Non-Immigrant Visas

Exchange Visitors

IMPORTANT You should have your I-20 or DS-2019 when you come to your visa interview appointment. We cannot issue your visa until you submit your I-20 or DS-2019. Please note, however, that if your departure date is a month away, you may come to your appointment without your I-20 or DS-2019 and submit it later.

Exchange visitor (J-1) visas are appropriate for persons going to the US as part of officially approved programs sponsored by educational or other nonprofit institutions. These programs include post graduate students, medical students coming to the United States as residents or interns, foreign scholars sponsored by universities as temporary faculty, and some business trainees. There are also several exchange visitor programs for young people, including summer employment programs, intern programs for university students, and au-pair programs.

The programs are designated by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

To be eligible for an exchange visitor visa, the applicant must:

• Be accepted by a designated exchange visitor program, which will issue a SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) compliant form DS-2019 "Certificate of Eligibility".
The form must be completed and sent to the applicant by the sponsoring organization in the United States. It will bear a "program number," have a bar code on the right-hand side and must be completed in full. The form must be submitted to qualify for a visa; however, the DS-2019 form does not guarantee the issuance of a J visa.

The consular officer will carefully review the application and determine eligibility. The DS-2019 is not a visa. If you arrive in the US with the DS-2019, but no exchange visitor visa, you will not be allowed to enter the US and will be returned to Vietnam.

• Have sufficient funds to cover expenses. If the sponsoring organization in the United States or your organization in Vietnam will pay expenses, you will be required to submit a letter of support from them.
• Have adequate English language skills
• Have strong ties to the country in which you are applying for the visa and evidence that you will leave the United States upon completion of the program. These factors must be established to the satisfaction of the consular officer. As cases will vary widely, there is no set list of what documents to submit.

Important Notice: As a former exchange visitor, you may not be issued an immigrant, fiancé(e), temporary worker or intracompany transferee visa until you have resided and been physically present in your country of nationality or last residence for at least two years following the completion of your exchange visitor program if one or more of the following conditions applies:

• The program was financed by the United States government or the government of your country of nationality or last residence
• You are a national or resident of a country which the Secretary of State has designated as clearly requiring the services of people in the field of specialized knowledge or skills in which you were engaged during the exchange visitor program
• You are a physician who entered the United States to receive medical education or training (except for programs involving exclusively teaching research or consultation)

J-1 Training Programs: While the J-1 training program may contain a small portion of productive work normally performed by a regular employee, the primary focus of the program must be training and skill development. The trainee may not replace or augment the regular staff by filling a position that would otherwise be held by a regular employee. Providing a detailed training plan is helpful in determining eligibility.

Please note, that J1 applicants under "trainee" or "intern" categories will be required to submit a fully completed and signed Form DS-7002 from the program sponsor if Form DS-2019 was issued after July 19 2007.

Dependents: Spouses and/or children under the age of 21 will need their own DS-2019 to obtain a derivative J-2 visa and reside with you in the US. The application procedure is the same and each applicant needs a separate DS-2019 form. If applying separately, submit a copy of the principal applicant's DS-2019 together with a copy of the principal applicant's visa and birth or marriage records showing relation to principal applicant. Spouses and/or children who do not intend to reside in the United States with the primary visa holder, but visit for vacations only, may be eligible for visitor (B-2) visas.

The spouse of an exchange visitor may not work in the United States on a derivative J-2 visa unless permission has been obtained in advance from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). An application for permission to work can only be made after the J-2 holder's arrival in the United States and will be considered then in light of policies in effect at that time.

Entry and Length of Stay: The holder of an exchange visitor J-1 visa may enter the United States up to 30 days before the designated start date on the DS-2019 (the 30 day entrance limitation does not apply to those returning to continue with the program) and remain for up to 30 days after the completion date on the DS-2019.

Application Procedures: For information on applying for this visa, please see “How to Apply.”

Application Fee: Current Fulbright Scholars and Vietnam Education Foundation Scholars as well as their dependents are not required to submit an application fee.

Due to new security regulations, some applications may require additional clearance and longer processing. Since the application process cannot be accelerated, please apply well in advance of your travel date, and do not purchase plane tickets until you have received your visa. Applicants should refrain from calling the Embassy to inquire about the status of their application. Visa applicants should never assume their application will be automatically approved.