J1 Visa Experience

For my research internship at MIT Media Lab, I needed a J1 visa, which is an Exchange Visitor visa. Here is my story about the entire process of getting a J1 visa.

Type of Visa

I landed this internship in October 2021, and the internship itself was for the Spring 2022 semester. I had a multiple-entry tourist visa (B1) for the United States, valid until 2027, which meant that I could travel to the US as a tourist multiple times before 2027. However, before I could travel for my research internship, I had to acquire a J1 visa.

The J1 visa hinges on one single document- the DS 2019 (in some cases you might need a DS-7002 as well, but that wasn’t required for me). The process becomes complex because of how a DS-2019 is acquired. The exact list of documents required may vary from university to university, but here is what I needed.

Obtaining a DS-2019

Application by Host Lab

The process starts with the host lab (in my case, Media Lab), submitting an application. For this application, I was asked for personal details and details about my work at the lab. Below is the exact information that I was asked for

As they appear on your passport

• First Name
• Middle Name
• Last Name
• Sex (M/F)
• Date of Birth (mm/did/yyyy)
• Country of Citizenship

General

• Email address
• Phone Number, including country code
• Mailing address
• Home University
• Status at Home University (grad or undergrad)
• Exact dates of anticipated visit

Funding

• Overview of who will be funding the internship
• Confirmation that you do not expect to receive a stipend from MIT
• Would you be able to cover the $1000 processing fee that is required internally for every visiting student?

Invitation Letter

• Is there any specific requirement from your home university regarding the invitation letter?
• A general paragraph about the work you intend to do while at MIT and how it applies to your major/thesis

Funding

Most of the above information is fairly straightforward. Here, I want to talk about one important requirement by MIT. I’m not sue how this process works at other universities, but at MIT, a visiting student can only use personal and family funding for 49% of the stay expenses during the internship. You are required to find a source of funding for the remaining 51%. This could be a scholarship (government or non-government), or it could be any organization such as a company. Right after sending the information mentioned in the previous section, you would have to send a letter from the organization providing proof that they intend to fund 51% or more of your stay there. Make sure that this letter contains an amount (you can get an expense estimate from the university to find the 51% of it), and the duration.

English Proficiency

You are also required to demonstrate proficiency in English via one of the following ways

1. An English Proficiency Exam such as TOEFL or IELTS
2. A letter from your home institute stating that the medium of instruction for your undergraduate coursework was English
3. An interview with the Professor or the Administrative Assistant at the lab

If you’re from BITS, there is a letter available online declaring that the medium of instruction at BITS is English. If you’re from a different university, see if you can find such a letter, since this is the simplest way to show English proficiency. If that is not possible, try scheduling an interview with the Professor or the Administrative Assistant, and their signature suffices as a proof of proficiency in the language. I would not recommend TOEFL or IELTS just for the purpose of a research internship, since these exams are expensive and involve hassle for some people. However, if these exams are useful for you in some other regard as well, you can take them and submit the score report as valid proof of English proficiency.

IPIA Form and Mentoring Plan

There are two more forms that must be filled out before the process can move forward, one that has to be filled at your end and the other that is filled out by the PhD or the Professor.

The IPIA form protects the university’s intellectual property, and involves some questions about the home organization and some other details.

This form for me required an MIT ID and email address to be filled out; thus before this form could be completed, the two had to be generated for me. Moreover, educational institutes in India fall under the “Non-profit research institution” category, which you would have to select in the form from among a total of three options. Finally, this form must be signed not just by you but also by an official from your university with the authority to sign such a document (for me, it was my on-campus advisor for the thesis, who was also Associate Dean of Academic Undergraduate Studies).

The mentoring plan would be filled out by the professor or the PhD, describing the goals for the semester, the skills that you would acquire during the process, and more details along these lines. Once filled, you would have to sign this document, and it appeared again for me in a future step, but with no significant action required.

Onboarding

It is at the onboarding stage that you can acquire a DS-2019. I received an onboarding email from MIT, where I had to upload another set of documents, and the request for a DS-2019 had to be made through the iMIT portal, which required yet another set of documents.

On the onboarding portal itself, I had to upload the following documents:

1. Resume
2. Official Transcripts from Home Institute
3. Passport

I also had to approve the mentoring plan and the IPIA documents again on this onboarding portal, but these involved a single click each.

