Tick-tock - J1 Interview Wait Times

Congratulations! Your J-1 sponsorship application was approved and you now have the DS-2019 in hand. The next step is to make a J-1 interview appointment at your local U.S. consulate/embassy. Some consulates have especially high traffic and long wait times so we suggest that you call your local U.S. embassy/consulate or visit the Department of State website for more information on wait times.

If you are operating on a tight timeline, you may want to check consular wait times prior to receiving the DS-2019. That way you can make an appointment in advance or schedule an appointment at another nearby consulate/embassy. If you decide to schedule the appointment before the DS-2019 is issued, we recommend that you plan for at least three weeks from the day your application is submitted to the day you receive the DS-2019, assuming that you are taking advantage of Global Current’s 48 hour turnaround time.

Some embassies/consulates require a SEVIS ID to schedule an appointment. If this is the case, you must wait until the DS-2019 is issued before you can schedule an appointment. Your SEVIS ID number is issued with your DS-2019. Global Current is can email you your SEVIS ID number as soon as we issue the DS-2019 form.

The Place of Exchange in Public Diplomacy

Exchange holds an important place in our hearts, and we are very excited to see it take a central role in U.S. public diplomacy. As a J-1 sponsor we have been able to witness the tremendous impact of J-1 exchange programs on the lives of thousands of people and we are confident that these programs will not dissappoint as a tool to promote international understanding and cooperation.

At the launch of the Public Diplomacy Collaborative at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Judith McHale, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, spoke about the new strategies being implemented by the current administration to make U.S. diplomatic efforts more effective. President Obama and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, are engaging other countries in a different way, encouraging an open dialogue and directly addressing damaging myths about the United States that have taken root abroad. Judith McHale, then goes on to champion exchange as an important component of the Obama Administration's diplomatic efforts. She recognizes the profound effect that exchange programs can have on the lives of individuals and how an individual's viewpoint can ripple out and affect thousands of others.

Global Current is proud to be a part of the movement to promote exchange and we encourage all J-1 participants and host companies to recognize their integral role in making exchange programs happen and how these exchange programs fit into a larger effort to facilitate international understanding and cooperation.

Yay Exchange!!

New DS-7002!!

A new DS-7002 has been released on the Department of State's website!

Keep your shirt on. The new DS-7002 is pretty similar to the old one. The new form has improvements in format and small improvements in content. Requests for program information that were irrelevant or misleading have been replaced with more clear and pertinent information requests.

Before having any substantial experience with the form, it seems that the only field that could cause confusion for our customers contains the choices for the J-1 program type. The choices are trainee, intern and student intern. For Global Current J-1 intern and trainee programs, only the intern and trainee boxes should be marked. The student intern is for students doing internships at a university in the U.S. This should not be confused with interns that are currently enrolled in a university outside the U.S. completing an internship in the United States at a host company/organization.

We are still working on incorporating the new form into our application. We will provide updates as the new updated application is released, however we do encourage all of our customers to begin using the new DS-7002 immediately.

What is SEVIS and why do I pay for it?

Acronyms can be both time-saving and incredibly frustrating to all of us. So to prevent you from hitting your head against a wall the next time you see the acronym SEVIS, I thought I would offer a brief explanation.

SEVIS, The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, is an Internet-based system that allows J-1 sponsors to transmit information regarding our participants to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (DoS). Each one of the J-1 participants under our sponsorship has been entered into SEVIS, which allows us to generate the DS-2019. SEVIS also helps us to track and monitor our participants by containing status information on our participants like if he/she has received the J-1 visa, and entry/exit data. The J-1 sponsor will also update the system with information like changes of address and program extensions or cancelations.

The SEVIS I-901 Fee was implemented to support SEVIS maintenance as well as the staff required to operate it. The SEVIS Fee Receipt is required for the J-1 interview to verify that you have paid. Unlike other sponsors, Global Current pays the fee ($180 for intern and trainee programs) on the participant's behalf, and sends the receipt to the participant. This way we hope to decrease the amount of paperwork that he/she has to do before the consular appointment. The SEVIS fee is included in our sponsorship fee.

For more information on SEVIS, visit the Department of State website.

