J-1 Exchange Visitor
The J-1 visa covers people coming to the United States on a State Department designated exchange programme, from au pairs and camp counsellors to visiting professors, research scholars, resident physicians and summer work travel students. A designated sponsor, not an employer, controls the programme and issues the Form DS-2019 that makes the visa possible. Many J-1 holders pick up a two-year home residence requirement that has to be served or waived before they can move to most other statuses.
- Срок
- Set by category rather than by one rule. Au pair is 12 months. Camp counsellor and summer work travel are each a maximum of four months. Intern is a maximum of 12 months and trainee a maximum of 18 months. Short-term scholar is a maximum of six months. Teacher runs on a base period of three years. Professor and research scholar are capped at five years under 22 CFR 62.20. A physician in graduate medical education or training is capped at seven years under 22 CFR 62.27, unless the Secretary of State accepts that the home country has an exceptional need. A non-degree college or university student may stay up to 24 months. The DS-2019 states the exact dates. From Sept. 15, 2026 admission is to the SEVIS programme end date and capped at four years overall, with a 30-day departure grace period.
- Продление
- Extensions run through the sponsor, which amends the DS-2019 in SEVIS, up to the regulatory maximum for the category. An au pair may extend by 6, 9 or 12 further months. A teacher may extend by one or two years. Under the fixed-period rule effective Sept. 15, 2026, staying beyond the four-year admission cap requires Form I-539 with USCIS, with fee and biometrics, or departure and re-admission. Going past a category maximum requires a new programme, and several categories carry a bar on repeat participation.
- Работа
- Yes, but only the activity the programme authorises and only with sponsor permission. Au pairs work childcare hours, summer work travel participants take seasonal jobs, scholars do the research described on the DS-2019. Off-programme employment breaks status. No separate EAD is issued to the J-1 principal.
- Двойное намерение
- false - J-1 is single intent, and many holders also carry the section 212(e) two-year home residence requirement, which blocks change of status, adjustment of status, an immigrant visa, and H, L and K visas until served or waived.
- Члены семьи
- Spouse and unmarried children under 21 get J-2 visas on their own DS-2019 forms, with no additional SEVIS fee. A J-2 spouse may apply to USCIS on Form I-765 for employment authorisation, though the income may not be used to support the J-1. J-2 children may attend school without switching to F-1. Some programme categories do not permit dependants at all.
- Путь к грин-карте
- No direct route, and 212(e) is the obstacle. If the two-year home residence requirement applies, because the programme was government funded, involved graduate medical training, or your field appears on the Exchange Visitor Skills List for your country, you must spend two cumulative years at home or get a waiver on Form DS-3035 before adjusting status or taking an immigrant visa. Common waiver bases are a no-objection statement, an interested government agency request, a Conrad 30 placement for physicians, exceptional hardship or persecution.
- Срок рассмотрения
- Sponsor acceptance and DS-2019 issuance typically take weeks to a few months. The controlling variable is the consular interview wait, which lengthened materially after the 2025 interview waiver rollback and the social media vetting expansion. Administrative processing under section 221(g) is common for research scholars and physicians in sensitive fields.
- Годовая квота и очереди
- none for the classification, though individual programmes such as summer work travel and au pair run on sponsor allocations rather than a statutory visa cap
Кто подходит
- Au pair and EduCare participants
- Camp counsellors
- Government visitors and international visitors
- Interns and trainees on a DS-7002 placement plan
- Physicians in graduate medical education or training
- Professors, research scholars, short-term scholars and specialists
- College, university and secondary school students
- Summer work travel participants
- Teachers
Требования
- Acceptance into a programme run by a State Department designated sponsor
- A Form DS-2019 certificate of eligibility issued through SEVIS
- Payment of the I-901 SEVIS fee unless the programme covers it
- Sufficient funds, English ability and insurance meeting the sponsor's requirements
- A residence abroad you do not intend to abandon
- Interns and trainees also need Form DS-7002, the training or internship placement plan
- Social media profiles set to public for online presence review, required of J applicants since June 18, 2025
- Entry no earlier than 30 days before the programme start date
Как подать
- 1
Apply to a State Department designated sponsor for the programme category you want
- 2
Get accepted and let the sponsor register you in SEVIS and issue Form DS-2019
- 3
Pay the I-901 SEVIS fee at fmjfee.com once your SEVIS record is active
- 4
Complete Form DS-160 and pay the $185 MRV fee unless your programme is government funded
- 5
Set all social media profiles to public, required of J applicants since June 2025
- 6
Book and attend an in-person interview in your country of nationality or residence with the DS-2019, the DS-7002 if applicable, proof of funds and evidence of ties abroad
- 7
Enter no earlier than 30 days before the DS-2019 start date
- 8
Report to the sponsor on arrival so they can validate your SEVIS record
Сборы и формы
| MRV nonimmigrant visa application fee | $185; no fee for participants in US government funded programmes whose DS-2019 serial number begins G-1, G-2, G-3 or G-7 |
| I-901 SEVIS fee, standard J | $220 |
| I-901 SEVIS fee, subsidised J categories including au pair, camp counsellor and summer work travel | $35 |
| I-901 SEVIS fee, government visitor | $0 |
| Visa issuance (reciprocity) fee | Varies by nationality; waived for US government sponsored exchange visitors |
| Form DS-3035 application for a 212(e) waiver | $120, non-refundable, paid by check or money order rather than Pay.gov, and filed through the J Visa Waiver Online portal; downloaded paper DS-3035 forms are no longer accepted |
| Form I-539 to extend or change status inside the United States | $470 paper, $420 online |
| Form I-907 premium processing on a J-1 or J-2 Form I-539 | $2,075 |
| Public Law 119-21 visa integrity fee | $250 statutory minimum; absent from the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026, so collection is unverified |
Что изменилось в 2025 и 2026 годах
- May to June 2025: State paused new F, M and J interview scheduling worldwide while it built out social media vetting, then resumed on June 18, 2025 with a requirement that applicants set every social media profile to public for comprehensive online presence review.
