DIS hosted its 17th Annual Immigration Conference on April 23 and 24 in the Natcher Conference Center. The highlight of this year’s conference was the Plenary Session, where representatives from the Division of International Services, Human Resources, the NIH Civil Program and the Office of Training and Education all discussed challenges facing administrators working with foreign nationals at NIH. DIS is grateful to Joe Martin, Jessica Hawking, and Lori Conlan for sharing their expertise. The conversations on how to handle personnel issues, from hiring, transfers to ending programs, were informative and well received by all in attendance.

The annual conference features over 20 sessions on immigration topics, geared at all levels of knowledge, for administrators working with foreign nationals. While attendees should expect sessions to discuss visa immigration procedures and NIH policies, every year offers new sessions for those returning to ensure they can always learn something. New sessions on case preparation and communication with scientists were included this year. Be sure to check out the schedule for next year when it is released in the spring.

Next year, DIS will host its 18th Annual DIS Immigration conference on May 13 and 14, 2020, so save the date.