J-1 English Requirement

We know that it can be tricky to objectively measure English language proficiency. It is possible that your J-1 candidate has been watching Hollywood movies in English all her life and speaks clearly with a spot-on American accent; yet has never taken an official English course. How do you prove that your candidate is proficient in English and able to function daily in his or her J-1 program?

We once accepted English language tests and limited them to the most well-known and trusted (TOEFL and TOEIC etc.), but we found that we were still constantly trying to keep up with new testing formats and scoring. Frankly, it was an administrative burden and did not clearly answer the question, does this candidate have the English language ability to complete the J-1 program successfully?

So, we did away with the English tests and instead encourage J-1 candidates to produce letters from English professors that prove their English proficiency from a professional's perspective. We also accept English language evaluations from host companies that have had first-hand contact with their J-1 candidates through phone and email. The host company knows what skill level is needed to complete their program successfully and is thus a great judge.

And if your candidate happens to be from somewhere like Australia, the UK, or South Africa and is a native speaker, then congratulations, you can forget about proving English language proficiency ;)

Know When 212 (e) Has Been Applied

When Eduardo came to the United States from Peru, you expected him to complete an 18 month management training program at your company and then return to your Peru branch for a management position. Now Eduardo is nearing the end of his program and the position in Peru has been filled. Also, he is currently being trained on a project that has been extended due to incredible success. Eduardo is very talented and you would prefer to keep him on in the U.S. You now need to know if he is subject to rule 212 (e) which would require him to return home.

You can see whether or not your J-1 participant is subject to rule 212(e) on the DS-2019. At the bottom of the front page of the DS-2019, the consulate will have marked box number 2 next to "Subject to the two-year residence requirement based on:" if the participant is subject to the rule. This information will also be stamped on his/her J-1 visa.

If you found that the participant is subject to the rule and have come to the conclusion with your immigration counsel that the rule was applied erroneously, we cannot provide much assistance to you. As a J-1 sponsor, we expect that your J-1 participant will leave the United States following the completion of the program and in doing so, fulfill the purpose of the J-1 visa(cultural and educational exchange). The best we can do is provide a letter confirming that your participant has completed the program or is currently active.

Click here for more information on the two-year residence requirement, rule 212(e), and see my blog post on repeating the J-1 program for specific information regarding the J-1 trainee and intern programs.

What Makes A Good J-1 Program?

At times it can be pretty obvious when something should be a J-1 Intern or Trainee program, and at other times it is completely ambiguous.

An internship program is usually easier to spot. For example, when you have a program that would qualify as an internship (no matter who is selected) and you happen to fill the role with a foreign national, then you would likely opt to pursue the J-1 visa. Just like a typical internship, it should have specific skill development objectives as well as a structured plan to meet those objectives through on-the-job training. The program usually falls in the summer when the candidate has a break from university.



A J-1 trainee program can be somewhat harder to pinpoint. Some of the strongest training programs are the rotational programs run by many multinationals. The candidates are still in the early stages of their career with the company and have a very specific training plan that was created to give them a well-rounded skill set and understanding of the company while preparing them for a permanent position outside the U.S. Another example of a strong J-1 trainee program, is when a domestic company is planning a global expansion and would like to train a national of that country to lead the expansion abroad. The individual is brought to the U.S. for about 18 months of management training and then sent back abroad with all the tools to start up another branch.



There are more examples, but in all strong trainee programs the common theme is that there is no question that the program is temporary and that it has very specific objectives and on-the-job-training that aims to develop an individual's skill set. When I can read the training plan and see both of these things, I am usually relieved because it is an A+ application and a perfect fit for the program.



A red flag for a program that is not appropriate for the J-1 is when a company is very small and has no apparent reason to train a foreign national i.e. has no global partners, branches outside the U.S., or global initiatives. We will question if the company has enough employees to offer training (is there a manager that has the capacity to effectively train someone?) which will lead us to wonder if this is actually productive employment rather than J-1 training.



These are just a few examples but there are many other types of programs that fall in the grey area and may be perfectly good J-1 trainee or intern programs. The best way to review a program is to pass it along to a J-1 sponsor that will be able to provide specific feedback.