Nonimmigrant Visas - J - Exchange Visitor

This category includes trainees, students, professors or researchers, nonacademic specialists, international visitors, government visitors, camp counselors, au pairs and summer students in travel/work programs. J applicants must have the intent to return to their country after the purpose of the visit has been completed.

In order to be admitted as an exchange visitor you must enter through an Exchange Visitor Program. You must be participating in a program to teach, study, observe, conduct research, consult, and receive training (such as a student doing post graduate work, a scholar doing research or a medical student).

Your program must have been designated as an exchange visitor program by the United States Information Agency (USIA). You may enter through current programs within your own organization.

The sponsor of an exchange visitor program issues a Certificate of Eligibility for each exchange visitor. Once the Certificate of Eligibility is issued, the exchange visitor must take the certificate to an U.S. consulate to apply for issuance of a J-1 visa. USIA approval for each exchange visitor is not required.

Sponsors may bring exchange visitors to the United States under eight programs. Those program types cover students, short-term scholars, business trainees, teachers, professors, research scholars, specialists, other persons of similar description, including international visitor, government visitors, and camp counselors. Other groups that are also permitted entry as exchange visitors are foreign doctors entering U.S. internships and residences (sponsored only by the Educational Commission on Foreign Medical Graduate), students taking a summer travel/work program, and "au pairs" taking a year of residence in a United States home. Application to be a program sponsor is limited to these types of programs, but an organization may sponsor more than one program type.

The length of your stay depends on your Program. Different time periods are given for different fields.

Secondary school students may be admitted for one year.

College and university students may be admitted for the length of the academic program.

Students in degree programs below the doctoral level may also participate in 18 months of training after completing their doctoral program.

Post-doctoral training is permitted for 36 months following the conferral of the degree.

Non degree college and university students may be admitted for two-years.

Short-term scholars may be admitted for six months, with no extensions allowed.

Business trainees may be admitted for 18 months. Trainees in flight training programs are given 24 months.

Primary and secondary school teachers may be admitted for three years.

College and university professors and research scholars may be admitted for three years.

Specialists may be admitted for one year.

Foreign doctors participating in U.S. internships and residencies may be admitted for the length of their program, with a maximum of 7 years.

Summer student work/travel programs are not specific as to the length of stay. However, four months applied to other summer programs may apply to this category.

Au pairs may be admitted for one year.

International visitors may be admitted for one year.

Governmental visitor may be admitted for 18 months.

Camp counselors may be admitted for four months.

Your family members, under J-2 status, can be given permission to work by the INS.

Your family member must request the permission directly from the INS. The INS will make a notation on the Forms I-94 of the J-2 visa holder indicating "work authorized".

The INS will not grant work permission to J-2 family members if the employment is for the purpose of helping to support the J-1 visitor.

You must be participating in a program to teach, study, observe, conduct research, consult, and receive training (such as a student doing post graduate work, a scholar doing research or a medical student). OR

You must be receiving training in a field that can be utilized in your country. OR

You can be a student pursuing formal courses leading to a recognized degree or certificate, a teacher, professor, research scholar and specialist, international visitor, a graduate of a medical school pursuing graduate medical education or training in the United States, graduate nurse, medical technologist, medical record, librarian, medical record technician, nurse anesthetists, and similar categories, business and industrial trainees, an employee of the International Communication Agency, or a member of your immediate family.

1. You must be fluent in English.
2. You must have and maintain sufficient medical insurance for accident and illness for yourself and your J-2 family members in a minimum amount of $50,000.00 per accident or illness.
3. You may have to return to your home country or country of last residence, for two (2) years, once you have completed the training in the United States. You may obtain a waiver of the foreign residence requirement.
4. You must intend to enter the United States for a temporary period of time.
5. You must maintain your foreign residence as evidence of your intent to return to your country.

1. You must have participated in an exchange visitor program.
2. Your program must have been financed in whole or in part by your
government or by the United States government; or
3. You must be receiving graduate medical training in the United
States (interns and residents); or
4. You must have skills that have been determined to be in short supply in your country.

You must physically reside in your country of citizenship or last residence for two entire years. Physical presence in either the country of citizenship, or last residence, or a combination of the two, should be enough to fulfill the requirement. Service at your foreign country's consulate or armed forces in another country including the United States) for two-years should be enough to meet the requirement.

The two-year requirement can be met despite an intervening residence in a country other than the country of citizenship or last foreign residence as long as you physically resided in your home country for two-years.

Even if you have not physically resided in your home country for the entire two-years, the USIA may agree to act as an interested government agency for the purposes of recommending a waiver when the exchange visitor's stay in the home country is nearly two-years or when the exchange visitor has serious problems in the home country

If you do not comply with the two-year requirement you will not be able to return to the United States in the H or L nonimmigrant categories, or as a permanent residence. YOU will also be ineligible for an immigrant visa/adjustment of status (except as to A and G categories), or change of status.

To comply, you cannot spend time outside of the United States in a third country. Your spouse and children are also subject to this requirement when they enter the United States in the J-2 visa category.

