INTERNATIONAL CENTER
SCHOLAR NEWSLETTER
April 2014
Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) at the University of Michigan’s International Center issues a monthly newsletter for
our department contacts across campus. The purpose of this newsletter is to update departments on changes to J-1
immigration regulations, policy and procedure, as well as changes to J-1 policy, processing requirements and timeframes
at the University of Michigan. We welcome any feedback that you might have.
J-1 Department Stats for March 2014
The International Center ISSS team processed
136 department initiated J requests during
March 2014. This is a decrease from March
2013 when we processed about 159
department requests.
J-1 New Begin/Transfers: 76
J-1 Amendments: 23
J-1 Extensions: 37
Processing Times for May
We are now entering our busy time so new
requests are being processed in approximately
3-4 weeks this month. As we get closer to the
end of the month and enter into May, our
processing times will most likely slow to 4-6
weeks due to an increase in the number of
DS-2019 requests received in our office, and
also the fact that our Immigration advising
team is overwhelmed with student related
advising issues at this time of the year, i.e.
OPT requests and admissions. The extended
processing time will likely continue through
early July.
Officially Moved!
The International Center has now moved to
its new location in the Student Activities
Building. The central campus office has been
closed, and the North Campus office has also
moved to the new location. Our new address
is:
1500 Student Activities Building
515 E. Jefferson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316
All of the International Center’s phone
numbers and emails have remained the same.
Engineering Courier Now
Delivering Original DS-2019 Forms
to North Campus
An Engineering Courier serving North
Campus is now available to all engineering
departments. We have updated our DS-2019
request forms again to include this delivery
option. If you want to make use of this
delivery method, please download the new
forms and check the appropriate box. If you
receive an email notifying you that you may
pick-up your request at our Central Campus
office, please contact icenter@umich.edu or
our front desk line to request a change to
Engineering Courier since this request was
probably submitted using the old form.
J-1 Departure Form and J-1 Out of
Country Requests Now on Two
Separate Forms
Previously our J-1 Scholar Departure form
served two different functions: 1) to notify
the International Center if a J-1 scholar was
leaving U-M before the current end date listed
on his or her DS-2019 form, and 2) to request
approval for a J-1 to continue J-1 program
activities outside the United States for more
than 30 days but less than 1 year. In order to
maximize efficiency and make it easier for
departments and scholars to identify the
required documentation needed to submit
U-M IC Student and Scholar Services Newsletter, March 2014
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these requests, we have created two separate
forms:
1) J-1 Scholar Departure Form
2) J-1 Continuing Program Out of
Country Form
Please start using the new forms as soon as
possible. We will reject all requests submitted
with the old J-1 Departure form starting June
1, 2014.
Mandatory Check-In
Please note that there will be no Physical
Presence Check-in on the following dates:
and/or email, please have patience with us as
we work on processing it.
Events for Department Contacts, J-1
Scholars, and Families
Events for Department Contacts:
HEC 112
You must complete this course in order to
obtain DS2019 user access in MPathways.
Registration for this course is through MyLinc
in MPathways.
Date
Tuesday, May 13
Time
9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Location
SAB conference room
Events for Scholars:
Tuesday, June 3
Thursday, August 21
Thursday, August 28
English Conversation Group for
International Scholars:
Katherine’s Maternity Leave
Please remember to submit all electronic
requests and forward all follow-up & ongoing email correspondence to
icenter@umich.edu starting on Monday, May
5th. Also, to be safe, all email correspondence
starting May 1, 2014 should be cc’d to
icenter@umich.edu. Katie will do her best to
forward all unanswered correspondence
received in her personal email to an
appropriate colleague before she leaves, but
please do be pro-active and check-in with our
office via email or phone if you are concerned
about an unanswered email or pending
request. At the same time, this is an
extremely busy time for our office and while
our office intends to hire a temp this has not
yet occurred, therefore we ask that if we do
identify that we have received your request
This series is designed to meet the needs of
international scholars at U-M. Each session
features a different topic and scholars can
attend as many of the sessions as they want.
The group will practice conversational
English and discuss U.S. customs related to
informal social interactions in a university
setting.
Date
Thur., June 26
Time
3:30 – 5:00
Location
SAB Conference Rm.
Welcome, Baby!
Congratulations to Garnette Roberts and his
wife Amanda. The became parents to Ella
Kristine who was born on March 30 and
weighed 7lb, 10oz.
Questions?
Contact the International Center at
icenter@umich.edu.
University of Michigan International Center Student and Scholar Services
Scott Manley | Elena Gruzdeva | Elizabeth Wiseman | John Prescott| Garnette Roberts| Katherine Flanner | Susan Woodard | Rachel Reuter
603 East Madison St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1370
Ph: (734) 647-0658 | Fax (734) 647-2181 | icenter@umich.edu
U-M IC Student and Scholar Services Newsletter, March 2014
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