Please refer to the quick links below and visit the link to the visa guide for detailed information and steps required to complete your visa application. 

• J-1 students must pursue the course of study required by their Duke programs or schools and must make satisfactory progress toward a specific educational objective.
• J-1 student visa holders are required to enroll in a full load of Duke courses to maintain visa status (see details in the Academics and Summer Session sections).
• J-1 students are permitted to work on campus only if the employment is part of a scholarship, fellowship, etc. connected to their course of study. No other work is permitted unless specifically authorized in writing by the Duke Visa Services (DVS) in advance. On-campus employment is limited to 20 hours per week while school is in session and full-time during holidays and school vacations. Volunteer/unpaid work cannot be assumed to be permitted. Before engaging in any kind of employment (including volunteer, unpaid work), students must first consult their DVS advisors whose written approval is required in advance.
• Academic training is permitted only beginning after your program start date. If you stay within the stipulated time limits, academic training allows you to work part-time while classes are in session and full-time during vacation periods. Certain conditions must be met to qualify for academic Training. Email dkurelations@duke.edu if you are interested in pursuing academic training.

The DKU@Duke program is a one semester plus an optional summer session visiting student program. Duke is approved by the US Department of Homeland Security to bring all international visiting students in on J-1 student visas. For the DKU students studying at Duke for a semester, J-1 is a better choice in terms of employment opportunities:

J-1: For a one-semester program, J-1 visas offer students the ability to engage in Academic Training (a form of work authorization for J-1 students) when they study at Duke for a regular semester.

• For students interested in on-campus employment, they should request on-campus employment authorization from Duke Visa Services.
• For those seeking eligible off-campus employment, they should apply for Academic Training, a process that will be reviewed by the Duke Office of DKU Relations and Duke Visa Services.

F-1: F-1 for a one-semester program does not offer off-campus employment opportunity. CPT/OPT is not an option for one-semester F-1 program students.

• F-1 students can only apply for CPT/OPT (forms of work authorization for F-1 students) after they complete one academic year of full-time study, which, critically, will not happen in the normal DKU@Duke program.
• F-1 students can only do CPT if CPT is an integral part of the program’s established curriculum, which is not the case for DKU students.

Therefore, J-1 visa is more beneficial in terms of employment opportunities for DKU students when they study at Duke. For off-campus employment, J-1 students can apply for AT to work off-campus during the summer and work for US based employers remotely during the academic year.

• Regardless of whether students are subject to the two-year home residency requirement, J-1 status does not make students ineligible for the H1B visa lottery, nor does it reduce the chances of being successfully selected to apply for an H1B visa. The H1B visa lottery treats J-1 students and F-1 students equally. The fact is, US employers are not required (and often are not willing) to sponsor employees for immigration, presenting a hurdle for both J-1 and F-1 students.
• If a J-1 student wishes to apply for an H1B visa without fulfilling the two-year home residency requirement, they must apply for a waiver before applying for the H1B visa. Over the years, we have set up systems informing students of this requirement and of timelines for starting the process, however we cannot be responsible for students’ waiver applications, because it is not just an application to the US government, it is an application to the student’s home country. Each country has different requirements, processes, and often languages, and some countries specifically require students to apply by themselves.

The two-year home residency requirement poses challenges for students who want to work in the US right after graduating from DKU. This challenge can be resolved by planning to apply for a waiver at the right time. The two-year residency requirement does not prevent students from attending graduate school in the US on an F-1 visa. Information related to the waiver application is provided in the J-1 Visa Guide available to all DKU@Duke students, including the waiver application process and the best time to apply for it.