Form I-94 records your arrival and departure in the U.S. You should receive Form I-94 during travel or at the bordereach time you enter the United States, and it should remain in your passport until you depart. It is your reponsibility to alert an inspection agent if you did not receive Form I-94.

If you entered the U.S. and did not receive Form I-94, you should immediately contact the nearest Deferred Inspection Site. Should they be unable to help you, you will need to complete Form I-102 (Application for Replacement/Initial Nonimmigrant Arrival-Departure Document).

First, you should immediately file a report with the local police. You will need this documentation to reapply for a visa.

After you have filed a police report, notify the authorities in the country that issued your passport. They can best help you nullify your lost passport and reapply for a new one.

You must also contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that issued your visa. A lost or stolen J-1 visa cannot be replaced in the U.S.; you must therefore reapply for the visa in person at an Embassy or Consulate abroad. When reapplying for the visa, you must provide a written account of the events surrounding the loss of your visa and a copy of the police report.

If you are concerned that you are not being given the responsibilities you should be at your internship/traineeship, talk to your supervisor first. He/she may not be aware that you are being given too much, too little, or the wrong kind of work, and a short conversation may be all it takes to correct the problem. Your training plan can be useful in facilitating this type of discussion.

If a conversation with your supervisor does not solve the problem, please contact your CDS representative. We will do whatever we can to ensure that you have a valuable training experience.

You are expected to complete your internship/traineeship based on the start and end dates on your Form DS-2019. Should you be unable to complete your program, you should notify your host company of your plans. You should then contact your CDS representative and formally request to end your program. Included in this request should be a brief explanation of why you must leave early, when your last day with your host company will be, and your supervisor’s contact information.

Please note that you will be reimbursed for any unneeded months of health insurance.

If a government inspection agent does not take Form I-94 upon your departure, you must immediately contact the U.S. government at the address below so that their records can be updated to show that you left. Complete the back of the card listing the port of departure and date of departure from the United States and the carrier/flight information. Mail this along with a letter of explanation and evidence of departure to:

DHS-CBP SBU
1084 South Laurel Road
London, KY 40744
USA

Evidence of departure can include a boarding pass from your flight or a copy of the stamp you received in your passport when you returned to your home country. Be sure to make copies of all of these documents before sending them.

If you participated in a J-1 Exchange Program as an Intern and are currently enrolled at a university or within 12 months of receiving your degree, you are eligible for a second J-1 program in the same category. There must be a 90-day gap between the end date of your first program and the start of your new one. If you are not currently enrolled in a university, you must have received your degree and have at least 1 year of post-graduate work experience outside of the U.S. in order to qualify for a J-1 visa in the “Trainee” category.

If you already participated in a J-1 Exchange Program as a trainee, you must have at least two years of residency outside of the U.S. since the end of your initial program. Please note that this two-year regulation differs from the Two-Year Home Country Residency Rule (212(e)), and cannot be waived.