Potential Fulbrighter

[RockheartPopovJr.]

Hi everyone,

last week I received an email by the Fulbright Commission asserting that I have been selected as a Fulbright student for the next Academic Year.

What I am unsure and hesitant about is the 2-year home residency requirement, whereby I should come back to my country (Italy) after the PhD for at least 2 years, thus forbidding me to accept any eventual job offer in the USA.

What you do think I should do? It is about a grant only for the 1st year, but it is quite demanding, don't you think?

 

Thank you in advance!

[jcperez]

Hi there! Congrats on your Fulbright fellowship!

 

The 2-year home residency requirement can be waived, but those seem to be rare cases.

 

For example, I know about a Fulbrighter from my home country (Honduras) who completed his PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering, got hired by Microsoft, and never had to come back.

 

You might want to check this website for further information about waivers.

 

Do you have any other funding alternative?

Edited April 2, 2013 by jcperez

[RockheartPopovJr.]

That's the problem!! 

I also got a departmental offer, that would allow me to possibly work in the States after the PhD without having immigration-related issues. Hence, I don't know what to do! 

[phmhjh85]

I am also a potential fulbrighter for this year.

After a lot of research I find that Fulbright is an excellent option for someone who cannot by any means secure funding otherwise.

I come from a third world country and my yearly income cannot cover living expences for 2 months let alone pay 50+K in tuition

and also I am interested in returing to my home country afterwards for personal and professional reasons

 

If you can secure funding otherwise, then Fulbright's added benefit is not worth it IMO if it can prevent you from having a dream job after you finish, particularly that you say it only funds the first year

 

I am pretty excited about the networking oppotunities that go along with being a fulbrighter and the added prestige cannot hurt either, but the bottom line is that returing for two years can make you lose touch with most of those contacts

 

And getting a waiver, from what I hear, is getting to be impossible- the commission here says it never happened in the past 10 years- even if you get married to an American and have a child it is still very hard

 

It is a tough decision but I think you have to weigh all the pros and cons

Good luck

[RockheartPopovJr.]

Thank you for answering and congratulations for being accepted by the Fulbright commission!!! 

I totally had the point man! Moreover, as far as I understand, this fellowship is primarily to pay the administrative costs (fees and tuition), whilst it gave you no funding for living cost.    

Honestly, the only thing that makes me hesitant on rejecting is the consequent prestige.

[woodendress]

I know someone who came to the US from Russia, not on a Fulbright, but on a similar visa where she was required to go back to Russia for 2 years. She didn't want to go back to Russia and somehow lived in the US for 10 years, if not more. I'm not sure how she got around it. However, she was forced to leave the country last year, but luckily she married a Belgian, so she is currently residing in Belgium.

 

Like others said, it's almost impossible to get around it!

[Greenarg]

I am a fulbrighter, and will be starting to attend grad school this fall. Being in the same situation, I undertand that the 2 year back home imposition arrises not directly from fulbright, but from the fact if accepted you will be studing at US with a J-1 visa.

As previously indicated in the post, there are stong reasons why the fellowship is still positive. I'll recomend you to think it twice (or more times)!

Cheers

[cesarius]

Hi y'all, I'm also a Fulbrighter who has already been accepted in a Master's program at the US.  Can anyone tell me about his/her experience with the J1 visa app?  I'm kind of digging around to get the best info regarding the procedures.  Although Fulbright gives me a lot of info about the process, there is nothing like other people's experiences to know how something works.