The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published a new J Exchange Visitor Skills List (“Skills List”) effective December 9, 2024. The revised list removes 37 countries from the Skills list, and does not add any additional countries to the list. You can find a list of the countries that remain on the 2024 list here.
What is the Skills List?
The Exchange Visitor Skills List contains fields of specialized knowledge and skills. The Secretary of State has authority, pursuant to section 212(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, to designate countries as clearly requiring certain fields of specialized knowledge or skills. If your country of nationality or residence and your skill is on the 2024 Skills List, you must fulfill the two-year home-country physical presence requirement following completion of your exchange visitor program before obtaining certain immigration benefits.
Immediate Impact on J Exchange Visitors
The revised Skills List is retroactive. Exchange Visitors who entered in J status or previously acquired J status who were subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement based only on a previously published Skills List will no longer be subject to that requirement if their country is not designated in the revised list. Please note that Exchange Visitors who receive funding from the U.S. government or their home country government or receive graduate medical education or training in the United States remain subject to the two-year home country physical presence requirement regardless of any changes to the Skills List.
Which Countries have been removed from the 2024 Skills List
Please note J exchange visitors are still subject if they received home government or U.S. government funding.
Countries on the previous 2009 list that are not on the 2024 list include Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Georgia, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritius, Montenegro, Namibia, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay.
Further information about the Two-Year Home Country Physical Presence can be found on our website. If you would like to learn more about the requirement, we would encourage you to participate in one of our Two-Year Requirement Webinars. You can find more information and the schedule here.