J-1 Visa for Teachers

Hello,

I am a Canadian teacher and was offered a teaching position at a private school in California. The school would prefer that I obtain my visa on my own without involving them in the process.

Could someone please tell me if individual teachers can obtain J-1 visas on their own through a visa processing company, without having to work with a teacher exchange program?

Thank you for your help,
Maya

Hi Maya,

Did you end up getting a JI on your own?

Hello Maya,
I too am a Canadian teacher interested in working at an independent school in California (San Francisco). It seems to me that the only visa options are to get a J-1 or an H1-B (from what I understand we don't qualify for a TN visa). Did you manage to arrange the visa on your own?

Hi,

If you are still trying to figure out ways to get a visa without the help of your school, I found out about an organisation called the Amity Institute that helps teachers from other countries obtain J-1 visas to teach in the US.
Are you working in the US now?

Someone's got to sponsor you for it so you can get the DS-2019, the school (or whoever) has to be State Dept. approved and registered to be able to issue them.