Great News! China J-1 exchange visitor no longer need a waiver—effective today; Exempt from two-year service!

Today, December 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of State published a new Exchange Visitor Skills List (“Skills List”), removing a number of countries that would previously have triggered the application of  a two-year home residency requirement, including Brazil, China, India, and South Korea. The revised list supersedes the most recent Skills List published in 2009.

Unlike previous iterations, the revised Skills List is retroactive. Individuals that entered on a J-1 or previously acquired J-1 status who were subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement based on designations in a previously published Skills List will no longer be subject to that requirement if their country is not designated in the revised list.

Here is the notice just issued by the State Department today: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-28718.pdf