On the iMIT portal, the request for a DS-2019 involved the following documents

1. Funding letter from sponsoring organization(s)
2. Personal or Family bank statements showing adequate funds- this had to be on the bank’s letterhead, with the bank official’s signature and stamp. Moreover, adequate funds had to be shown in combining only savings accounts and deposit accounts that were maturing before the start date. Funds in deposit accounts that mature after the start date do not count.
3. A proof of enrolment letter from the home institute- this should involve the expected date of graduation. A J1 exchange visitor (at least at MIT) can only have a program that consists of a duration such that the student is enrolled in he home institute throughout that duration. So if you want a program end date of 31st July 20xy, make sure the proof of enrolment clearly states your program end date at the home institute as 31st July 20xy or later.
4. An invitation letter from the host lab at the host university- in my case I needed an invitation letter from Media Lab. An important note regarding this invitation letter is that this will contain the program start and end dates. If for any reason you encounter a situation where you need to request for any date updates in the DS-2019, you would first have to get an updated invitation letter (and possibly an updated funding letter from the sponsoring organization)

With all of these documents and some details on the iMIT portal, you can request for the DS-2019, which is generated by the international student office. Note that the DS-2019 is a document that will be shipped to you, and you will need the physical document at various places.

Random fun fact- the first DS-2019 I received (after a painful, week-long wait) was by the name of another person! Turned out that the MIT international student office had labelled correctly, but FedEx decided to mix up their labels. Thanks FedEx!! I had to write to the ISO and get them to ship the DS-2019 again, which took another week. This time it reached India in 3 business days but wouldn’t reach me for some weird FedEx reason

With the DS-2019, all documents from the host university are in place. Next comes the visa interview appointment part (parts of which you can and should do while the above process is going on).

Visa Interview Appointment

To apply for a visa interview, you are first required to fill out the DS-160 form. This form will ask for a huge set of details, including but not limited to previous education, work experience, family details, previous US visas, US trips, and much more. Once you start the DS-160 form, you can also start filling up the visa appointment scheduling form on the CGI Federal website. Normally, you can fill up a DS-160 multiple times if you enter incorrect information and submit the form. However, once you use the DS-160 number in your appointment scheduling form, you won’t be able to change information, so be careful when submitting it.

For Indian Applicants: As of writing this article (March 2022), Aadhar was not registered as a national identification number. Check this at the time of your application, and if the same applies, select “Does not apply” under the national identification number question

On the CGI Federal website, once you fill in all detail, you would be required to pay a fee of ₹12480 ($160 @ 78 ₹/$ at the time of writing this article). Once you pay this, it could take anywhere from hours to a couple of days for the website to accept your MRV receipt number (this is a 12-digit number that you should be able to find in the SMS received; it’s not the transaction number).

Once the payment receipt gets accepted, it takes you to the date selection for the visa interview. When I was trying to find an appointment, I wanted one at a very short notice. Not only was an appointment for the same month unavailable, no appointment was available at all! In such a scenario you just have to try opening the website at various times and hope to find an appointment.

The CGI Federal website puts a limit on the number of times you can visit the date picking page, so if it gives you a warning that you are approaching this limit, either pick a date or close the website and try again some other time. If you exceed their limit, you would be locked out of the website for 72 hours

If either the DS-160 or the CGI Federal form asks for details from the DS-2019 (they do), and you haven’t yet received the actual DS-2019 yet, you should still be able to get the details required in these forms. If you haven’t, write to the university and get those details in an email so that you can start these forms before receiving the actual DS-2019.

Before proceeding any further, you are also required to pay a SEVIS fee ($220 at the time of writing this article). You must do this on the Department of Homeland Security website, and print the payment receipt for the visa interview.

Interview Waiver

In some cases, an interview waiver is granted if you have a prior US visa and you meet some other requirements. When filling information on the CGI Federal website where you schedule your appointment, you would be asked some question to see if you are eligible for an interview waiver. With an interview waiver, you only need to submit your documents at an off-site center (not the consulate/embassy), and these are processed to approve or reject your visa. The document drop-off at the center is also done on an appointment basis only, but these appointment dates are easier to get than getting an appointment for an interview.

One important question for the interview waiver is regarding the category of the J1 visa. There are only a few categories given and you are asked if any of those apply to you. Since I was attempting to schedule my interview before I received my DS-2019 and because I planned on visiting for a research internship, I was under the impression that the categories “Research Scholar” or “Short-Term Scholar” applied to me. However, there is a specific category for each J1 visa, mentioned on the DS-2019 as shown in the image, and if and only if that is one of the categories mentioned in the question, you should answer “yes” to it.

For example, in my case, the category is “Student Non-Degree”, as a result of which I answered “no” to the question and was not granted an interview waiver.

Emergency Appointment

Once you have some appointment, you can apply for an emergency one. Keep in mind the following points

1. To apply for an EA, you first need some appointment. Even if the appointment is after your program end date, you can pick that date and apply for an EA.
2. You can only apply for an EA if your program start date is within 60 days, and chances are if it is more than 30 days your EA will be rejected.
3. Once you pick an appointment, your EA will be at the same location (for example, if the original appointment is at Kolkata, your EA interview will be at Kolkata).

