4th Jan 2021

As you may have seen in the news, President Trump has extended the suspension on the issuance of visas in several categories including J-1 work-based visas, through to the end of March.

As a reminder, CIEE and our participants are not subject to the ban due to our membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - however, as there is still a travel ban in place on almost all flights to the US plus the re-introduction of higher lockdown and tiers in the UK, participants are still unable to either get a visa or travel to the USA.

Based on several reports, we believe that President-elect Biden is likely to overturn the proclamation soon after he is inaugurated. We will continue to update our news as the new administration transitions into office in the coming weeks.

What this means for you

• For those of you who have already completed applications and training plans with hoped for arrival dates in February and March, these dates will need to be revised accordingly - a member of our team will be in touch with you over the coming weeks
• For those of you who have not yet completed your applications, please be aware that arrival dates in the next 8 weeks are extremely unlikey to be met given the present pandemic and visa restrictions/ embassy closures
• We fully expect dates closer to the summer and for the rest of the year to get back on track in the coming months, though embassy delays may still result in participants not being able to travel to the US on the dates they had planned for originally

Once we have more information on this current situation we will be reaching out to all affected participants.