The Exchange Visitor Skills List contains fields of specialized knowledge and skills. They are necessary for the development of an exchange visitor's home country, as designated by that country. If your skill is on your country’s Skills List, you must fulfill the two-year home-country physical presence requirement when you complete your exchange visitor program. This requires you to return to your home country for two years at the end of your exchange visitor program. This requirement is in Section 212(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.
Note: What if your country is not on this list? You are not required to return to your home country for two years at the end of your program, based on the skills list.
Does your country of citizenship or nationality differ from the country you lived in when you received your Exchange Visitor (J-1) visa? If you had permanent residence in that country, you must use the Skills List for that country.
If your field of knowledge/skill is not listed, find the broader, more general subject group that it falls under. Every field of knowledge/skill is listed on the Master Skills List or is part of a broader, more general subject group.
The 2009 Skills List applies to exchange visitors who receive J-1 visa on or after June 28, 2009. It applies only to countries on the 2009 Skills List.
Did you enter the United States before June 28, 2009? Look at the skills list that was in effect when you received your J-1 visa and follow steps 1-5 above using that skills list. If your country was listed on the skills list at the time you received your J-1 visa, but is not on the current skills list, you are not subject to the two-year home-country physical presence requirement, based on the Skills List.
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