How to Immigrate to the USA as a Teacher with Your Family | J1 Teacher Visa Requirements

Are you a professional teacher in your home country and interested in immigrating to the USA together with your family for free? If your answer is yes, then read on as I share with you the step by step process of how you can immigrate for free to the USA temporarily as a full-time teacher in an accredited (K-12) school; under the Exchange Visitor (J1) non-immigrant visa category.

The J-1 visa allows approved individuals to participate in the work and study based exchange visitor program in the US.

The need for non-US native teachers has been mandated by the desire to help fill teacher shortages in the US while providing a rich, cultural exchange aimed at helping American students see the world in a different light.

The beauty with this program is that spouses and children (up to the age of 21) may join the participating teaches in the U.S. after one month of the teacher’s arrival, and the spouses are eligible to work in the US upon receipt of work authorization (usually takes about three months after arrival to obtain).

But first, a disclaimer: This information is based upon my research and is accurate as at the posting of this article. It is not therefore legal advice. Make sure to also conduct your own due diligence.

Now that we have that out of the way:

Eligibility requirements to immigrate to the USA as a Teacher 

1. A professional proficiency in both spoken and written English.
2. A university degree from your home country or US equivalent to a four-year, U.S. Bachelors Degree. A Master’s degree increases your chances of acceptance. University degree above must match the subject you intend to teach on arrival to the US. For example:
   • To teach Chemistry you must have a Chemistry Education Degree; it cannot be replaced with a Geography or Mathematics Degree for instance.
   • To teach Geography, you must have a degree in Geography; a degree in Special Education will not cut it.
   • To teach French, you must have a degree in French Teaching or a degree in English Teaching if you are a native French Speaker.
3. Your said university degree must have a teaching component. For instance, you must have completed courses in pedagogy, teaching methods, psychological development, teaching internship, etc.
4. At least two (2) years classroom teaching experience since graduating with your undergraduate degree.
5. A valid driver’s license and two years of driving experience.
6. Official certificate of good conduct from your local police department or Criminals Investigations Department (CID).
7. Be in general good health.
8. A US designated sponsoring organization. Check this link here for sponsoring organizations. For teachers from Kenya for instance, currently the only sponsoring organization for teachers to immigrate to the US is the Foreign Academic and Cultural Exchange Services (FACES). If you immigrate through FACE, you’ll live and work in South Carolina.

Most sought subject areas to immigrate to the US as a full-time teacher

Though the most sought after subjects will vary from sponsor to sponsor, the following are the highest preferred subjects:

• Mathematics
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Special Education
• Elementary Education
• Foreign languages – Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish, German, etc.

Top 10 teacher export countries to the USA

According to the Exchange Visitor (J1) non-immigrant visa program website, the top 10 countries sending the most people to teach in the US are:

1. Philipines
2. Jamaica
3. China
4. France
5. Colombia
6. Spain
7. India
8. Mexico
9. United Kingdom (UK)
10. Germany

Top 10 destination States for teachers immigrating to the US under the J-1 Visa program

According to the Exchange Visitor (J1) non-immigrant visa program website, the top 10 countries destination States for teachers immigrating to the US under the J-1 Visa program are:

1. North Carolina
2. South Carolina
3. California
4. Texas
5. Arizona
6. Florida
7. Utah
8. Louisiana
9. Nevada
10. New York

Application process to immigrate to the US as a temporarily as a teacher 

Step 1: Prepare your documents

You will need to have the following requirements in order to apply for your move to the US temporarily as a full-time teacher in an accredited (K-12) school:

1. Valid passport
2. Your university degree(s), diploma(s), and/or certificates
3. Your official university transcripts validated by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES)
4. Evidence of at least 2 years’ of satisfactory classroom teaching experience since graduating with your undergraduate degree.
5. Recommendation letters (at least 3 should be from your school administrators)
6. Copy of your valid driver’s licence. You must have at least 2 years of driving experience
7. Recorded 3 – 5 minute video bio about yourself
8. Be willing to return to your native country for at least two years to share your educational and cultural experiences before you may return to the United States to work again.
9. Any other information requested by your J 1 exchange program visa sponsor

Step 2: Find a sponsoring organization for your J-1 Exchange visa 

To immigrate under the J 1 visa program, you must do so under a designated sponsor organization.

The sponsoring organization is the one that helps you to process your application as well as help you with settlement into America in case your application is successful.

Some of the sponsoring organizations will charge you a placement fee while others will not. It pretty much varies from sponsor to sponsor.

FACES for instance charges NO Placement Fees.

Step 3: Interviews

Upon submission of your application to prospective sponsoring organizations, they will place you for a series of interviews with selected school district depending on when one decides to hire you as a teacher for one of the schools under their jurisdiction.

Some key achievements, skills and traits that interviewers will be looking out for during the interviews include:

• Your educational background
• Learning strategies that evoke student engagement
• Motivational techniques
• Discipline strategies
• Use of technology in learning
• Inter – cultural strategies that you aim to pass on to your potential students. This is the gist of the J-1 exchange visa program.

Step 4: Offer to go to the USA temporarily as a full-time teacher in an accredited (K-12) school

Upon successfully passing the interview(s) in step 3 above, the school district that selects you informs your sponsoring organization of their willingness to hire you as teacher in their school district.

The sponsoring organization will then supply you with the following information:

• Name of school
• Teaching assignments, duties, and responsibilities
• Salary and benefits details
• Expected arrival time to the US

Step 5: J – 1 Visa application at the US Embassy in your home country

Teacher applicants who have successfully completed the evaluation process and have been offered a teaching position will receive from the sponsoring organization a Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1 Status) form DS-2019.

Armed with the information in step 4 above, you will then need to submit an application and attend your J-1 visa interview at the US embassy in your home country.

The key here is to clearly articulate to the visa officer interviewing you that the J-1 visa program is a teaching exchange program allowing teachers to live and work in the United States for one year with the option to renew for a second and third year. Hence your main reason for wanting to immigrate to the US through this program is to teach and to learn from your prospective hosts/students.

Step 6: Arrival to the US 

If your visa application in Step 5 is successful, your sponsoring organization will then process your departure to the US.

Although some organizations will pay your entire air ticket, most will pay for half your air ticket and require you to cater for the remainder.

Your sponsor will be there to meet you upon arrival to the US.

Other issues your sponsoring organization will help you with include:

• teaching preparations
• tips on how to adjust to your new environment
• how to handle your prospective students
• opening a bank account
• getting a car, etc.

For more information about visa requirements for entering the US, please read here.

Have questions for me? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below.