International GA Insurance Waiver Process Guidelines

Purpose

Outline the steps necessary to prevent International Graduate Assistants (GA) from being charged the international System Student Health Insurance Plan (SSHIP) fees while enrolled in the Graduate Student Employee Health Plan during the summer term. Timely adherence to the steps below will result in the GA being included in the waiver report and the SSHIP fees being removed from the GA’s student billing account.

These guidelines apply to Graduate Assistant employees meeting ALL of the following conditions:

• International graduate student currently on F-1 or J-1 status
• Enrolled in summer TAMU-CS, TAMUG, and/or HSC coursework
• An active employee in Workday as of June 1, in a GA benefit eligible position in system part 02, 06, 07, 10, 12, 23, and 28
• Enrolled (not as a covered dependent) in the A&M Care Plan, J Plan, or the Graduate Student Employee Health Plan as of June 1, with a reasonable expectation they will be an active benefit-eligible employee through the end of the summer. Ex. GA continuing employment as a GANT, GAR, GAL, GAT in summer 2021 and/or fall 2021. Any International GAs covered as a dependent will not be included in the summer 2021 waiver report.

 

HR Liaison responsibilities that must be completed by June 4, 2021:

• Confirm the GA is employed in a benefit-eligible GANT, GAR, GAL, GAT position.
• Confirm the GA is not on Leave Without Pay (LWOP)/Leave of Absence (LOA) for the summer semester. Those returning from spring leave must be active in Workday as of June 1. See TAMUS Benefits for Graduate Student Employees – Staff Instructions.
• Run the “Workers with other ID’s” report in Workday to identify active GAs with expired or missing Alien Work Authorization Expiration Date other ID’s.
• Confirm the “Alien Work Authorization Expiration Date other ID” is entered in Workday and it is not expired. If updates are needed, the HR Liaison must contact the GA to complete an I-9 re-verification. This data feeds from the I-9 system to Workday.
• Review HROE’s Summer Insurance Premium Process Timeline. Workday actions for terminations for GAs in appointments less than 12 months must be processed once the dept is notified the GA does not intend to return.
• It is strongly recommended that workday actions are completed within 3 business days of the notification with a reference to the date the department received the notification in the comments. Do not retroactively terminate the employee. The “termination date” is the date the termination is processed in Workday. The “last date worked” is the last date of the active appointment.

Graduate Assistant responsibilities that must be completed by June 4, 2021:

• In Workday, confirm enrollment in the Graduate Student Employee Health Plan on or before June 1.
• In Workday, confirm all visa information is entered accurately. The visa status should not be blank.
• Any changes to visa status or citizenship will result in the need to adjust foreign national payroll tax status in the GLACIER nonresident alien tax compliance system. GAs will receive a pending to do prompt in Workday for this task. GAs should contact their HR Liaison or the Tax Compliance and Reporting Office with any questions. 
• Confirm the “Alien Work Authorization Expiration Date other ID” is entered in Workday and is not expired. If updates are needed, the GA must contact the HR Liaison to complete an I-9 re-verification.
• In Workday, verify there are no pending to do items.

If a graduate student loses their Grad Plan coverage for any reason in the middle of the semester OR if they lose their Grad Plan at the end of a semester AND will not be enrolled in classes in the next semester (the most common example is Spring Graduate Student Employees neither working nor studying for the Summer) they should enroll in SSHIP using a Qualifying Event enrollment. More information on how to enroll can be found on the Student Health Plan Website.
 

Points of Contact:

• benefits@tamu.edu (TAMU-CS)
• agrilifebenefits@ag.tamu.edu (COALS and AgriLife)
• hschr@tamu.edu (HSC)
• engrbenefits@tamu.edu (COE and TEES)

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