Repeat Participation Bars
When you complete your J-1 program and leave the US, you may not be eligible to participate in certain J-1 programs in the US until a specific amount of time has passed. This depends on whether you are subject to the 12- or 24-Month Repeat Participation Bars.
The US government created these bars to ensure that the J-1 visa is properly used as a temporary exchange visa, not a long-term employment visa.
These bars cannot be waived.
12-Month Bar
All J-1 exchange visitors who participated in any J-1 category for more than 6 months are subject to the 12-Month Bar. This does not apply to J-1 Short-Term Scholars.
If you are subject to the 12-Month Bar, you will not be eligible to participate in a J-1 Research Scholar or J-1 Professor program until 12 months after the end date on your DS-2019.
24-Month Bar
All J-1 exchange visitors who participated in a J-1 Research Scholar or J-1 Professor program are subject to the 24-Month Bar.
If you are subject to the 24-Month Bar, you will not be eligible to participate in a J-1 Research Scholar or J-1 Professor program until 24 months after the end date on your DS-2019.
Key Points
- The 12- and 24-Month Repeat Participation Bars only affect future participation in the J-1 categories of Research Scholar and Professor. They do not prevent you from returning to the US in any other J-1 category or using any other visa for which you might be eligible.
- If a bar applies to you, then it will also apply to your J-2 dependents.
- These bars do not require you to be in any particular country to satisfy them. The only thing required to satisfy the bars is the passage of the necessary amount of time.
- These bars cannot be waived.
- These bars are not the same as the 212(e) Two-Year Home Residency Requirement.
Determining Whether You Are Subject
Use the flowchart below to determine whether you are subject to the 12- or 24-Month Bar:
