J‑1 Exchange Visitor
The J‑1 category includes certain students as well as visiting scholars, corporate trainees, professors, research assistants, and other field specialists. The J‑1 program is administered by the U.S. Department of State. As with F‑1 students above, J‑1 students may be eligible for incidental on‑campus employment if their school is also their program sponsor. For students on another sponsor’s program, that sponsor would need to authorize any on‑campus employment. The Responsible Officer (RO) can authorize off‑campus employment based on hardship or academic training. The academic training is available during or after the student’ s academic program for a maximum of 18 months based on an employment offer in the field of study. Bona fide post‑doctoral positions allow up to 36 months of academic training. Many (but not all) exchange visitors are obligated to a two-year foreign residence in their home country prior to seeking an H‑1B specialty worker or immigrant status in the U.S. Sometimes waivers of this requirement are not available, even if the foreign national marries a U.S. citizen and has U.S. citizen children.
