance, and student success workshops, to promote student learning, persistence, and completion. Travel is required.
Job Duties:
- Assist the coordinator of The Learning Space in addressing Title III grant objectives and delivering academic support services that promote student persistence, retention, and completion.
- Deliver and coordinate comprehensive academic support services that promote persistence, retention, and completion.
- Coordinate in-person and virtual tutoring programs to ensure equitable student access to academic assistance.
- Recruit, train, schedule, and supervise tutors.
- Create and maintain academic support resources for tutors and subject-specific instructional resources.
- Monitor tutoring utilization, participation, and student success outcomes using data-informed practices.
- Support learning lab operations, including coordination with Information Technology staff on software, hardware, and technology resources needed by students.
- Train staff on student account setup, access, authentication processes, and basic technology troubleshooting.
- Provide Blackboard support for faculty and students.
- Develop and facilitate student success workshops, including learning strategies, and academic preparedness; assist with student orientation and related programs.
- Collect, maintain, and analyze tutoring and academic support data for assessment, reporting, and continuous improvement efforts.
- Collaborate with faculty and the retention specialist to provide timely academic interventions and referrals.
- Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, oral, and written skills.
- Demonstrate ability to work with limited direction.
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in related area and two years of related experience.
To Apply: Please visit our website to make application online:
https://careers.kctcs.edu/madisonville
Application Deadline: November 24, 2026
Applicants will be notified if selected for an interview. Search may be extended if additional candidates are needed.
Application Process:
Applicants must complete and submit:
- Online application – https://careers.kctcs.edu/madisonville
- Cover letter
- Resume/CV, Copy of all college transcripts. Official transcripts needed within 30 days of hire.
- Kentucky State Law requires state and national pre-employment background checks as a condition of employment.
Employee Rights - Employee Polygraph Protection Act
Equal Opportunity Employer - The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Visa Sponsorship as a Student Support Specialist
Verify your degree matches the role
Student Support Specialist postings vary widely: academic advising roles typically require education, counseling, or psychology degrees, while international student services roles lean toward higher education administration. Confirm your degree field aligns with the specific sub-role before applying, since mismatches trigger H-1B RFEs.
Target higher education institutions directly
Public universities and community colleges filing under cap-exempt status can sponsor H-1B workers outside the annual lottery. Institutions affiliated with nonprofit research organizations qualify too, so prioritize these employers when your timeline can't absorb a full selection cycle.
Look up prevailing wages before negotiating
Your employer must certify your salary meets the DOL prevailing wage for your location and role level. Use the OFLC Wage Search to find the wage tier for your metro area before the offer stage so you can negotiate from an informed position.
Use Migrate Mate to find verified sponsors
Many Student Support Specialist openings at sponsoring institutions never advertise their visa posture. Migrate Mate shows employers with verified H-1B LCA filing history for education and student services roles, so you can focus applications on employers already in the system.
Prepare your O*NET documentation early
USCIS adjudicators use O*NET occupation profiles when evaluating specialty occupation status for student services roles. Pull the O*NET profile for your specific job duties and document how your position maps to the listed tasks and required education level before your employer files the LCA.
Clarify PERM timing if pursuing a green card
Some universities sponsor Student Support Specialists through EB-2 or EB-3 PERM labor certification after an H-1B is in place. Ask HR whether they have an established pathway and what the typical timeline looks like, since PERM filings for education roles can take 18 months or longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Student Support Specialist role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
It depends on how the position is defined. Roles requiring a bachelor's degree in counseling, education, psychology, social work, or a directly related field generally meet the specialty occupation threshold. Generalist student services roles that accept any bachelor's degree may not qualify, so the job description wording matters significantly when USCIS reviews the petition.
Which visa types are realistic for a Student Support Specialist seeking sponsorship?
The H-1B is the most common path if the role qualifies as a specialty occupation. Candidates from Australia can pursue the E-3 visa, which has no lottery and a 10,500 annual cap that has never been exhausted. TN visa status is available to Canadian and Mexican nationals if the role fits a qualifying USMCA profession. Universities filing as cap-exempt H-1B sponsors are especially attractive since they bypass the annual selection process.
Do most universities sponsor international candidates for Student Support Specialist positions?
Many public universities, research institutions, and large community colleges do sponsor H-1B workers for professional staff roles, including student services. Smaller private colleges sponsor less consistently. Institutions that already employ international faculty and staff typically have established HR processes for visa filings, which makes the sponsorship conversation more straightforward than at employers with no prior filing history.
How can I find Student Support Specialist jobs where employers sponsor visas?
Migrate Mate lists Student Support Specialist openings at employers with verified sponsorship history, so you can apply to roles where the employer has already demonstrated willingness to file. This avoids spending time on applications at institutions that have never sponsored a work visa for a staff-level position.
Is a master's degree required to get H-1B sponsorship as a Student Support Specialist?
A master's degree is not required, but it strengthens the specialty occupation argument when the role description allows for a bachelor's as an alternative. For roles in academic advising, disability services, or international student programming, a bachelor's in a directly related field is typically sufficient for the employer to file. The 20,000-slot advanced degree exemption under the H-1B does favor master's holders in the annual selection, but cap-exempt university employers remove that variable entirely.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Student Support Specialist jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.