J-1 Transfers

General Information

For a J-1 Scholar or Student Intern who is currently in the U.S. in J-1 status, a transfer of program sponsorship is possible if the purpose of the transfer is to complete the original objective for which the J-1 was admitted.  The transfer process must be coordinated between the international offices of the J-1’s current institution and the institution to which the J-1 wishes to transfer and there can be no gap between the end date at one institution and the begin date at the other institution.  A transfer effective date will be agreed upon between the two institutions and on that date the J-1 may no longer engage at the transfer out institution and the new institution will be able to issue a new DS-2019 for the J-1. 

Transfer-out procedure

Transferring from Virginia Tech to another J-1 program sponsor

J-1 needs to log in to IntlHokies portal and submit “J-1 Scholar Transfer Out” request under “J-1 Scholar Services”. The E-form includes approval process by the current host faculty as well as the RO/ARO from the new J-1 program sponsor.

Transfer-in procedure

Transferring from another J-1 program sponsor to Virginia Tech

The VT host department needs to contact GSS at vtgss@vt.edu, at least three weeks prior to the start date at VT.

VT internal transfer procedure

If the J-1 scholar wishes to transfer to a different VT department during the J-1 program, the current host department needs to contact GSS at vtgss@vt.edu, at least three weeks prior to the start date at the new department.