Keeping in mind the above points, make sure you don’t pick a date right away if your program start date is too far away. Opening the website at different times on different days can open up new slots. You are allowed to reschedule your appointment once, so you can first pick a random date and then keep trying to reschedule, that is a perfectly good option as well. Next, pick the placeholder appointment at a location that is convenient for you, since even the EA will be at the same location.

To apply for an EA, go to the CGI Federal website and select Emergency Appointment. You would have to give a brief description of the reason for your emergency, and supporting documents. You can upload up to 5 documents, and here are the ones that I uploaded

1. DS-2019
2. SEVIS Payment Confirmation
3. DS-160 Confirmation
4. Invitation Letter
5. COVID Vaccination (This is absolutely optional but I put it in there just in case)

It was through the emergency application that I was able to get my interview, and I received a response regarding my EA within the same day of applying for it. However, a response can come within anywhere between a few hours and 2–3 days, so look out for an email and on the CGI Federal website.

OFC and Visa Interview

Any US visa appointment consists of two components (unless one of them is waived for you), which are on different days.

The first is the OFC (Off-site Facilitation Center). This is simply an appointment to confirm your DS-160 confirmation and Appointment confirmation, and to take your fingerprints and a photograph. This is a very quick process, and you just need the following documents:

1. Appointment Confirmation (1 page)
2. DS-160 Confirmation (1 page)(Make sure you’re carrying the DS-160 confirmation and not the DS-160 application itself)
3. Current passport

Despite only needing these documents, I was carrying all the documents I had prepared for the interview.

The second component is the interview. Before you get to the interview room, your DS-160, Appointment confirmation, SEVIS payment confirmation, passport and DS-2019 are verified. I had an 8:00 am interview appointment, and they ask candidates to form a queue outside the embassy gate 30 minutes before their interview time. The queue goes through the various stages where these documents are verified, and continues into the interview room.

During the interview, the interviewer asked for my current passport and the DS-2019. Surprisingly, he did not ask for any other documents. Hence, here is a list of essential documents that I needed:

1. Current Passport
2. DS-160 Confirmation
3. DS-2019
4. Appointment Confirmation Letter
5. SEVIS Payment confirmation

However, here is a list of other documents that I was carrying with me, in case the interviewer asked for more proof on any of the information I had filled in my forms

1. All old passports
2. DS-160 (entire application)
3. Funding letter from the company sponsoring me
4. A letter from my parents declaring that they would be funding the remaining 49% of my expenses
5. Account statements of my parents to show that they had adequate funds for my visit
6. The invitation letter from the host lab (Media Lab)
7. Address proof for my parents, to show that they are based in India
8. A copy of my sister’s passport and US work visa (I had filled her information as an immediate family member residing in the US on a non-immigrant visa)
9. A letter from my friend with his contact details confirming that I would be staying with him during my visit
10. Photographs clicked according to US visa specifications
11. Proof of my enrolment at my home institute
12. Thesis forms from my home institute (Since this research internship was is considered an undergraduate thesis at my home university, there are two forms associated with that)
13. My HSC (12th) marksheet
14. Transcripts from my home institute
15. My resume
16. My TOEFL score report
17. COVID Vaccination Certificate

Based on which of these are applicable to you, you can carry documents accordingly.

An additional complication in my case was the fact that the DS-2019 I had with me had a start date of March 15th, and my interview was on March 22nd. I had an updated DS-2019 being shipped to me, but it could not reach me before the start date. As a result, I had a letter from the MIT International Student Office stating that my updated DS-2019 was in transit. I also had an additional invitation letter from Media Lab with an updated start date. However, the interviewer asked for none of these documents.

Below is a transcript of my interview, as accurate as I can remember. There were some parts which I either didn’t understand during the interview or don’t remember at all now

Interviewer: hi good morning Me: hi good morning Interviewer: how are you doing? Me (passing him my passport): I’m good, thank you, how are you Interviewer: I’m good. I’ll need your DS-2019 as well (I passed him the DS-2019) Interviewer: keep your left four fingers on the fingerprint scanner (I did as asked) Interviewer: okay. When was the last time you visited the unites states? Me: I visited last time in 2018. Interviewer: why were you visiting? Me: I was visiting my sister. She was in Ann Arbor at the time so I went to spend time with her. Interviewer: Okay. So you’re visiting as a post doc now? Me: not post doc actually, I’m an undergraduate right now and I’m going as a research intern Interviewer (looking at DS-2019): Oh, student non-degree, yeah makes sense. So what are you going to be working on? Me: I’ll be working on emotion regulation using brain-computer interfaces…. Interviewer (making some wavy indications with his finger): So you get those waves and you get data from that and do stuff with it… Me: yes exactly Interviewer: sweet Interviewer: All right Interviewer (signing and stamping the DS-2019): Your visa has been approved, you’ll receive your passport within the week…. Me: thank you! Interviewer: have a great day Me: thanks, you too!

