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Incidental Employment for Visiting Scholars and Researchers in J-1 Status

This page explains your eligibility for incidental employment during your Exchange Visitor program in the United States, and how to apply.

NOTE: This section is only applicable to J-1 scholars who are here in the category of either Professor or Research Scholar. (Check your DS2019 to see what category you are in or check with an adviser in ISSS). This is only applicable for occasional lectures or consultations.

Your J-1 Responsible Officer

To work for any employer other than the school named on your Form DS-2019 (formerly known as the IAP-66), you must first obtain approval in writing from your J-1 Responsible Officer, who represents your J-1 sponsor and issues your Forms DS-2019. He or she must evaluate the proposed employment in terms of your program objectives and your individual circumstances, and then decide whether it would be appropriate or not. If your school is your sponsor, then your J-1 Responsible Officer is probably the international adviser. If your J-1 sponsor is an agency, and if you are uncertain how to reach your J-1 Responsible Officer, the international adviser at your school will help you find out, but has no authority to grant employment permission.

Conditions

The proposed employment:

Must be directly related to the objectives of your Exchange Visitor program;
Must be incidental to your primary program activities; and
Must not delay the completion of your Exchange Visitor program.
Any payment to the J1 exchange visitor must be as an independent contractor (not an employee).

Procedures

To obtain authorization for incidental employment, you should present the following to your J-1 Responsible Officer:

A letter of offer from the prospective employer describing the terms and conditions of the proposed employment, including the duration, the number of hours, the field or subject, the amount of compensation, and a description of the activity for which you are being hired.
A letter from your department head or supervisor:
1. Referring to the letter from the prospective employer;
2. Confirming that the employment is directly related to your principal activity, is indeed incidental, and will not delay completion of your program;
3. Explaining how the proposed activity would enhance your Exchange Visitor program; and
4. Recommending approval of the employment.
If your J-1 Responsible Officer approves, he or she will authorize the employment in writing.

Authorization to work

If the employment is a lecture or consultation, you will be working not as an employee but as an independent contractor, meaning that you will not have a sustained employer-employee relationship with the person or institution paying you, and will not complete From I-9, "Employment Eligibility Verification," in order to start work. In that situation your authorization will take the form of a letter to you from your J-1 Responsible Officer, which your employer may ask to see, and which you should keep permanently.

If the incidental employment is sustained, for example, if you will be teaching a course at another school that lasts an entire term, then your authorization will be a new Form DS-2019, issued by your present J-1 Responsible Officer, showing the name of the employer (as well as the institution of your principal affiliation), and the amount you will be paid. Your Responsible Officer will indicate in SEVIS that the incidental employment has been authorized.