Individuals who accept an offer of employment or a stipend from WashU are required to provide additional personal information in Workday as part of the onboarding process. This page addresses questions that are unique to the foreign national population and data that is required.

Depending on your role, you may see the specific fields discussed below more than once during the hiring and onboarding process. Certain individuals will be asked to complete this information when the offer is being extended and accepted, and all workers paid via payroll will see this information during HR Onboarding (Group 1).

Personal information: citizenship status

The Citizenship Status field in Workday specifically refers to your tax residency status in the U.S.

If you are a U.S. lawful permanent resident (LPR) and you have a valid green card, you should select “Permanent Resident” as the response to the Citizenship Status question.

Foreign nationals include anyone who does not have U.S. citizenship or permanent residence. Foreign nationals can select either “Non-Resident Alien” or “Resident Alien” response. Both responses are meant to be used by foreign nationals only and represent tax residency status. If you’ve never been in the U.S. before or if you don’t know which option to choose, select “Non-Resident Alien.” Select “Resident Alien” only if you know that you are a Resident Alien for tax purposes. Once you complete the Foreign National Information System (FNIS) process at WashU, the correct tax residency status will be applied to your record.

Note that “Non-Citizen Resident” is not a valid option for new workers or stipend recipients. Do not select this option when completing employee onboarding.

Government identifiers

Follow the information below based on whether you have an SSN, an ITIN, or neither yet.

Social Security Number (SSN)

An SSN is a U.S. taxpayer ID used in the U.S. for many reasons. Visit the Social Security Number webpage to learn more about an SSN and its uses.  

Only foreign national employees earning a wage (i.e. hourly or salary wage) are eligible to apply for an SSN. If you are only receiving a stipend, you will need to apply for an ITIN (see below).  

Learn more about how to apply for an SSN. 

Learn more about the difference between employees or wage earners and stipend recipients at WashU. 

Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)

An ITIN is a U.S. taxpayer ID used by individuals who must have a tax ID but do not qualify for an SSN. At WashU, this typically applies to foreign nationals who will be receiving a stipend as opposed to a wage (i.e. hourly or salary wage).

Learn more about the ITIN application process.

Do not have an SSN or ITIN

If you do not have an SSN or ITIN yet, complete the National ID 1 fields in Workday as follows:

  • Country = United States of America
  • National ID Type = Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Identification Number = 000-DD-YYYY, where DD is the day of your birth and YYYY is the year of your birth
  • Issued Date = leave blank
  • Expiration Date = leave blank

Home contact information

When entering your address in the Home Contact Information section, be sure to enter your primary home address in the U.S. where you live during your WashU employment. This location is important because it will affect your state and local taxes. If necessary, you can record other addresses under different labels (e.g., permanent, mailing, etc.).

For U.S. addresses, use this format:

  • Address Line 1 = your street number and name (e.g., 123 Main Street)
  • Address Line 2 = your apartment number (e.g., Apt 4N)
  • City = your city (e.g., St. Louis)
  • State = your state (e.g., Missouri)
  • Zip Code = your zip code (e.g., 63130)

Questions

If you have questions about any of the topics covered here, contact FNIS Support at fnis@wustl.edu.  

For questions about your individual hire or offer, contact your hiring department. 

For all other questions, contact HR Operations.