Every year, the University of Michigan welcomes hundreds of international scholars on a J-1 visa.  Once a U-M faculty member has invited a scholar for the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program, the process begins. The SSC provides coordination services that include processing new requests, returning J-1 visa scholars, transfers, and those seeking an amendment or extension for their program.

Note: If the scholar is coming to or extending their time at the Medical School, please submit your request to Medical School Immigration Support and Compliance (MSISC), which you do by submitting the intake form on this page. The SSC does not process visa requests for the Medical School.

J-1 Visa Request Process Overview
for U-M Department Contact

The J-1 visa request process involves many steps. To help streamline and simplify what’s needed, we have created an Overview of the J-1 Process to help you navigate through the process, provide you with a checklist on what to gather before you start, and guide you on what happens once you have made a request.

Request J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program:
New | Return | Transfer

This is used for visitors who have been invited to start a new J-1 Exchange Visitor Program, have been invited to return under J-1 visa status, or will transfer their J-1 Exchange Visitor Program to the University of Michigan from a different institution within the United States. Please use the checklist below before filling out the request.

• Confirm that J-1 is the appropriate visa status for the purpose of the visit and long-term intent of the exchange visitor.
• Will the visitor be receiving any funding from U-M? If so, how much?
• Do you have a copy of the visitor’s resume?
• If you would like the International Center to ship the visitor their DS-2019, do you have a shortcode that can be used for the shipping label?
• Do you have a 2-4 sentence summary of what the visitor will be doing while they’re here?

When submitting a new J-1 visa request please take into account insurance costs. Insurance costs cannot be prorated for exchange visitors. If their program begins on 06/29/2022 they will be required to pay the full premium amount for that month. The same applies to program end dates, if the program ends on July 01, 2023 they will be required to pay for that entire month’s insurance costs. The current monthly insurance rate is $160.74.

Please submit requests 8 to 10 weeks before the visitor’s program start date to allow for the DS-2019 to be created and for the visitor to apply for their visa.

Request J-1 Visa – Amendment | Extension

This is used for extending a visitor’s J-1 Exchange Visitor Program at the University of Michigan or changing the program objective and/or work responsibilities. It is also used for changing funding information, site of activity, position or job title.

Note: Extension/amendment requests must go through a department contact. Exchange Visitors should not submit these requests themselves.