F1 or J1? Biology PhD for Canadian

[Nomad1111]

Hi there,

I've received my acceptance package from Harvard recently, and there is some information about visas (I also looked at their website information). It says some students are on J1s, some students are on F1s, but it's unclear how you would know which one would be your visa. I'm wondering if anyone has any idea what would put one in the J1 or F1 camp? 

[TakeruK]

The vast majority of foreign students in the US are on F-1 status.

There are two main reasons why students in the US would choose J-1:
1) They are funded by an exchange type fellowship, such as the Fulbright, that requires them to be on J-1
2) They want their spouse/partner to be on J-2 status so that their spouse/partner can apply for permission to work in the US. A spouse of a F-1 student would be on F-2 and F-2 status does not allow one to work in the US.

I'm a Canadian on a J-1 for reason #2. In fact, I had to seek out US programs that would sponsor me on J-1 because not all programs are willing to sponsor J-1 either. 

Being on J-1 puts you on more restrictions/requirements, which could be:
- J-1s and their dependents need to buy Medical Evacuation / Remains Repatriation insurance. It's not a lot (like $100/year) but it pays for the costs of either sending you back to Canada if you get really sick or die in the US.
- J-1s need to prove funding for the full duration of the degree, not just the first year
- Some J-1s are subject to the 2-year home residency requirement. Generally, this happens if either i) you are funded by your home government or ii) you are training for a special skills that Canada has marked as "essential" and they want to retain you. If you have this requirement, you may not seek an immigration class visa in the US until you have lived in Canada for 2 years. You can apply to get this requirement waived (I think the decision ultimately rests on Canada). 
- There is a repeat participation bar for J-1s going onto another J-1 status. Specifically, I think there must be a 12 month gap between your grad school J-1 and a postdoc/professor J-1 if you want to stay in the US. This means you might have to find a different status in between, such as H1-B (hard to get a sponsor in academia) or TN (very common for Canadians in the US).

There are more but they are all minor and mostly come from the fact that F-1 and J-1 are administered different so there are different names for pretty much the same thing. 

So, most people would want to be on F-1. If you have a spouse and they would like to work in the US, J-1 is probably the way to go. If you are considering this, I'm happy to answer any questions! We've been in the US for almost 5 years now on J-1 and J-2 status. 

[Nomad1111]

16 hours ago, TakeruK said:

The vast majority of foreign students in the US are on F-1 status.

There are two main reasons why students in the US would choose J-1:
1) They are funded by an exchange type fellowship, such as the Fulbright, that requires them to be on J-1
2) They want their spouse/partner to be on J-2 status so that their spouse/partner can apply for permission to work in the US. A spouse of a F-1 student would be on F-2 and F-2 status does not allow one to work in the US.

I'm a Canadian on a J-1 for reason #2. In fact, I had to seek out US programs that would sponsor me on J-1 because not all programs are willing to sponsor J-1 either. 

Being on J-1 puts you on more restrictions/requirements, which could be:
- J-1s and their dependents need to buy Medical Evacuation / Remains Repatriation insurance. It's not a lot (like $100/year) but it pays for the costs of either sending you back to Canada if you get really sick or die in the US.
- J-1s need to prove funding for the full duration of the degree, not just the first year
- Some J-1s are subject to the 2-year home residency requirement. Generally, this happens if either i) you are funded by your home government or ii) you are training for a special skills that Canada has marked as "essential" and they want to retain you. If you have this requirement, you may not seek an immigration class visa in the US until you have lived in Canada for 2 years. You can apply to get this requirement waived (I think the decision ultimately rests on Canada). 
- There is a repeat participation bar for J-1s going onto another J-1 status. Specifically, I think there must be a 12 month gap between your grad school J-1 and a postdoc/professor J-1 if you want to stay in the US. This means you might have to find a different status in between, such as H1-B (hard to get a sponsor in academia) or TN (very common for Canadians in the US).

There are more but they are all minor and mostly come from the fact that F-1 and J-1 are administered different so there are different names for pretty much the same thing. 

So, most people would want to be on F-1. If you have a spouse and they would like to work in the US, J-1 is probably the way to go. If you are considering this, I'm happy to answer any questions! We've been in the US for almost 5 years now on J-1 and J-2 status. 

Thank you so much for your reply, this is super helpful! My reason for asking is exactly what you highlighted: I would want to consider a J visa so my spouse has the ability to work. I'll send you my questions in a private message if that's ok!

[TakeruK]

53 minutes ago, Nomad1111 said:

Thank you so much for your reply, this is super helpful! My reason for asking is exactly what you highlighted: I would want to consider a J visa so my spouse has the ability to work. I'll send you my questions in a private message if that's ok!

