Do visits to conferences while a visiting scholar reset the 90 days under VWP?

7/30/2012 3:34:24 AM

You should not be using the VWP to enter the US as a visiting scholar. The VWP comes instead of B1/B2, while the status you’re interested in is J1. You should get a proper visa and then you won’t have to worry about what happens if you get caught breaking the terms of your stay.

Since apparently there’s a lot of ignorance on the matter, here’s the official quote from the US State Department:

Citizens from a country participating in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
who want to enter the U.S. temporarily as exchange visitors, must
first obtain a an exchange visitor visa. Exchange visitor program
participants cannot travel on the VWP, nor can they travel on a
visitor (B) visa.

Here’s the chart of visa types matched to visit purpose. As you can see, visiting scholar requires J type visa.

Here’s the terms and conditions of the VWP program. As you can see, it is explicitly limited to tourism or business(B1/B2 visa):

The purpose of their stay in the United States is 90 days or less for
tourism or business (Visitor (B) visa) purpose of travel.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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