Scholar & Student Intern Visas
Summary
This page outlines the visa application process when a new international scholar or student intern comes to Harvard using a visa sponsored by Harvard University. The information in this section provides an overview of visa types, what to expect when requesting a visa document from Harvard University, applying for a visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate, and entering the United States.
Your Immigration Responsibilities
It is your responsibility to maintain your visa status. The HIO is here to help you understand often complex immigration regulations and provide resources to keep you up to date with them.
Review the information under Scholar Visa Options for more details on the the specific requirements. Contact your HIO advisor if you have questions.
Scholar Visa Types
Before the HIO can consider visa sponsorship, you must receive an offer of an academic appointment from Harvard University. Once the academic appointment is confirmed, the sponsoring department at Harvard (or affiliated hospital) submits required intake information to the HIO via ISD. This information includes confirmation that there is a Harvard academic appointment and that there are adequate funds for the visit if Harvard is not funding the position.
The HIO will work with your sponsoring department to determine which visa is most appropriate given the details of the academic appointment, available funding, and your background.
Applying for a Scholar or Student Intern Visa
Review the following steps carefully. Answers to Answers to frequently asked questions may also be found in our Visa Application and DS-160 FAQ.
All scholar and student intern visas sponsored by Harvard University – except those for Canadian citizens – require both a visa document issued by the Harvard International Office (HIO) and a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the United States. Canadian citizens only need a visa document and do not need a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate.
The HIO has prepared this guide for all incoming international students, scholars, and student interns to understand the operating status of U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, and the best tips we currently have for monitoring and booking a visa appointment.
You may check the operating status of each of the U.S. embassies or consulates in your country through the Department of State’s Visa Appointment Wait Times website. Within a given country, different U.S. embassies or consulates may have a different operating status, so it is best to check each embassy or consulate within your country. You may find a directory of all U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide online.
If the U.S. embassy or consulate in your home country is closed, you must consider which neighboring countries you are able to travel to for a visa appointment, and you must check the website of the U.S. embassy or consulate in that country to ensure that they will accept appointments from third country nationals, or non-citizens of that country.
Note Regarding Potential Visa Appointment Booking Protocols
After completing your DS-160 visa application form, you will be able to book your visa interview with your chosen U.S. embassy or consulate.
- To address the backlog of visa applications from the pandemic, the U.S. Secretary of State has authorized the U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to grant waivers of the in-person interview requirement in certain circumstances. Eligibility for the interview waiver will be determined by the U.S. embassy or consulate after you submit your DS-160. If you are granted an interview waiver, you will be instructed by the U.S. embassy or consulate to mail in or drop off your application materials. In some circumstances, the U.S. embassies or consulates may still require the in-person interview prior to granting the visa. Please see the Department of State announcement, or your country's U.S. embassy or consulate's website, for more information.
- If you are required to book a visa interview, and there are no visa appointments currently available to book at the local U.S. embassy or consulate, you will need to keep checking their calendar for more appointment spots to open.
- If there are visa appointments available to book, you should book the earliest appointment possible. If the earliest appointments available are after your arrival date or start date in the U.S., then you will need to follow the U.S. embassy or consulate’s instructions to request an emergency or expedited appointment, or keep checking back to see if more appointment times open in the coming months. Most embassies or consulates have these instructions available on their website. Please note, different U.S. embassies and consulates have different instructions and different timelines for when they will allow you to submit an expedite request. Failure to follow your U.S. embassy's instructions could result in a denial of your expedite request. If you are unable to find instructions unique to your embassy, please contact your HIO advisor for assistance.
If you have additional questions that are not addressed in this guide, please reach out to your HIO advisor.
Academic Appointment or Internship Offer
Before the HIO can consider visa sponsorship, you must have an offer of an academic appointment (scholars) or internship (student interns) from Harvard or an affiliated hospital. The sponsoring department at Harvard (or affiliated hospital) submits the required information to the HIO via ISD. This information includes confirmation that there is a Harvard internship and that there are adequate funds for the visit if Harvard is not funding the position.
Visa Documents
Scholars:
After you and the Harvard department submit the ISD record to the HIO, we begin the process of issuing a visa document for you. The Form DS-2019 for the J visa is issued by the HIO. Other visas must be petitioned for and approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in advance.
If there are no unusual circumstances and all data is complete, the time frame for the HIO to generate a Form DS-2019 for a J visa is generally less than 30 days. To petition and obtain an approved Form I-797 for an H-1B or O-1 visa from USCIS via regular processing usually takes 6 months or even more.
Once we issue the DS-2019 or other approval notices from USCIS, we send it to you. The process differs if you are already in the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa. Contact your HIO advisor for details.
Once you receive the visa document from the HIO, you are ready to begin the visa application process at a U.S. embassy or consulate. Canadian citizens only need a visa document and do not need a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate.
Student interns:
Before issuing your DS-2019, the HIO will first generate a Form DS-7002 Training/Internship Placement Plan and send it to you by email, along with instructions on how to fill it out and return it.
After the HIO receives your completed DS-7002, we will issue your DS-2019 Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor Status with information on the next steps to apply for your visa.
After you receive your forms from the HIO, you must request a dated signature on your DS-7002 from your internship supervisor:
- Review the content and sign and date page 1 of the DS-7002 above your name.
