Completing or Ending Your J-1 Program/Departure from MUSC

You are required to notify the Center for Global Health prior to the end of your J-1 Exchange Visitor Program and your departure from MUSC. To do this, you will complete the J-1 End of Program Notification. The J-1 End of Program Notification must be submitted at least 30 days before your actual program end date (your last day at MUSC).

You and your sponsoring MUSC department must complete the J-1 End of Program Notification form. You will complete Part I of the form, then you will send the form to your department to complete Part II. Be sure that you obtain both signatures from your department in Part II. Once you have the complete form with all signatures, you will submit the form within the J-1 End of Program Notification request through your Terra Dotta portal (go to the Requests tab, then click J-1 End of Program Notification).

If you want to transfer your J-1 program to another institution, do not complete the J-1 End of Program Notification. You must follow the procedures for requesting a J-1 transfer out. 

Grace Period

Upon completion of your J-1 program, you and any accompanying J-2 dependents have a 30-day grace period to remain in the United States. The intention of this grace period is to allow you time to wrap up your affairs in the United States, travel within the United States (if desired), and prepare for your departure.

During this grace period, you cannot:

• Participate in J-1 program activities or be paid
• Travel outside of the United States and re-enter the United States in J-1 status

DS-2019 Forms

You are responsible for keeping the originals of all current and previous DS-2019 forms. These documents should be kept indefinitely as part of your U.S. immigration records. You may be asked to provide these documents at a later date, if you ever apply for another visa or other immigration-related benefits from the United States.

Repeat Participation Bars

There are some restrictions on participating in subsequent J programs after completing a previous J program in the United States:

• If you were physically present in the US in any J status (including J-2 status) for all or part of the previous 12-month period, you are not eligible to begin a new J program in the Research Scholar or Professor categories for 12 months from the date of your prior program completion.
• For current Research Scholars or Professors: Once you complete your current J-1 program in the Research Scholar or Professor categories, you will not be eligible for participation in a new J-1 program in the Research Scholar or Professor category for 24 months.

Refer to the Repeat Participation Bars page for more details.

212(e) Two-Year Home Country Requirement

The 212(e) two-year requirement is different than the 24-month bar for repeat participation in a J Research Scholar or Professor program. If you are subject to 212(e), you must return to your home country for a total period of two years before you would be eligible for certain visa status categories (such as H-1B) or adjustment to permanent resident status. Refer to the Two-Year Home Country Requirement page for more details.