J-1 to F-1 for a Ph.D. Program
Hello,
I am finishing a master program with a J-1 visa with two year rule and sponsored by my government. Now I got accepted to a PhD program in the US with a fellowship that covers tuiton and pays stipend. However, according to the school, I need to apply for F-1 in order to receive the award. I asked the officers of my sponsor whether I can apply for F-1 and they said no. My government will let me to have PhD too but will not be sponsoring it anymore, according to our agreement. However I am confused about which visa I need. My questions are:
1- Can I legally apply for F-1, when I go back to my country in this summer?
2- If I can apply, do I really need a written permisson from my government? Will I have a problem in the US Embassy about this situation?
3- Is this true that I will be obligated with two year rule even when I have the F-1 visa?
4- I know many schools let their students to be J-1 and still give them fellowships. My school says they can never pay me stipend without F-1? Why do you think I am having this problem?
5- Which visa is better when I want to find a job in the US as a professor?
Thank you so much for your help, I reall appreaciate your knowledge and hardwork.
Re: J-1 to F-1 for a Ph.D. Program
"I asked the officers of my sponsor whether I can apply for F-1 and they said no" - They told you "no" based upon what? Or are you stating that you asked them to sponsor you for the Ph.D. program and they said "no" to that request?
Under U.S. law, there's no reason you cannot apply for a F1 visa after your J1 ends. You would need a waiver, which you're apparently not going to get, in order to change your status from within the U.S., but it's not your plan to do that.
Getting a F1 visa does not make your home residency requirement go away.
If you want to know your school's policies, talk to your school.
A U.S. university looking to hire an international scholar as a professor is most likely going to be looking at the H1B visa.