Certain J-1 visa holders are subject to a 12 or 24-month bar which prohibits them from starting the new J participation.

J-1 visa holders might not be sure if they are subject to the 12 and 24-month bars- Let’s take a closer look at the 12 and 24-month bars. This post will help any J-1 visiting scholars to confirm if they are subject to a 12-month or 24-month bar.

It is worth noting that the 12/24 month bars are different from the 212 (e) 2 years home residency requirement. To learn more about the 212 (e) 2 years residency requirement for J-1 visa holders, please check out the following post:

Related blog post: Best practice to not be subject to 212(e) for a J-1 visa holder

Contents

• What is 12 month bar
• What is 24 month bar

What is 12 month bar

When it comes to the 12-month bar, the most important four keywords are “new“, “12 months,” “Professor,” and “Research Scholar.”

All J-1 or J-2 visa holders with any category in the last “12 months” who would like to start a “new” program in the “Professor” or “Research Scholar” are barred from participation.

In this sense, if the individual would like to transfer the DS-2019 record from a current program sponsor to a new program sponsor, thus not needing to be issued a new Form Ds-2019, they are exempted from the 12-month bar.

The other exceptions include J-1 visa holders who were issued Form DS-2019 under the “short-term scholar” category or who were in the U.S. for less than 6 months. Note that the time that the foreign individual spent in the U.S. with a different visa will not be counted toward the 6 months that activate the bar.

In summary, if you were in the U.S. under any J-1 visa category for the short term (less than 6 months), you don’t have to worry about any bars.

If you stayed more than 6 months through a J-1/J-2 visa with any category, AND if you’d like to start a “new” program in the “Professor” or “Research Scholar” categories, you will have to begin the new program 12 months after the program end date on the DS-2019 or “effective date of completion.”

You may wonder what is the “effective date of completion.” It refers to the next date after the J-1 visa holder’s SEVIS record changes to “Inactive” or “Terminated.”

(2) The participant has not been physically present in the United States as a nonimmigrant pursuant to the provisions of 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J) for all or part of the twelve-month period immediately preceding the date of program commencement set forth on his or her Form DS-2019, unless:

22 CFR 62.20(d)(2)

What is 24 month bar

Let’s move on to the 24-month bar.

In terms of the 24-month bar, there are only three keywords to remember- “new“, “Professor” and “Research Scholar.” Note here that the 12-month bar applies to the “ANY” J-1 visa category who would like to start the new program as a “Professor” or Research scholar,” while the 24-month bar applies to the current J-1 visa holder in “Professor” and “Research Scholar” categories.

Any J-1 professor or research scholar who physically presented in the U.S. must begin a new exchange program as a professor/research scholar after 24 months from the program end date on Form DS-2019 or the “effective date of completion.”

To reiterate, the “effective date of completion” means the date after the SEVIS record gets updated to “Inactive” or “Terminated.”

(2) Repeat participation. Exchange participants who have entered the United States under the Exchange Visitor Program as a professor or research scholar, or who have acquired such status while in the United States, and who have completed his or her program are not eligible for participation as a professor or research scholar for a period of two years following the end date of such program participation as identified in SEVIS.

22 CFR 62.20(i)(2)

It is worth highlighting that any J-1 professor/research scholar who would like to start a new program as a J-1 professor or research scholar is subject to the 24-month bar even if they did not utilize the maximum number of years (=5 years) given to J-1 visiting scholars.

Suppose that the J-1 scholars go back to their home institutions after 2 years in the U.S.

As long as their SEVIS record is “active” and they don’t plan to start the new program as a J-1 professor or research scholar and the current DS-2019 holding institution is willing, J-1 visa holders can come back to the same U.S. college or transfer to another college or university without being subject to the 24-month bar BECAUSE they are not starting the new program.

To summarize, NAFSA did a great job clearly stating the trigger for both 12-month and 24-month bars:

• 12-month bar: “time spent physically present in any J status” for more than 6 months
• 24-month bar: “completing the program as a J-1 Professor or Research Scholar, regardless of whether the program is completed in less than 6 months or more than 6 months.”

12 and 24-month bars are separate bars which means a J-1 scholar can be subject to both bars– in this case, by meeting the 24-month bar, the scholar will fulfill the 12-month bar as well.

As I briefly mentioned in the beginning, 12-month and 24-month bars are not the same as home residence requirements. Therefore, J-1 program participants and any bar-impacted dependents do not have to be out of the U.S. nor return to their home countries.

Bars are saying that J-1 individuals who are subject to bars simply cannot engage in the new visiting scholar program as a J-1 Professor or Research Scholar. Bars are not telling them to return to their home countries.

Hope this helps and to learn more about other J-1 visa rules, check out the J-1 visa page.