teachers recruitment J1 Visa - USA
The J-1 Visa program invites teachers and scholars to the United States to participate in Exchange Visitor Programs designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and research in a variety of fields between people of the United States and people of other countries.
Program Duration
J-1 Teachers may teach in the USA for a maximum of 3 years, and may be eligible to extend their teaching contracts for an additional one or two years. After the program, teachers return to their home countries to share their experiences and knowledge of the United States, its educational system, culture, society, and teaching practices.
Program Benefits
The J-1 Teacher Program creates friendships and connections across borders, as well as opportunities to increase the number of cultural exchanges and school partnerships worldwide. J-1 Teachers enhance American and foreign students’ and host communities’ knowledge of each other’s customs and teaching approaches.
The J-1 teacher exchange program helps program participants become better teachers in their respective subject fields.
J-1 Teacher Qualifications
To qualify as a J-1 Teacher, you must:
- Meet the qualifications for teaching at the primary, including pre-kindergarten, or secondary levels in schools in your home country; be working as a teacher in your home country at the time of application; and have at least two years of full-time teaching experience;
OR
- Not be working as a teacher in your home country at the time of application, but otherwise meet the qualifications for teaching at the primary (including pre-kindergarten) or secondary levels in schools in your home country;
- Have had at least two years of full-time teaching experience within the past eight years; and
- Within 12 months of your application submission date for the program, have completed an advanced degree (beyond a degree equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree) in education or in an academic subject matter that you intend to teach or that is directly related to your teaching subject field.
Additional Requirements
- Possess, at a minimum, a degree equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree in either education or the academic subject field in which you intend to teach;
- Satisfy the teaching eligibility standards of the U.S. state in which you will teach (e.g., meet minimum educational requirements, pass teacher training coursework at a sufficiently proficient level, have provided an evaluation of foreign teaching preparation coursework, have demonstrated the requisite prior teaching experience, etc.);
- Provide any required criminal background or other checks;
- Are of good reputation and character;
- Agree to come to the United States temporarily as a full-time teacher of record in an accredited primary or secondary school, understanding and agreeing that exchange teachers may teach a variety of subjects and levels at their host school or schools, if qualified, but at the pre-kindergarten level, may teach only in language immersion programs;
- Receive from a qualified U.S. host school a written and signed “teaching job offer” (offer of employment”).
Training And Internships
Training program is for a foreign national who:
has a degree or professional certificate from a foreign post-secondary academic institution and at least one year of prior related work experience in his or her occupational field outside the United States
OR
has five years of work experience outside the United States in the occupational field in which they are seeking training
* The maximum duration for the trainee category is 18 months except for the fields of Hospitality and Agriculture when the program is limited to 12 months.
Internship program is for a foreign national who:
is currently enrolled in and pursuing full-time studies at a foreign degree- or certificate-granting post-secondary academic institution outside the United States
OR
has graduated from such an institution no more than 12 months prior to his or her exchange visitor program start date
* The maximum duration of an internship in any occupational field is 12 months.