J-1 scholars are eligible to transfer to USC from other institutions in the U.S. You will need to coordinate the details of the visit with the J-1 scholar and then submit the DS-2019 request form to OIS. Please indicate the transfer in the appropriate section on the form and include the J-1's SEVIS ID number.
OIS will coordinate with the current institution to determine a suitable release date in the SEVIS database. The release date is very important. J-1's cannot be paid by USC until they have been released. At the same time, once a J-1 has been released they are no longer eligible to receive funding from the previous institution. On or after the release date arrives the J-1 should schedule an appointment with OIS to complete the transfer. During this 30-minute meeting we will complete the transfer and issue the scholar a new USC DS-2019. It is very important that your J-1 scholars meet with an OIS advisor to complete the transfer. If we are unable to complete the transfer to USC your scholar may lose her/his immigration status.
Please note that for tranfer requests OIS does not return a DS-2019 to the departmant. We cannot issue the DS-2019 until the transferred-in scholar checks-in with OIS.
It is also important to note that when an Exchange Visitor transfers to USC their length of stay does not start over. For example: Research Scholars are allowed to be in the U.S. for 5 years. If a Research Scholar spends two years at another institution before transferring to USC they are only eligible to conduct research at USC for three years. The 5 year clock does not restart by transferring to a new institution.