Therefore, prior to pursuing the J-1 visa, your company or organization should determine whether you would have to return to your home country or last country of residence for two (2) years. Your company should do this because it will be impossible for the company to continue your services on a temporary basis or even have you petition for INS approval to fill a new permanent position.

You must submit the following:
1. Your passport,
2. Certificate of Eligibility, Form IAP-66, and
3. Any other documents which establish your eligibility such as degree, diplomas, experience letters, etc.

A Skill list is maintained and revised periodically by the USIA. Generally, you are subject to two-year residence requirement if you meet the following criteria:

1. If you work in the administration of public or public-oriented affairs.
2. If you work in the medical profession, computer science, engineering, the natural sciences and mathematics, the social sciences, education, communication, transport, construction profession, business, and library science.
Different skills or areas of expertise are given for each group and also listed for every country in which those skills are in short supply.

You can determine your skill area by looking at your Form IAP-66 and other information about the sponsoring program. The procedure is normally as follows:

Check the booklet entitled "Codes for Educational. and Cultural Exchange" issued by the USIA and check the code that apply to your skill area.

Check the general listing of skills included in the skill list and classify your skill area within one of the groups listed.

Locate your country on the list and check if this skill is listed for the country.

If your country is not listed in the skills list or your skill area is not included on your country's skills list then you are not subject to the two-(2) year foreign residency requirement on the basis of the skills list.

A waiver may be granted in those cases where satisfying the foreign residence requirement would be impossible due to facts which are/were totally beyond your control and were not the obvious result of something that you have done. You must provide compelling and probative evidence such as proof of denial of a request for a nonimmigrant visa from your home country or denial of a request to restore home country citizenship.

You can apply for a waiver if your compliance with the foreign residence requirement would result in exceptional hardship to your United States citizen or permanent resident spouse or child. The types of hardships recognized by the INS are medical hardships (including a serious illness of any member of the family that would require medical care in the U.S. unavailable in your country, complications resulting from a pregnancy which requires special medical care unavailable in your country, or exposure of the family member to unhealthy living conditions in your country); psychological, social, and cultural; economic; educational; interruptions to careers; political and religious; and military service obligations.

The only people recognized for hardship waivers are U.S. citizens and permanent resident spouse. A hardship waiver cannot be filed unless you as the exchange visitor has the required relationship to an U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

You can apply for a waiver if you would be subject to persecution upon returning home. You must show that you would be subject to persecution on account of race, religion or political opinion.

You can apply for a waiver if an interested United States government agency (IGA) seeks a waiver on your behalf. You must show that the granting of the waiver is in the public interest; and compliance with the two-year return would be clearly detrimental to a program/activity of official interest to the agency. The application is usually sent by the organization or institution employing you, which requests the sponsorship, or a government agency that has the most direct interest in the case. The IGA waiver request must be submitted to the USIA by the government agency that believes that your departure from the United States would be detrimental to a program or activity of official interest to the agency. If you are not employed or funded directly by a United States government agency, another agency may agree to serve as an IGA depending on the connection of your work to the agency.

You can apply for a waiver if your country issues a no objection letter regarding your decision not to return home. Some countries will not issue a No-objection statement unless a foreign ministry or your last employer abroad agrees with the issuance of the statement. Your country's statement must be sent to the director of the USIA. It must be sent from your country's foreign office to the USIA, through the United States mission in the foreign country concerned, or through your country's head of mission or duly appointed designee to the director of the USIA in the form of a diplomatic note.

The no objection letter is not available to foreign medical graduate except if you came to the United States under J status to observe, consult, teach, or do research.

If you are requesting the waiver under the no objection waiver you must apply through your country's embassy in the United States unless you have returned home, then through the foreign office.

If a United States government agency (IGA) seeks a waiver on your behalf the head of the agency must submit a request through the General Counsel and Congressional Liaison Office of USIA.

To apply for a hardship waiver the INS will look at the hardships if family members accompany you to your country; and the hardships if family members do not accompany you to your country.

To apply for a hardship waiver you must file with the INS. You must file the following:

1. Form I-612 (the application for waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement);
2. A copy of Form I-94 for you;
3. Documentation establishing U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status of your spouse or
    child;
4. Documentation establishing the relationship between you (exchange visitor) and your spouse
    or child;
5. The USIA Exchange Visitor Data Sheet;
6. Copies of all IAP-66 forms issued to you;
7. A personal statement;
8. Documentation supporting alleged hardships (including medical evidence, evidence
    concerning country conditions);
9. A filing fee of $170.00 and
10. Form G-28, Notice of Appearance for the Attorney or Representative.

If the INS denies your request you can appeal to the Assoc. Commissioner when the denial is not based on unfavorable USIA recommendation.

A foreign medical graduate may obtain a waiver through a recommendation issued by an interested state or federal agency interested in facilitating the physician's employment in a designated medically underserved area.

