THE ABC’S OF IMMIGRATION – J-1 VISAS – ESTABLISHING A J-1 EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM

Last week, we covered the different activities one can participate in with a J-1 visa.  As noted in the article, a J-1 visa holder can only come to the US with the sponsorship of an approved J-1 Exchange Visitor Program ("EVP").  This article describes procedures related to establishing such a program as well as maintaining the program.

An EVP can be established by a government agency (be it a federal, state, or local agency or an international organization).  More frequently, however, EVPs are private sector programs.  There are four basic types of private sector programs:

·        Academic institutions - sponsors may include secondary schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, libraries, museums, and research laboratories affiliated with academic institutions. Programs are established to bring professors, researchers, short-term scholars, and students to these institutions.

·        Medical Institutions - sponsors may include hospitals, medical centers and related institutions. Programs are established to bring certain medical trainees and research scholars to medical institutions. Foreign medical graduates entering the US to pursue graduate medical education or training must be sponsored by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

·        Nonprofit Organizations - sponsors may include teenage academic year/home stay organizations, summer camp counselor programs, au pair programs, student summer work/travel programs and research programs.

·        Profit Making Organizations - sponsors may include banking, investment, manufacturing, industrial and other business organizations as well as other organizations involved in establishing ongoing specialized training programs and research organizations.

Program sponsors are expected to be US "citizens."  This means that an individual sponsor must be a citizen or lawful permanent resident and that organizational or institutional sponsors should be created and operating under the laws of the United States.  The responsible officer for an EVP must also be a citizen or permanent resident.

The main application form to become an EVP is Form IAP-37.  Sponsors must meet a number of other additional requirements including the following:

·        a demonstration that the EVP has the financial capacity to meet its program obligations (such as annual reports, financial statements, tax returns, etc.)

·        document how the EVP will ensure that J-1 visitors have adequate medical insurance

·        a statement explaining why other visa programs are insufficient to meet the EVP's objectives

·        evidence of appropriate licensure or accreditation

·        documentation that the EVP will make available to visitors cross-cultural activities such as sports, cultural and social events

·        documentation that the program has reciprocity with programs that allow Americans to go abroad to be exchange visitors. The reciprocity need not be for a one-for-one exchange, but should make it generally easier for Americans to have access to the culture of other countries.

Other program requirements are that the number of visitors must be greater than five each year (unless the EVP gets a reduction approved by the State Department), the program must last longer than three weeks (except for short-term scholar programs) and the program must have a sufficient orientation program.

Training programs have a number of additional rules.  Such training programs can be in any of the following categories: arts and culture; information media and communications; education, social sciences, library science, counseling and social services; management, business, commerce and finance; health-related occupations; aviation; the sciences, engineering, architecture, mathematics and industrial occupations; construction and building trades; agriculture, forestry and fishing; public administration and law; and other fields.  Training programs will only be approved if they are for specialty occupations (those requiring at least a bachelors degree) or skilled positions (those requiring at least two years of job experience).  Training programs for unskilled workers will not be approved.

Training program applications must be accompanied by certification that the EVP has adequate physical plant, equipment and personnel for the training program, that the program is not designed to train employees to work in the US and it is not designed to displace American workers.  The EVP must also submit a generalized training plan containing a statement of the training program's objectives, the skills to be taught, a summary of the supervision and evaluation process, the program syllabus and an explanation of why any on-the-job training may be used. If a third party will be conducting the training, the application must be accompanied by documents showing how the EVP intends to assure the third party meets State Department rules as well as the actual executed contract with the third party.

Training program sponsors also must meet additional recordkeeping requirements. Among the items that must be kept in the files:

·        a customized training plan for each visitor

·        the trainee's resume and an evaluation of why the visitor was selected for the program

·        documentation that the trainee has sufficient English skills

·        documentation that the trainee has received the necessary information about the program (the trainee should sign the document explaining the rules)

·        a statement that the orientation program has been completed

·        documentation that cross-cultural activities were offered or made available to the visitor

·        mid-term and final evaluations of the visitor

·        a record of contacts with the visitor to check whether any problems arose for the visitor

All EVPs must prepare and submit an annual report that accounts for all IAP-66 forms issued to visitors, data on the actual number of visitors that participated in the program, documentation of efforts to provide reciprocity, a record of cross-cultural offerings, and documentation relating to the orientation program.

The State Department recommends allowing six months for processing of an application, though one would be wise to plan on it taking even longer than this.

Programs are approved in five-year increments.  Expansions of EVPs to include new types of participant categories normally are approved by USIA when the programs come up for renewal.  However, a request can be made earlier.  Modifications that do not include expanding into new participant categories can typically be handled by filing with USIA an amendment to the application.  Renewal applications are filed on IAP-37.  Documents do not need to be resubmitted if they have not changed since the first application.  However, in lieu of the document, a statement that the document has not changed should be submitted.

Finally, the State Department is soon to institute a filing fee for the IAP-37 application of 9.