Health Insurance info for J-1 teachers

Health-insurance coverage requirements of the J1 Teacher Exchange Visa:

  -  Medical Benefits of at least $50,000 per accident or illness

  -  Repatriation of Remains up to $7,500

  -  Medical Evacuation expense to home country up to $10,000

  -  Deductible not exceeding $500 per accident /illness

The Cordell Hull Foundation recommends Gateway USA Insurance for J1 visaholders: 

http://www.gatewayplans.com/travel-medical-insurance/gateway-usa     Designed for students or participants of cultural exchange programs (any exchange visitor in J-1 visa status) to comply with J1 visa insurance regs.

Click the the red APPLY button to get a quote or sign up.  Insert the name and birthdate of a teacher to obtain a quote.  It is not expensive.  Buy enough months to cover the first year that teachers are planning to stay.  IMPORTANT:  Remember that each J-1 teacher must be insured at the point that s/he first steps foot on US soil, for the full length of the J-1 tenure in Section 3 of form DS-2019. You must choose a plan with a deductible no higher than $500 and no less than the $50,000 maximum limit:

Deductible: $100		10,000 Maximum Limit	50,000 Maximum Limit

Highlights:

• Coverage for J-1 educational or cultural exchange visaholders, their spouses and unmarried dependent children accompanying them
• Plan Maximums up to $500,000
• Renewable up to 48 months if minimum of three months is purchased
• Freedom to seek treatment with hospital or doctor of your choice
• Universal Rx pharamacy discount savings
• 24 hour secure access from anywhere in the world to manage your account at any time
• No coinsurance
• Pre-existing conditions coverage available - see specific plan design for benefit information

 

As soon as the school / district / state receives confirmation that teachers have paid the embassy fees to apply for their J-1 visa passport stamps, sign up for insurance coverage.  Do not inscribe before that, as sometimes teachers cancel the exchange program before they make the commitment to invest in obtaining the necessary visa stamp. 

Ask the company if refunds are given for these premiums which appear to be $25-$30 per month for teachers under the age of 25.  Read the brochure that you can download from the site and/or talk to someone at Gateway Plans that can give you these details. 

Numerous insurance companies offer health-insurance plans for exchange visitors in the 15 categories of J-1 visas.  If like this one does not appearl to you, just search the web for +student +exchange +visitor +"health insurance."  We recommend Gateway because you can apply on line with a credit card.  Also, they are very helpful, friendly and well-informed if you call to ask questions.

The Cordell Hull Foundation offers free coverage for medical evacuation and repatriation to schools who prefer to inscribe foreign teachers into regular US group teacher plans connected to the school, district, or state.  However, if you purchase the Gateway Patriot insurance, you do not need the CHF coverage.  Many teachers will have to purchase this insurance for the first month or two that they reside in the US if the school medical insurance does not become effective immediately upon arrival.

For further information on the J-1 visa, see the Cordell Hull Foundation website:  http://www.cordellhull.org/ and click on the J-1 Visa Teacher Exchange Link on the left side of the page.

Please read the other blogs for School Year 2012-13.

Marianne Mason, President, Cordell Hull Foundation for International Education, New York

The Famous 515-A - Missing DS-2019 form

All J-1 visa exchange teachers sponsored by the Cordell Hull Foundation know that CHF stresses the importance of folding and stapling the DS-2019 form into the passport. Most teachers remember and follow these instructions from our cultural workshop at the beginning of their first visa term.

Form DS-2019 for J-1 teachers

Sometimes they forget to pass on this important step to family dependents. Teachers are responsible to explain to spouses and dependent children the importance of stapling the DS-2019 form in the passport every year they receive a renewal.

If the family member leaves the US without a DS-2019 form, scanning, faxing, or emailing the DS-2019 form left behind is in violation of the J-1 visa regulations. If a teacher has done that, it is a good idea to go to the airport on the day that the family member is scheduled to arrive in the US - making sure that the family member knows you are waiting outside with the original DS-2019 form in case the inspector demands it. If s/he does not know you are there, it will not help, of course.

Teachers, please ... do not forget to instruct, then watch your family fold and staple both new and renewal DS-2019 forms in their passports. It is your responsibility to make sure they do it. They have no idea why it is so important unless you explain it to them and make them perform the task in front of you. That is why we make such an elaborate ceremony of doing the deed in front of you at the orientation.

Possible Consequences ...

If you arrive at the airport and find that you do not have your DS-2019 form, you will probably not be allowed access to the US, and you may be held in a side waiting room for questioning by the US immigration officer before being allowed to cross the border.