Yep, I'm happy to answer further questions here or in a PM, although if it's details based on your personal situation, a PM is probably better

I realise I might have misread the intent of your post. I read it as: "The school is giving me a choice between F-1 and J-1 and I don't know what to choose", but maybe you mean, "What would make me eligible for J-1?".

For the latter, the main things you need to qualify for J-1 status are:
1. School's willingness to sponsor you as J-1
2. The majority of your funding coming from sources that are not your own personal funds (e.g. if you're fully funded by the school, that's more than enough!)
3. You are able to provide proof of funding for the duration of your degree

If you have these things, you should ask the school for J-1 status and for them to issue you a DS-2019 instead of a I-20. You'll have to work with them to get whatever other documentation they need (e.g. you will need proof of your marriage so that the school can also issue your spouse a DS-2019 as well). 

[Nomad1111]

18 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Yep, I'm happy to answer further questions here or in a PM, although if it's details based on your personal situation, a PM is probably better

I realise I might have misread the intent of your post. I read it as: "The school is giving me a choice between F-1 and J-1 and I don't know what to choose", but maybe you mean, "What would make me eligible for J-1?".

For the latter, the main things you need to qualify for J-1 status are:
1. School's willingness to sponsor you as J-1
2. The majority of your funding coming from sources that are not your own personal funds (e.g. if you're fully funded by the school, that's more than enough!)
3. You are able to provide proof of funding for the duration of your degree

If you have these things, you should ask the school for J-1 status and for them to issue you a DS-2019 instead of a I-20. You'll have to work with them to get whatever other documentation they need (e.g. you will need proof of your marriage so that the school can also issue your spouse a DS-2019 as well). 

Awesome, thank you! The paperwork I received from the school allows me to select (at least it seems) J1 or F1 and then has requirements for each of those listed. All of my funding is coming from the school (tuition waiver, yearly stipend that exceeds cost of living, and health insurance) and is guaranteed for the duration of the degree. So it sounds like, as long as the school is willing to sponsor as you said, I should be ok! 

Do you know if people ever switch over from F1 to J1? At this point in time, I'm not 100% sure if my spouse would need the working rights I would have for him with J1, but it's a possibility down the road. So I guess I'm wondering if it's safer to get the J1 and have that in place and deal with the potential downfalls of a J1 (2 year return clause, for example) . Or if people sometimes begin as F1 and then are able to switch to J1 part way through?

 

[TakeruK]

4 minutes ago, Nomad1111 said:

Awesome, thank you! The paperwork I received from the school allows me to select (at least it seems) J1 or F1 and then has requirements for each of those listed. All of my funding is coming from the school (tuition waiver, yearly stipend that exceeds cost of living, and health insurance) and is guaranteed for the duration of the degree. So it sounds like, as long as the school is willing to sponsor as you said, I should be ok! 

Do you know if people ever switch over from F1 to J1? At this point in time, I'm not 100% sure if my spouse would need the working rights I would have for him with J1, but it's a possibility down the road. So I guess I'm wondering if it's safer to get the J1 and have that in place and deal with the potential downfalls of a J1 (2 year return clause, for example) . Or if people sometimes begin as F1 and then are able to switch to J1 part way through?

 

It is possible to switch but I understand from my school's international office that it can be difficult and cause other inconveniences. It's more common to switch from J-1 to F-1 than the other way around and more common when you are switching sponsors. For example, someone who is funded for the first 2 years on a Fulbright might begin as a J-1 with Fulbright as the sponsor and then eventually switch to F-1 with the school as the sponsor. You might also need a good reason to switch, and switching from F-1 to J-1 so that a spouse can work is explicitly prohibited.

You should check with your school's international office, but my understanding is that you are probably better off with J-1 than F-1 if you want to ensure working rights for your spouse. The downsides are pretty minimal. In our situation, my spouse and I decided that it was better to have guaranteed work authorization and that the 2-year and repeat participation limits are something for us to deal with 5-8 years down the line. I say 8 years because there's the possibility of up to 3 years of Academic Training as well (e.g. postdoc work). But we also knew that we had no plans to stay in the United States forever, at most it would be the first postdoc.

Well, now it's been 5 years since we decided the J-1 issues were a problem for "future" us to deal with! It worked out though---we're moving back to Canada for a postdoc later this year. So I don't even have to worry about getting the 2-year home residency waived since I will be in Canada for the next 2-3 years at least (probably forever).

[TakeruK]

Oh to clarify---I have the "two year home residency required" box checked on my DS-2019 because I came to the US with a NSERC PGS-D and my DS-2019 lists this funding along with the school's funding. My international office advised me that sometimes the box is accidentally checked whenever there is foreign source of funding, but just because it's checked doesn't mean it's a legal requirement, it is just an advisory. If I had planned to stay for a postdoc on a different visa status, they would have helped me file something with the Department of State to determine whether I'm actually required to returned and whether I can get it waived. It's likely that Canada will waive these requirements.