J-1 Categories

Wichita State University is approved to host J-1 exchange visitors in the following categories:

An individual concerned primarily with conducting research, observing, or consulting in connection with a research project. Research scholars are also allowed to teach or lecture. The Research Scholar category:

• Requires a minimum of a bachelor's degree with appropriate experience in the field in which research is to be conducted;
• Can be for 3 weeks to 5 years in duration;
• Can only be for a temporary employment category at WSU;
• Cannot be for a tenure track position;
• Scholar is subject to a 24-month waiting period on return visits as a J Research Scholar and J Professor after the end of the program;
• Scholar may be subject to the two-year home-country physical presence requirement which requires he/she return home for at least two years after the end of the exchange visitor program.

An individual concerned primarily with teaching, lecturing, observing, or consulting. J-1 Professors may also conduct research as allowed by the host department. If the Exchange Visitor will be here primarily to conduct research the Research Scholar category above is more appropriate, even if the individual is a professor in his or her home country. The Professor category:

• Requires a minimum of a bachelor's degree with appropriate experience in the field in which research is to be conducted;
• Can be for 3 weeks to 5 years duration;
• Can only be for a temporary employment category at WSU;
• Cannot be for a tenure track position;
• Scholar is subject to a 24-month waiting period on return visits as a J Research Scholar and J Professor after the end of the program
• Scholar may be subject to the two-year home-country physical requirement which requires he/she return home for at least two years after the end of the exchange visitor program

The intern:

• Must be currently enrolled in and pursuing a degree at an accredited postsecondary academic institution outside the United States;
• Must be in good academic standing at his or her home institution outside the United States;
• Must be primarily in the United States to engage in a student internship program rather than to engage in employment or provide services to an employer;
• Must return to his or her academic program outside of the U.S. after completion of the internship.

The internship:

• Must fulfill the educational objectives for student's current degree program at his or her home institution;
• Must expose the participant to American techniques, methodologies, and technology, expand upon the participant's existing knowledge and skills, and not duplicate the student intern's prior experience;
• Must consist of work-based learning rather than ordinary employment or unskilled labor;
• Cannot serve to fill a labor need and cannot displace an American worker;
• Can be for 3 weeks to 12 months duration;
• Must consist of a minimum of 32 hours per week and cannot be more than 20 percent clerical work;
• May not be used for any position involving unskilled or casual labor, child care of elder care, aviation, clinical positions or engaging in any other kind of work involving patient care or contact such as physical therapy, counseling, nursing, dentistry, social work, speech therapy, or early childhood education, or any position, occupation, or business that could bring the Exchange Visitor Program or Department into notoriety or disrepute;
• Must only include tasks and assignments necessary for the completion of the internship program;
• Requires that the host department develop procedures for evaluating all student interns;
• May not involve in any way a staffing or employment agency.

For information about the J-1 scholar process at Wichita State University, please visit wichita.edu/J1.