On Monday evening (22nd June), President Donald Trump announced an immediate ban on a large number of visa programmes to the USA - including most of the J1 programme. This ban is in place until December 31st 2020. You can see the details of the Presidential Proclamation here.
We now expect most 2020 placements will be suspended and internships to the USA cancelled as a result of this action by the US Government.
- It is our understanding that this does NOT affect those participants who already hold a valid visa for their programme issued by the US Embassy
- It does affect all those who have been issued the DS2019 certificate and SEVIS and who have not yet had an interview at the embassy or received their visa
- It does affect all applications for 2020 internships and placements currently in process
We are seeking to clarify this with the US Government as a matter of urgency.
We realise this is a huge blow to the students affected by this action, as well as to IST Plus and its Partners, US Host Companies - and the thousands of other students and young people from all over the world who had planned on undertaking an internship or traineeship in the US this year.
Over the coming days we will be reaching out to you with an explanation of what happens now. We know you will have lots of questions and ask that you bear with us just a little longer as this is a huge task for teams on both sides of the Atlantic.
As always, we will be updating our News section as soon as new information comes in.
Kind regards,
The IST Plus InfoTeam
