Frequently Asked Questions for J-1 Exchange Scholar Visa and J-1 Waiver

The J-1 visa covers a person coming to the United States as a student, researcher, professor, nonacademic specialist, physician, international visitor, camp counselor, au pair, or summer student in a travel/work program.

An exchange visitor, spouse, and children may not be admitted initially for longer than the period specified on Form DS-2019, plus 30 days for travel or the period USCIS designates. The period for a spouse or child (J-2) may not exceed that of the principal (J-1) exchange visitor. J-1 exchange visitors are admitted for “duration of status “ to complete the programs reflected on Form DS-2019 and do not receive a date certain on their I-94 Arrival/Departure record.

Some J-1 holders are subject to the foreign residency requirement and must leave the United States when their visa expires. A J-1 nonimmigrant subject to that requirement who has not received a waiver may not change his or her nonimmigrant status within the United States, except when applying to change to an A or G visa classification. Such a nonimmigrant is also barred from obtaining an H or L visa and from applying for a K fiance visa or adjustment of status to permanent residence.

Yes, except for H, L, or K. A J-1 nonimmigrant subject to the foreign residence requirement cannot change status to another nonimmigrant category while in the United States, but may obtain a nonimmigrant visa (other than H, L, or K) at a U.S. consulate abroad if eligible.

The two-year foreign residency requirement applies when:

1. The exchange visitor's program was financed in whole or in part by the U.S. government or by the government of the person's nationality or country of last residence;
2. The exchange visitor possesses skills that his or her own country particularly needs; and
3. The exchange visitor came to the United States for graduate medical education or training.

The spouse and children of a J-1 visa holder are also subject to the requirement.

An exchange visitor subject to the foreign residence requirement may obtain a waiver on one of four bases:

1. A United States governmental agency may request a waiver on the exchange visitor's behalf, usually framed as benefiting United States security interests or the public good.
2. A waiver may be obtained when the foreign residence requirement would cause exceptional hardship to the U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or child.
3. The exchange visitor can show that he or she would be subject to persecution in the home country on the basis of race, religion, political opinion, nationality, or membership.
4. The exchange visitor's home government issues a letter of “no objection “ to the exchange visitor's remaining in the United States (foreign medical graduates are not eligible for this waiver).

A U.S. government agency may request a waiver for the exchange visitor if his or her required departure would be detrimental to a program or activity of interest to the agency.

No. A private employer or a government agency may employ the exchange visitor. Either may sponsor a waiver with the Department of Defense or the Department of Health and Human Services, which decides whether a waiver is appropriate.

First, an employer must sponsor the waiver and apply to a government agency, such as the Department of Defense or the Department of Health and Human Services. If the agency agrees, it generates the request and sends it to the DOS for evaluation. USCIS makes the final determination after the DOS issues its recommendation.

Several agencies have developed guidelines and procedures for sponsorship requests by J-1 physicians. One category rests on an employer-employee relationship with the sponsor, such as the Veterans Administration's J-1 physician sponsorship program. A second rests on the physician's academic research in a health area that the United States considers important, such as the Department of Health and Human Services' program. Other agencies sponsor J-1 physicians who commit to work in medically underserved areas, such as the Appalachian Regional Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

To obtain a J waiver, the exchange visitor must show an unforeseeable hardship, not merely one that accompanies the foreign residence requirement. One example of possible “exceptional hardship “ is medical problems, provided the condition is not minor and cannot be treated adequately in the exchange visitor's home country. Possible persecution of citizen or permanent resident family members, and factors showing a sharp difference in cultural customs or mores, have also weighed in hardship determinations.

Probably not. Separation of a U.S. citizen spouse from the J-1 holder, or the hardship of living in a third-world country, is generally viewed as normal hardship foreseeable when the J-1 holder entered the United States or when the couple married. Hardship has been found on economic grounds where the couple could not support the family abroad for lack of suitable employment and could not afford two households; U.S. citizen children appear to strengthen the showing.