- Scan a copy of the DS-7002 and send it by email to your internship supervisor listed on the last page to request their dated signature. Electronic signatures are accepted.
- Once you have received the signature from your internship supervisor, print and attach the signed signature page to your DS-7002.
You must have this document signed by all prior to entering the U.S.
After obtaining your Form DS-2019, J-1 scholars and student interns must pay the I-901 SEVIS fee. The Department of Homeland Security collects this congressionally-mandated fee to cover the costs of updating SEVIS, a system that enables the U.S. Government to maintain updated information on F and J visa holders.
To pay the I-901 SEVIS fee, go to www.fmjfee.com. You will need your SEVIS number from your Form DS-2019. The SEVIS number is located on the upper right corner of the Form DS-2019.
If you have a credit card you may pay the SEVIS fee online.
If you were born in or are a citizen of Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, or Nigeria you must pay by money order or via Western Union.
Evidence of the SEVIS fee payment in the form of a receipt or a payment verification printout must be presented during your visa application interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate and at many U.S. ports of entry. Please have your SEVIS payment receipt ready upon entry and reentry to the U.S.
Although Canadian citizens are not required to have visas, they are required to present the I-901 SEVIS fee payment receipt at a U.S. port of entry as they enter the U.S. Please note that it is not possible to pay the SEVIS fee at the U.S. port of entry. Canadians must pay the SEVIS fee prior to getting to the port of entry.
The DS-160 is an online visa application form that you (and your dependents, if applicable) must complete before applying for a non-immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate or embassy outside the U.S.
You may access the DS-160 on the U.S. Department of State website. After you have completed the DS-160, you must take these next steps below:
- Print and keep the DS-160 barcode page. (You will not need to print the full application.)
- You must schedule a visa interview appointment. The U.S. Embassy or Consulate does not schedule an appointment for you. Visit the U.S. Embassy or Consulate website where you will be interviewed for country-specific instructions.
- Pay the visa application processing fee. Review country-specific instructions on the U.S. Embassy or Consulate website. Note, the DS-160 visa application fee is nonrefundable and nontransferable. You must pay this fee first before booking a visa appointment. If you need to change the location of your visa interview after paying this fee, you will not be able to transfer your payment and will need to pay a new DS-160 visa application fee before booking an appointment at a new U.S. embassy or consulate.
The U.S. Department of State has compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions that may be helpful in completing the DS-160, including help for technical issues.
For questions related specifically to your Harvard visa sponsorship, please review the HIO’s DS-160 FAQ.
Receiving a Form DS-2019 or I-797 H-1B approval notice from Harvard does not guarantee that you will receive a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate. In order to schedule an appointment at a U.S. embassy or consulate you will need to follow the instructions and provide the required documents listed on the website of the U.S. embassy or consulate you will visit. While you can apply for a visa at U.S. embassy or consulate in any country outside the U.S., it is always less challenging to apply in your home country.
Schedule an appointment for your visa interview at a U.S. consulate or embassy as soon as possible. You should schedule your visa interview in your country of nationality or residence. If the place of application is based on your residence, you should be prepared to demonstrate residence in that country. If you are a national of a country in which the United States is not conducting routine nonimmigrant visa operations and you are not eligible to apply elsewhere based on residence, you must apply at the designated embassy or consulate for nationals of your country. Please consult the State Department’s website for current designations.
As an applicant for a U.S. visa, you must take your:
- Passport
- Immigration documents received from Harvard
- SEVIS fee payment receipt (if applying for a J-1 visa),
- Form DS-7002 Training/Internship Placement Plan (if applying for a J-1 Student Intern visa)
- DS-160 confirmation page
- Proof of funding
- Any additional documentation required by the individual U.S. embassy or consulate you visit when you present your application to the consular official
Note that your dependents can book their embassy appointments independently from yours, if need be.
The Visa Interview
During your visa appointment, you will have a brief interview. You should be prepared to answer questions regarding the length of your intended stay in the U.S. and how you will use your professional experience gained in the U.S. when you return to your home country. Consular officials expect to see evidence of your ties to your home country, such as family, property, employment, bank accounts, etc. If the consular official determines that you are not eligible for a non-immigrant visa because you have not presented satisfactory evidence that you intend to return to your home country, they are likely to deny your visa application. There is usually no recourse to the visa denial unless you are able to present new information. You may also be asked to present evidence that you have maintained legal immigration status if you have worked, studied, or resided in the U.S. previously.
Additional points to consider when applying for a U.S. visa can be found in this resource from NAFSA.
Visa Wait Times, Delays, and Denials
Visa processing times can vary widely. Depending on your field of study and your country of origin, you could be put through administrative processing, a form of security check, which could delay the entire visa application process. Please keep that in mind when applying for a visa.
If you are told during your visa interview that your application will be subject to a security check or administrative processing, you must alert your alert your HIO advisor and the appropriate school official as soon as possible. You may find more information about this process in our Administrative Processing FAQ Guide.
If you hold J visa status, the U.S. immigration regulations allow you to enter the U.S. no more than 30 days prior to the program start date listed on your Form DS-2019. If you hold an H-1B visa status, you may enter the U.S. no more than 10 days before the start date listed on your H-1B petition approval notice.