For both the OFC appointment and the interview, if possible don’t carry anything with you other than the documents and your mask. At the OFC appointment, they will let you switch off your phone and take it inside, but no other electronic devices.

Receiving the Passport

At the end of your interview, the interviewer retains your current passport if your visa is approved. If it isn’t, a rejection is stamped on the passport and it is returned to you.

Once your passport is retained, it reached you through courier in approximately a week. Depending on whether you opted for it being delivered at your house or you picking it up from a pickup location, you would have to act accordingly. When it is ready to be picked up, you would get a message, and you can get your passport with the visa printed on one of the pages.

While waiting for your passport, you can track its progress through two portals. The first is the CGI Federal website where you scheduled your appointment, and the second is the CEAC website.

Receive your passport and book your tickets to the United States!

Some last helpful points if you’re scheduling your interview in Kolkata like I did. Try to book a room at The Harrington Residency. It is a great place to stay with nice owners and staff, and is walking distance from the OFC appointment location. The best part is that it is right across the street from the Consulate. You can see the gate and the queue forming outside. If someone is accompanying you it is simple for them to return to the room while you go through the process.

If you can get an early appointment (8:00 am), try for that. A lot of times it takes over an hour or two to finish the entire interview process. However, I was back in the room at 8:15

Traveling to the US

Considering the current scenario, traveling to the United States also involves a few steps. I was flying by Emirates, and was required to show an RT-PCR negative report within 12 hours of the departure of the first flight. My first flight was to Dubai, and I was not asked for the report anywhere after the first check-in counter, despite a long layover at the Dubai airport. However, you should check the airline website for information on when the RT-PCR needs to be done.

Additionally, you would have to go through customs and border control. It is highly recommended to carry as few food items as possible, since these are the trickiest at customs. If you are carrying food, try to carry packaged goods as much as possible, because these are usually not an issue. It is also good to know roughly the ingredients of the food items you are carrying, and this could be something that the customs officer asks you about.

I was also questioned about the start date on my DS-2019 form. The start date on my DS-2019 was March 15th 2022, and my visa interview was on March 21st. The interviewing officer did not question me about the start date having passed, but just in case he did, I was carrying a letter from the MIT International Students Office stating that my start date had been electronically updated on the SEVIS portal and that an updated DS-2019 was in transit. I intended to travel with or without the updated DS-2019 in the event that my passport reached me before the form. However, I received the updated document before my departure and I carried it with me. The officer at border control noticed that the DS-2019 signed by me and the interviewing visa officer had a start date of March 15th, and asked me about it since it was already April 2nd when I arrived in the US. He was satisfied after he saw the updated form with a start date of 1st April even though it had not been signed by a visa officer from a US embassy/consulate in India. If you have discrepancies with the start dates and your arrival in the US, it is best to ask for an updated DS-2019 or a letter from the host university stating that the dates have been updated on the SEVIS portal.

Maintaining your Visa Status

When arriving in the US, the border control officer will stamp the page next to your J1 visa and write a date until which the visa is valid. In case of a tourist visa, this date is generally 6 months after your arrival in the US (that is the longest you can stay in the US on a tourist visa without leaving the country, even if the visa itself is valid for 10 years). On a J1 visa, instead of a date until which the visa is valid, the officer would normally write D/S. which means that you can stay in the US for the duration of your study or program.

To maintain your visa status, you need to make sure that you complete the onboarding procedure required by your university. One of the most important steps in doing so is updating your address on the SEVIS portal. Any time you change your address in the US, make sure to update it in this portal as well. Usually, only when you are registered with the university do you get your ID card, if your university provides you one, and it will give you access to the university buildings. An essential step for me was to take a COVID booster shot, since I hadn’t taken one when I got to the US. I had taken CoviShield (manufactured by Oxford-AstraZeneca) in India, and I was expected to take the Pfizer booster. The CVS website provides information about all stores where they have vaccines available, and you can get yours for free by scheduling an appointment. If your university provides you with health insurance, you would have to add those details while scheduling an appointment. You also need to select Pfizer as your previous vaccines, since selecting “Other” doesn’t makes you ineligible for an appointment. Once you get to the pharmacy, you can inform the pharmacist that your earlier shots were Oxford-AstraZeneca. With all onboarding steps completed, you’re all set for your program in the United States!

Hope this article helped you. If it did, do give it a 👏!