Immigration: What is a J-Visa?

The J-1 visa is an International Foreign Exchange Visitor visa.  Perhaps you have heard of Au Pairs of America, or of a camp counselor program that brings foreign exchange visitors to the US to teach summer soccer programs, or perhaps you have visited Epcot Center in Florida where there are lots of foreign exchange visitors working over the summer? 

At any time, there may be over 170,000 J-1 visa holders working and studying temporarily in the US.  The J-1 visa is a temporary visa.  It will never result in permanent resident status.  The international exchange programs allow foreign visitors to come to the US to experience our culture and to share their culture with us.  Across the US, there are many J-1 Visa Programs which have been established to bring au pairs, camp counselors, ski resort instructors, scholars, physicians, trainees, students and teachers to the US for a limited period of time, generally between 6 -18 months. 

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must approve any J-1 Visa Program, however, if you, or an organization wants to create a special J-1 Visa Program, it is possible to do so through guidelines which have been created by USCIS.  A school, business, organization or other entity can create a program by following the established guidelines, and submit it to USCIS for approval.  If approved, the organization can begin bringing individuals to the US through the J-1 visa.  However, it is extremely important that the organization monitors each J-1 visa holder that enters the US.  Failure to ensure that each J-1 visa holder returns to his or her own country at the end of the visa term can jeopardize the entire program.  If USCIS determines that exchange visitors in a program are not returning to their countries at the end of the authorized time period, USCIS can shut down the entire visa program for that organization.

Some J-1 visas also contain a caveat of a “2 year foreign residency requirement.”  For J-1 visa holders coming to the US from certain countries, the exchange visitor must return to his/her own country for a period of 2 years, before being allowed to return to the US.  This 2-year foreign residency requirement does not permit the visa holder to Change Visa Status, or Adjust Status until the applicant has resided outside the US for a period of 2 years.  This means that if an au pair comes to the US on a J-1 visa and falls in love with a US citizen, and marries, the J-1 visa holder would still have to return to his/her own country for 2 years before being able to become a permanent resident of the US!  There is a possible Waiver of the 2 year foreign residency requirement available, but it is not always easy to obtain. 

At the bottom of the J-1 visa stamp in the passport, there is a legend which states that the visa holder IS or IS not subject to the 2 year foreign residency requirement.