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The J-1 visa is for exchange visitors.
Criteria
- Is a professor or research scholar, short-term scholar, bona fide trainee, college or university student, teacher, secondary school student, nonacademic specialist, foreign physician, international visitor, government visitor, camp counselor, au pair, or summer student in a travel/work program.
- Has sufficient funds and fluency in English.
- Mantains sufficient medical insurance for accident and illness for participant and J family members in a minimum amount of $50,000 per accident or illness.
B-1 in Lieu of J-1
Certain visitors to the U.S. may have their travel funded by the U.S. government but do not fall within the J-1 category. For example, an employee of an Embassy or Consulate (Foreign Service National Employee) may travel to the U.S. at U.S. government expense to participate in a wide variety of programs (e.g., CIA/ DIA training) that are not authorized exchange visitor programs.
Two-Year Foreign Residence Requirement
- Certain J visa holders are subject to a requirement that they must return to their home country or country of last residence upon completion of their training in the U.S. before they are eligible to adjust status, apply for an immigrant visa, or apply for an H or L visa, or change status inside the U.S. This does not apply to change to A or G, or from change to H-1B for physicians receiving waivers on the basis of a three-year waiver job. INA §§212(e), 214(l), and 248, 8 U.S.C. §§1182(e), 1184(l), and 1258; 22 C.F.R. §41.63
Those J visa holders subject to this 2-year foreign residence requirement are persons:
(a) Whose participation "was financed in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by an agency of the government of the U.S. or by the government of his nationality or last residence";
(b) Who at the time of admission or acquisition of status was engaged in a field which was on the DOS skills list. The most recent "skills list" governing programs beginning on or after Mar. 17, 1997 is found at 62 Fed. Reg. 2447-2516 (Jan. 16, 1997).
(c) Who came to the U.S. or acquired J status after Jan. 10, 1977 to receive graduate medical education or training. INA §212(e), 8 U.S.C. §1182(e).
2. A person subject to the 2-year foreign residence requirement is ineligible to apply for an immigrant visa/adjustment of status, change of status, except as to A and G categories or to H-1B for a physician taking a three-year J-1 waiver job, or to apply for an H or L visa unless he returns home and physically resides in his country for 2 years following departure from the U.S. or obtains a waiver. 8 U.S.C. §1182(e); 8 C.F.R. §§248.2(c), (d); 22 C.F.R. §41.63(a)(1); Friedberger v. Schultz, 616 F.Supp. 1315 (D.C. Pa. 1985).
3. A person is subject to the 2-year foreign residence requirement even if he obtained the J visa by fraud. Espejo v. INS, 311 F.3d 976 (9th Cir. 2002); Matter of Park, 15 I&N Dec. 436 (1975).
Waiver of 2-year requirement
USCIS can grant waiver only after DOS makes favorable recommendation to USCIS.
Spouses and Children
Also subject to foreign residence requirement. 8 C.F.R. §212.7(c)(4) Matter of Tabcum, 14 I&N Dec. 113 (R.C. 1972). May be subject to requirement even if they enter U.S. after spouse completes program with 2-year foreign residence requirement if they obtained visa as spouse and children of applicant. Sheku-Kamara v. Karn, 581 F.Supp. 582 (E.D. Pa. 1984). However, if J-1 spouse has fulfilled the 2-year foreign residence requirement the J-2 spouse and children may not be subject to it. Letter, Weinig, Deputy Asst. Comm., Adjudications, CO 212e-C (Sept. 27, 1989), reprinted in 66 No. 42 Interpreter Releases 1207, 1223-24 (Oct. 30, 1989). But see Notes from VO-AILA Liaison, Mar. 30, 2000, posted on AILA InfoNet at Doc. No. 00050905 (May 9, 2000).
a. DOS itself will act as an IGA to recommend a waiver for a J-2 in certain circumstances. In cases of death or divorce from the J-1,or when a J-2 child teaches age 21, the Waiver Review Division may entertain requests for waivers on behalf of the J-2. The Division will need a completed data sheet, DS-2019/IAP-66 forms of the J-1, divorce decree or death certificate, whichever is applicable, and, for a dependent son or daughter turning 21, a copy of his or her birth certificate. See http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/info/info_1294.html [WRD FAQ].
Exchange Visitor Program Designation, Suspension, And Revocation Board
Procedures for reprimanding, probating, revoking or suspending J program for willful violation, negligent disregard, repeated failures, paperwork failures, or disrepute. 22 C.F.R. §§62.50-.62. The regulations provide for graduated sanctions and procedural hearings. 22 C.F.R. §§62.50-.62. In National Collegiate Recreation Services v. Powell, Case No. 9:02cv02676 (D.S.C. Nov. 26, 2002) reported in 80 No. 7 Interpreter Releases 244-46 (Feb. 19, 2003), the district court determined that the revocation of American Hospitality Academy’s J-1 program designation was arbitrary and capricious because the DOS imposed the harshest penalty without basis and its fact finding was deficient.
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