When an exchange visitor is subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement because his/her skill area is on the home country's skills list, or because he/she received financing from that country, and a no objection statement is issued, the waiver is usually granted. Such waivers are routine because the home country does not object to the exchange visitor's stay in the United States even though his/her skill area is listed or that country helped finance his/her training or education here.

If the exchange visitor received funding from the U.S. government rather than from his/her home government, this type of waiver is difficult to obtain. When U.S. government funding is involved, the funding agency or program sponsor is consulted on whether to grant the waiver. A U.S. government agency such as AID often opposes the request, and that opposition usually persuades the DOS when it makes its recommendation to USCIS.

The waiver application process has several steps. The applicant first files the J-1 Visa Waiver Recommendation Application, Form DS-3035, with the DOS, which now requires the form to be completed online. Afterward, the applicant receives a data bar code page to print and submit with the processing fee and other required documents, then must submit all requested documents and required letters to the Waiver Review Division, which the DOS recommends sending together. Some documents, such as a “no objection “ statement from the applicant's home country or a request from a government agency, must still go directly to the Waiver Review Division from the embassy (in “no objection cases “) or the government agency (in agency request cases). When the review ends, the Waiver Review Division forwards its recommendation directly to USCIS, which rarely denies a waiver after a favorable State Department recommendation. A denial may be appealed to the USCIS's Administrative Appeals Office.

In “no objection “ cases, the exchange visitor's home country must provide a statement. Most embassies and foreign consulates in the United States are familiar with “no objection “ statements and usually assign specific personnel to handle such requests. The home country's statement must reach the DOS through official channels.

For interested government agency waivers, applicants must submit evidence of agency sponsorship once obtained. Each agency that might seek a waiver for an exchange visitor has its own procedures and standards for invoking its interest, and some have their own forms and waiver review boards, so the information required with a sponsorship request varies by agency.

Hardship and persecution waivers require filing Form I-612 with USCIS along with evidence supporting the claimed hardship or persecution. The application goes to the Service Center with jurisdiction over the applicant's residence. If USCIS approves the application, it forwards the file to the DOS with its favorable recommendation on Form I-613.

Consult your responsible program officer for help with this determination. If your participation in an exchange visitor program was funded in whole or in part by the U.S. Government, your government, or an international organization funded by either, you are subject to the two-year home-country physical presence requirement.

Follow these steps to file a J waiver online:

1. Complete the Online J Visa Waiver Recommendation Application: Complete Form DS-3035 on the J Visa Waiver Online webpage, following the online instructions. You must use the online form; no other version of Form DS-3035 is accepted. If you submit another version, your application will be returned without the processing fee, which is non-refundable.
2. Mail your Waiver Application and Fee Payment: the processing fee is $120.
3. Submit Supporting Documents.
4. Check the status of your waiver request and update your contact information.
5. Provide additional information if the Waiver Review Division requests it.
6. Department of State recommendation and final determination by USCIS.

Processing times for Department of State Waiver Review Division recommendations vary with the basis on which you request a waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement.

A No Objection waiver takes 6 to 8 weeks; an Agency waiver takes 4 to 8 weeks; a persecution or extreme hardship waiver takes 3 to 4 months; and a Conrad Program waiver takes 4 to 6 weeks.

No. The Waiver Review Division considers these applications thoroughly and, after a final determination, does not reconsider them, nor is there any appeal. You may, however, reapply on another basis for waiver if one applies to your situation.

A recommendation application is denied when the reasons for requesting the waiver do not outweigh the program and foreign policy considerations of the exchange visitor program. Applications from exchange visitors who received U.S. Government funding are therefore generally denied.

With one exception, a denied waiver recommendation application cannot be reconsidered or appealed, and you should not apply again on the same basis used in your original request. The exception is a waiver requested on the basis of persecution or exceptional hardship to a U.S. citizen (or legal permanent resident) spouse or child, where you have new information that may lead to a different decision. You may then apply again to USCIS, but you must submit a new application, including all documents listed in Steps 1 through 3 of the Instructions, and pay the processing fee.