The J-1 non-immigrant visa category was created to promote educational and cultural exchange activities between the United States and other countries. First begun in 1948, the J-1 exchange visitor program is presently overseen by the United States Information Agency (USIA). The program is credited with exposing millions of foreign visitors to the United States, its peoples, cultures, business techniques and educational institutions.
The J-1 exchange visitor is broadly defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as an alien having a residence abroad, which he has no intention of abandoning, who is a bona fide student, scholar, trainee, teacher, professor, research assistant, specialist, or leader in a field of specialized knowledge; who is coming temporarily to the United States as a participant in a program designated by the USIA, for the purpose of teaching, instructing, lecturing, studying, observing, conducting research, consulting, demonstrating special skills, or receiving training.
The following types of individuals are eligible to apply for J visas:
- Students
Individuals pursuing a formal course of study at either the university or secondary school level are eligible. University students are eligible for up to eighteen months of practical training upon completion of their studies.
- Short-Term Scholars
Professors, research scholars or persons with similar skills may come to the U.S. to lecture, observe, consult or participate in workshops, seminars, conferences, and the like, for a period of four months.
- Trainees
Individuals seeking to enhance their skill level in either “specialty” or “non-specialty” occupations by participating in a USIA approved training program may enter the U.S. for up to eighteen months.
- Teachers
Individuals teaching full-time in a primary or secondary school may receive J-1 status for up to three years.
- Professors and Research Scholars
Aliens within this category may enter for a three-year period, initially, and the program sponsor may approve a six-month extension. In addition, the USIA is authorized to extend an individual’s stay up to thirty-six months beyond the initial three years.
- Specialists
Experts in a field of specialized knowledge or skill may come to the U.S. to observe, consult or demonstrate special skills. Stay is limited to three years and short-term scholars, professors and research scholars, and alien physicians in graduate medical training are specifically excluded.
- Alien Physicians
Graduates of foreign medical schools may enter the United States to pursue graduate medical training or education. This category is highly regulated. The program sponsor for foreign medical graduate students is the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). The duration of authorized stay is generally limited to the time necessary to complete the program or seven years. Caution: Individuals participating in this category are automatically subject to the two-year home country physical presence requirement of INA §212(e).
- International Visitors
Individual participants in a USIA sponsored program for people-to-people exchanges. Stay is limited to one year.
- Government Visitors
This category is for the exclusive use of U.S. federal, state or local government agencies. The period of stay is limited to not more than eighteen months.
- Camp Counselors
A Foreign national who is at least eighteen-years of age and either a bona fide youth worker, student, teacher or an individual with a special skill may qualify as a summer camp counselor. This category is limited to a four-month stay.
- Au Pairs
This special category facilitates entry of individuals between the ages of eighteen to twenty-six, who are coming to perform child care services for a U.S. host family while attending a post-secondary school. This category is set to sunset on September 30, 1997.
- Special Education Exchange Visitors
This category is limited to fifty individuals per year and permits an alien to enter the United States for up to eighteen months to obtain practical training and experience in the education of children with physical, mental or emotional disabilities.
In addition to the qualifying alien, the spouse and minor children of a J-1 visitor are permitted to enter the United States in J-2 status.
HOW THE EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM WORKS
Each exchange visitor must be sponsored. The sponsor of the J-1 visa program is a legal entity designated by the Director of USIA to conduct an exchange visitor program. The following entities are eligible to apply for designation as a sponsor:
- United States federal, state and local government agencies;
- International organizations of which the U.S. is a member and which have an office in the United States; or
- Reputable organizations which are citizens of the United States.
The sponsoring entity is required to submit an application (IAP-37) to USIA and to comply with all provisions of 22 CFR Part 514. Alternatively, if USIA has not designated the organization as a sponsor, the organization may participate in the program through an intermediary, known as an umbrella organization, which acts as the sponsoring agency.
THE TWO-YEAR HOME COUNTRY PHYSICAL PRESENCE REQUIREMENT
An alien admitted in J-1 status may be subject to a two-year foreign (home country) residence requirement before being eligible to apply for a change within the US to a non-immigrant visa, any change to permanent residence, or any change to an H or L non-immigrant visa. An alien is subject to the home residence requirement if:
- The alien’s participation in an exchange visitor program was financed by the government of the country of his or her last residence;
- At the time of admission, the alien was a national or resident of a country which USIA had designated as clearly requiring the services of individuals with the alien’s special skills or knowledge; or
- The alien came to the United States to receive graduate medical education or training.
Limited waivers of the two-year foreign residence requirement are available in certain situations.
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