- Sept. 15, 2026: DHS ends duration of status for F, J and I nonimmigrants. The final rule published July 17, 2026 (FR doc 2026-14439) replaces D/S with a fixed admission period. F and J are admitted to the SEVIS programme end date, capped at four years, plus 30 days to depart, and the F-1 post-completion grace period drops from 60 days to 30. I nonimmigrants are admitted for the time needed to complete the assignment, capped at 240 days, or 90 days for holders of a PRC passport other than Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR. Extensions require Form I-539 with USCIS or departure and re-admission. F and J holders already in valid D/S on Sept. 15, 2026 keep their programme end date, capped at four years from the effective date. As of Sept. 5, 2026 the rule has published but is not yet in force.
- Jan. 1, 2026: Presidential Proclamation 10998, signed Dec. 16, 2025, took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST and replaced Proclamation 10949 (signed June 4, 2025, effective June 9, 2025). It fully suspends visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries - Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, across every nonimmigrant and immigrant category. It only reaches people who were outside the United States and held no valid visa at 12:01 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2026; no earlier-issued visa was revoked under it.
- Jan. 1, 2026: PP 10998 also partially suspends issuance for nationals of 19 further countries - Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe - but only for B-1, B-2, F, M and J visas plus all immigrant visas. Turkmenistan is suspended for immigrant visas only. H, L, O, P, E, TN, I, R and the other work categories are not inside the partial suspension. PP 10998 also removed the PP 10949 carve-outs for immediate relative immigrant visas, adoption visas and Afghan special immigrant visas. J is one of the classifications named inside the partial suspension, so J applicants from those 19 countries are affected even though most work categories are not.
- Oct. 1, 2025: the interview waiver rollback announced Sept. 18, 2025 took effect and superseded the July 25, 2025 guidance. Almost every nonimmigrant applicant now needs an in-person interview. The standing carve-outs are A-1, A-2, C-3 other than personal staff, G-1 through G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-6, TECRO E-1, diplomatic and official visas, and 12-month renewals of B-1/B-2, Mexican border crossing cards and H-2A. Waiver-eligible applicants must also apply in their country of nationality or residence, must never have been refused a visa unless overcome or waived, and must have no apparent ineligibility. The old under-14 and over-79 age exemptions were abolished. No further update has issued as of September 2026.
- July 15, 2026: State told nonimmigrant applicants to interview in their country of nationality or residence, or at the designated processing post if their country has no routine operations. Applying elsewhere is allowed but harder to qualify, the MRV fee is non-refundable and non-transferable, and waits are much longer. A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO and diplomatic applicants are exempt.
- July 8, 2025 onward: State cut nonimmigrant visa validity for several African nationalities to single entry, three months. Nigeria, Cameroon and Ethiopia are still on single-entry three-month terms for B, F and H categories on the reciprocity schedule as of September 2026; Ghana has been restored to multi-year validity. Check the per-country reciprocity table rather than assuming standard validity.
- July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 added non-waivable immigration surcharges on top of normal filing fees. The ones that touch nonimmigrants are the Form I-94 fee, held at $24 for FY 2026, the parole fee, adjusted to $1,020 for FY 2026, parolee EAD surcharges of $560 initial and $280 renewal, and a statutory visa integrity fee of at least $250 on nonimmigrant visa issuance. The $250 visa integrity fee is enacted but unverified as collected: it appears nowhere on the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026 and no implementing rule has published.
- ICE fee levels published as of September 2026 remain $220 for standard J and $35 for the subsidised au pair, camp counsellor and summer work travel categories.
- The Exchange Visitor Skills List that drives the 212(e) two-year home residence requirement was last revised in 2024, and the 2024 list is the one State points applicants to.
Где чаще всего ошибаются
- Not checking the 212(e) box on the DS-2019 and only discovering the two-year home residence requirement when a green card or H-1B is on the table.
- The Skills List is national, not personal. Your field plus your country of nationality or last residence decides it. Check the 2024 list, not an older one: many people who were subject under the previous list, including Chinese and Indian nationals, came off it on Dec. 9, 2024, and the relief is retroactive.
- Assuming the 2024 Skills List clears you altogether. Government funding and graduate medical education are separate, independent triggers for 212(e) that the list revision did not touch.
- Working outside the programme, including a second job or gig work, ends status immediately.
- Repeat participation bars. A research scholar generally may not have been physically present in the United States in J status for all or part of the 12 months immediately before the programme starts, and a professor may not have completed a professor programme in the preceding 24 months.
- Arriving more than 30 days before the DS-2019 start date is not permitted on a J visa.
- J-2 spouses starting work before the Form I-765 EAD is approved.
- Sponsors, not employers, control status. Leaving a placement without telling the sponsor terminates the SEVIS record.
- Private social media accounts now cause refusals or long administrative processing.
- From Sept. 15, 2026 the four-year admission cap bites on long research and physician programmes that used to run open-ended on D/S.
Также в категории Exchange visitor
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