Green Card & Visa News » Exchange Visitor Program

DOS unable to Issue F, M and J Visas

Tushar Mathur — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:57:00 +0000

“The Department of State (DoS) has recently identified difficulties with its Consolidated Consular Database (CCD) communicating with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s (SEVP) Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). DoS discovered this issue on November 14, 2011. SEVP and DoS are investigating this issue between CCD and SEVIS to bring about a resolution as quickly as possible. Effective immediately, in order to ensure maximum data integrity and consistency, DoS has temporarily halted the issuance of ALL F, M and J visas at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates. Please note that this may alter prospective students’ or exchange visitors’ travel schedules.”

Source: NAFSA memo to SEVIS Users

More than 6,000 Waivers Granted to J-1Visa Holders in FY2010

Tushar Mathur — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:22:00 +0000

The U.S. State Department reports recently that it has granted more than 6,000 waivers to J-1 visa holders who are subject to the foreign residence requirement in Fiscal Year 2010. Only 227 waiver applications were denied during FY2010. A majority of the waiver applications were based on the “No Objection Statement” issued by the country of origin.

The United States established the J-1 visa classification to allow foreigners who intend to participate in a cultural exchange program to enter the U.S. as exchange visitors. Some common purposes for the J-1 visa include teaching, studying, observing, conducting research, consulting, demonstrating special skills, receiving training, or to receive graduate medical education or training. The U.S. Department of State designates certain public and private entities to act as exchange sponsors to implement the Exchange Visitor Program. Examples of exchange visitors include: professors or scholars, research assistants, students, trainees, teachers, specialists, nannies/au pairs, camp counselors, etc. The application process is started by obtaining a Form DS-2019, Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor Status (formerly known as an IAP-66) from the sponsoring agency.

There are many advantages of participating in the Exchange Visitor Program including cultural and knowledge exchange. There is also no cap imposed on the number of J visas, unlike the H-1B Program. However, for certain J-1 visitors, they are subject to the Section 212(e) foreign residence requirement of the Immigration Act. Generally speaking, there are three categories of J-1 visa holders who are subject to the residence requirement:

Applicants who have obtained their J-1 status through programs financed either in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by the U.S. government or their home country government.
Applicants whose specialized knowledge or skill is in short supply in their home country
Applicants who have received graduate medical education or training in the U.S.

If a foreigner is subject to this requirement, before she is allowed to change their immigration status in the U.S. to another classification or apply for a visa to return to the U.S., she must first return to their country of origin or last residence and live there for two years. The only exception to this requirement is to apply for a waiver under Section 212(e). There are six bases for applying for such a waiver. For Fiscal Year 2010, the numbers of waivers granted and denied for each basis are as follows. The numbers show that the “No Objection Statement” was the most popular type of waiver while the “Interested Government Agency” waiver applications enjoyed the highest rates of grant.

TYPES OF WAIVER	Granted	Denied	Total
No Objection Statement	4,786	155	4,941
Exceptional Hardship	213	65	278
Persecution	24	1	25
Interested Government Agency- Physician	70	0	0
Interested Government Agency- Other	165	6	171
State Department of Health	829	0	829
TOTAL	6,087	227	6,314

About the J1 Waiver

Tushar Mathur — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:55:04 +0000

The J1 visa is issued to the foreign exchange students who have traveled to the United States for the reason of getting some training or some sort of education. As per the clause of the J1 visa the people traveling to the United States on the J1 visa would be required to stay in the home country for the next two years post the completion of the training in the United States for which the visa was issued in the first place.

The basic reason for this requirement defined by the United States government, is that the person who has acquired the advanced skills and knowledge from the United States by the virtue of the exchange visitor program, he or she should go back to the home country and spread the knowledge to people there. But there could be a lot of reasons and requirements because of which the visitor might not be able to travel back. Under such situations there is a provision of waiver of such clause at the discretion of the United States government.

This J1 visa waiver is suitable for the people, who falls in any of the under mentioned categories.

Like medical graduates who had originally entered in to the United States and now post the completion of the education they would like to stay back in the United States.
People who are foreign nationals and had come to the United States. For the purpose of participating in any of the government funded programs, the same would also apply to the programs those are funded by other countries in the United States or by other international organizations.
The people who are foreign nationals, who had attended the exchange program and are now required to go back to their home country but there the knowledge would be of little or no importance due to the lack of the resources there.
If the J1 visa holder is able to obtain a NOC or a no objection certificate from the government in his home country.
If the project the J1 visa holder is working on is of importance to the federal government or any of its agencies, in that case the federal government might choose to waive off the clause.
If by the compliance of the J1 visa clause would be subjecting the spouse and the children of the person to a lot of hardship and problem then again the case could be reviewed for a waiver. But under such a situation the children and the spouse of the person has to be a citizen or atleast a permanent resident of the United States.

Visa for Nurses

Tushar Mathur — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:26:47 +0000

Looking at the huge shortage of the nurses in the United States today, this has gone up to 117,000 for the case of unfilled vacancies for registered and qualified nurses, at different hospitals and nursing homes across the United States.

As a resolution to the above mentioned problem on the 11^th of Feb in 2009. A new act was introduced in the house known as the Nurse Relief Act HR 1001. The crux of this new Act is that a new category of visas, the W – Visa category would be introduced which would only be for the nurses from all over the world to come over to the United States. The annual capping for this new visa category would be currently at 50000.

The nurses and the physiotherapists fall in Schedule A, They get preference under the third preference employment immigrant category and thus do not need the labor certification. But currently the visas under the said category for the nurses and the physiotherapists are not available at all and one would be required to wait till October to see the scope coming out of this category.

Again the H-3 temporary non immigrant level visa would allow nurses to enter the United States for the purpose of acquiring training in the said skill and would be expected to leave post the completion of the training.

Similarly, nurses could opt for the J-1 exchange visitor program and enter the United States in the capacity of an exchange visitor training and then leave post the completion of the training. In this visa category they would not allowed to work. But rather this is also a training visa. However the nurses coming under the said J-1 visa category would be eligible to get minimum wage rate, as applicable, under the provisions of the visa category.

The primary reasons for introducing the new W- Visa are:

As per the labor department in the United States the shortage of qualified nurses stand at a staggering 120,000. There was an urgent need to address this concern.
The states in the West and the Southwest United States have a higher growth rate than the rest of the country.
Other countries in the world like India, China and the Philippines have a higher number of nurses that they do not hire as well. Such surplus human resource could be better used in a country like the United States where the demand is higher than the supply.