When a UW department wants to pay an honorarium and related travel reimbursement to an NRA (as defined in the overview), the following documentation must be provided to the Financial Services Tax Desk before payment can be made:

Documentation of the individual's immigration status substantiated by I-94 (I-94W). This document may only be obtained while the visitor is in the United States.
Tax information about the individual.

Gathering the required paperwork can be difficult, so timely planning and communication with your visitor is critical. It may take several months to obtain a visa for a J-1 visitor. Processing payments generally takes three to four weeks, but may take up to six weeks depending on visa processing time, the immigration travel status and whether the individual will be claiming a tax treaty benefit.

In order to correctly request payment for international payees, review the questions in the Gather Information section and be sure you have the answers. As the hosting department, you must inform the NRA about required documentation prior to their arrival. You may use our sample letters of invitation as a guide to invite your guest and inform them of the required paperwork.

To make a payment to a foreign individual or entity we must establish identity, legal purpose for being in the US, payment eligibility, tax status, whether the foreign individual or entity has as taxpayer identification number (TIN), and determine the tax liability. The following table shows which documents helps make the necessary determinations for services being performeed in the US by foreign individuals.

FOR PAYMENT OF SERVICES IN THE US BY FOREIGN INDIVIDUALS

Required Information	Forms or Documents Used
Establish Identity	Picture page of Passport (or, for Canadians without a passport, a current piece of government ID with a picture)
Establish Legal Purpose in the US	Immigration Documents (I-94 and any supporting documents if appropriate for status or I-94W: for Canadians without a Visa, a copy of passport or an additional current piece of government ID with or without picture)
Determine payment eligibility	Legal status with the US as determined by I-94 or I-94W and UoW form 1693
Determine Tax Status	UoW form 1693
Determine whether the individual has a US Taxpayer Identification Number	UoW form 1693 and/or IRS form W-8BEN (Note: at this time we do not require a W-8BEN)
Determine Tax Liability	UoW form 1693; if the individual has a TIN, Tax Treaties and IRS form 8233. (Note: there is a method to obtain a TIN while the individual is at the UW)