The Two-Year Home Residence Requirement established by I.N.A. 212(e) is a very important part of the Exchange Visitor program. It stipulates that those J-1’s who are subject to the Requirement must return to their home country and be physically present there for an aggregate of two years before they are eligible to return to the U.S. as a Permanent Resident, H-1B temporary worker or dependent, or L-1 intracompany transferee or dependent.
Those Exchange Visitor’s who are subject to the Requirement are also ineligible to change their status within the U.S. (without first receiving approval of a waiver) to that of Permanent Resident or any other nonimmigrant category except A (diplomatic) and G (international organization) statuses.
Current or previous Exchange Visitors subject to the Requirement may leave the U.S. and apply for a visa to return in any other category except H-1, L-1 or Permanent Resident. Acceptable visa types include the B-1/B-2 visitor visa or F-1 student visa. The usual visa requirements must be met.