You cannot meet your two-year requirement by having residency in a third country. You must return to your country of citizenship or last residence, whichever is last. If you are going to rely on the place of last residence the residency must be the same of permanent residence. Repayment of funds to the United States or your country will not satisfy the waiver requirement.

If you have a J visa, are not subject to the two-year residency requirement and you leave the United States temporarily and you need a new J visa to return you will return in the same J status.

If you have a J visa, are subject to the two-year residency requirement but then switch to the J program that is not subject to the J requirement you must still meet the two-year requirement.

If you want to determine the status of your waiver application you can contact USIA through the 24-hour line at 205-260-3038.

The INS will not enforce your departure if a J-1 waiver application is pending. But, the INS will not automatically grant you interim legal status or work authorization. You can obtain extensions of J status while a waiver is pending if you are with in the maximum period of time for your program category.

If your J status is about to expire and you have not filed a waiver you should obtain an extension of J status before filing the waiver request. If you have already filed a waiver you may withdraw the application, obtain an extension of J status, and re-file the waiver application. If you have already filed your waiver application and have fallen out of status you may obtain a nonimmigrant visa at an U.S. consulate abroad and return to the U.S.

Once the USIA makes a favorable waiver recommendation you may file for adjustment of status and seek employment authorization while the adjustment application is pending.

If you have requested a waiver based on persecution and hardship you cannot file an adjustment application until after the USIA returns Form I-613 to the INS with its views and recommendation as to whether the waiver should be granted. If you fall out of status while the waiver application is pending, you will not be allowed to file for adjustment of status under the normal adjustment standards. However, this bar does not apply to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

Do I have to comply with the two-year requirement if I received governmental funding while in another nonimmigrant status but didn't receive governmental funding after receiving J-1 status?

If you did not receive further government funding, once receiving J-1 status, you are not subject to the two-year requirement once your United States stay is completed.

Do I have to comply with the two-year requirement if my Form IAP-66 says that I will receive government funds but I do not actually receive them?

If you do not actually receive the government funds you are not subject to the two-year requirement based on governmental funding.

Am I subject to the two-year requirement if my exchange program receives funding from an international organization?

If the funds used in funding the exchange program were contributed by the United States or your own country then you have to comply with the two-year requirement.

Am I subject to the two-year requirement if I receive a loan from a government source or non-monetary form of support?

Yes, a government loan is government financing. If you receive non-monetary forms of support from a government source, such as costs of transportation, equipment, school tuition, books and supplies, or insurance coverage will subject you to the two-year requirement.

Do I have to comply with the two-year requirement if I only receive a small amount of funding from a government source?

Yes, any amount of government funding subjects you to the two-year requirement.

Do I have to comply with the two-year requirement if I receive government funding from my country of citizenship but not from my country of last residence?

Yes, funding from either country subjects you to the two-year requirement.

An application for an extension may be made between fifteen and sixty days before you authorized stay expires. To file an extension you must complete Form IAP-66, endorsed by the sponsor of your program to show the length of the required extension.

Your sponsor should provide documentation of the reasons for the extension, including support for your intention to leave the United States at the end of the extended stay if you are subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement.

You should also provide an affidavit testifying to your intent to comply with the two-year foreign residence requirement. You must also submit Form I-94, as well as those of any immediate family members included in the application.

If the extension for the family members is made at the same time as yours, the sponsor should provide a letter giving details of the accompanying family members (names, dates and places of birth, passport numbers, expiration dates and country of issue); if you later make a separate application you must submit Form IAP-66.

The USIA will not issue an extension of stay if it has knowledge that you have applied for a waiver

An exchange visitor is not eligible for adjustment of status to permanent resident unless the two-year foreign residence requirement has either been fulfilled or waived.

If you want to change to other nonimmigrant classifications, except for A or G classifications (government or international organization representatives), the two-year foreign residence requirement must have been fulfilled or waived.

Change of nonimmigrant classification is not available to exchange visitors pursuing graduate medical training except when a waiver is obtained. See discussion above.

Application for Adjustment of Status is made on Form I-485 to the District Director, Immigration and Naturalization Service having jurisdiction over your place of temporary residence.

The responsible officer can authorize part-time employment, both on and off campus, during the school year and full-time employment during periods of school vacation.

The responsible officer can also allow you a period of academic training not to exceed eighteen months following the receipt of a degree or certificate from the institution where you are attending. You can work full time during the period of academic training.

You, as the exchange visitor, must obtain a J-1 visa from the U.S. consulate located outside the United States. IN order for you to obtain visa, you must do the following:

1. File Form OF-156 (the standard nonimmigrant visa application form).
    A separate form is required for each family member;
2. Submit the Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1) status,
    Form IAP-66, to the U.S. consulate along with the Of-156;
3. Submit your passport and those of each family member;
4. Include a photograph;
5. Pay the appropriate application fee. The fee varies for citizens of
    each country on the basis of reciprocity with U.S. citizens seeking
    entry to your country, and
6. Submit the machine-readable visa fee of $45.00..

Temporary (Nonimmigrant) Visas

J - Exchange Visitor