Permission to enter the US is left up to the discretion of the individual USCIS (Homeland Security) immigration officer.  If you are respectful, professional and presentable and can show good cause, most likely you will be admitted after being reprimanded and given Form I-515A.  This may seem obvious, but some foreign nationals do not realize that a J-1 visa is a privilege, not a right.  You are asking permission to enter - vs. exerting your right to enter.  Hearing about democracy in the US, they may feel free to make demands that an American citizen might exercise.

Most Exchange Visitors (J-1 or J-2 visaholders) will be given a Form I-515A to fill out and return to the address in Washington, DC on the form along with the original DS-2019 document. See:

http://www.university-insider.com/international_students/traveling_to_USA/form_I-515A.php

In this explanation, the word "student" is used, but it also applies to J-1 teachers and holders of J-1 visas in the other 13 categories:

• Elementary and Secondary Teachers
• Trainees, Interns
• College and university students, Secondary school students, and Short-term scholars
• Professors and research scholars
• Alien physicians
• International and government visitors, Specialists
• Camp counselors
• Summer work/travel students
• Au pairs

Marianne Mason, Executive Director, Cordell Hull Foundation
http://www.cordellhull.org/



Irene: Hurricane Hype for New York City



Photo from Google Images.



I tried to tell naive believers who swallowed the media's overblown false dire warnings hook, line and sinker, that Irene would not be a hurricane by the time it reached New York City.  A former hurricane junkie, sitting for days on end living in Louisiana, with eyes glued to preposterous TV reportage, I know the pattern.  Hurricanes have not landed onshore in the US for the past three years, so I forgot to mention that the aftermath inevitably includes a predictable media diatribe of how terrible it would have been and how much we all would have suffered had their predictions of the worst possible disaster come to pass, and how lucky we are!  Their rhetoric is rampant with the conditional tense.

Irene would never have been New York's Katrina.  Katrina passed 90 miles east of New Orleans, and they "dodged a bullet" an expression New Orleans natives use liberally.  The flooding occurred the next day.  It was man-made, the overtopping of levees caused by shoddy non-workmanship. 

During a three-day span of wall-to-wall hurricane coverage of Irene, even Sunday morning talk shows were usurped by local NBC, ABC, and CBS NY City hurricane programming, picturing every minute of the storm, before, during and the aftermath.  All cable news channels, of course, had nothing but hurricane coverage.

The only flooding that occurred in New York was a few inches on the docks of lower Manhattan's East and Hudson rivers a few hours max on Sunday morning, August 28, and in Battery Park City - AGAIN man-made: three feet where land-fill was not built up to rise the ground sufficiently above sea-level.  Battery Park was built in this 21st century, the early 2000s when you would expect engineers to take global warming and the danger of water-table rise into account.  Man-made.

Electrical wires are underground in NY City ... there were no power outages in Manhattan, no danger from trees toppling over against wires.  There were a few fallen branches in Central Park, where residents were out walking and riding bicycles on Sunday morning, defying the Mayor's admonition to stay home.

Even on Monday morning, the weather pundits described the damage to Long Island (not NY City) indeed vulnerable, exposed full front to the hurricane.  In one breath, a smug, smiling network weather "expert" exhorted that the hurricane landed as a Category 1 - but he did not mention that "landfall" was in NORTH CAROLINA two days before, 600 miles southwest!  In New York, Irene landed on Coney Island with 65-mile-per-hour winds, reduced to a tropical storm.  And in this windstorm, the strongest winds were not all concentrated in the eye.  They were spread out.

On Sunday, taxi drivers were charging $10 per person on an "emergency zone scale" rather than running the meter.  An opportunity to gouge tourists since New Yorkers would be more likely to walk or hop on public buses, offering free rides for the day.

Sunday was a strange day.  We tried to go to a movie, but theaters were closed since personnel could not get to work without subway service.  The Mayor did not announce in advance that buses would be free, telling everyone to take the day off and relax.  We couldn't go to the drugstore; they were closed for the same reason.  The only restaurants open were in hotels, where staff could be put up for Saturday night, or family-owned restaurants who owned vehicles to transport staff to and from the outer boroughs of Manhattan where most live.  It was like being in a small town, where retail shops close down on Sundays, and made me appreciate the convenience of New York City which I take for granted.

The NY City subway, whose closing in the lead-up to Hurricane Irene was perhaps the most unsettling element of a prodigious storm preparation effort, was back to its usual robust self on Monday, with most trains running on a nearly normal schedule.  All official broadcasts reported that the subways would be operating at the earliest noon on Monday and only lines 1-7 would be open.  On Monday morning, I called my staff and offered to pay taxi fare, but they just hopped on the A train, already up and running.  

 

In response to concerns expressed by friends and colleagues, today I emailed back expressing frustration that our carefully knit plans for two large seminars for incoming international teachers were squashed.  Make-up orientations must now be rescheduled, notices sent and received all over again because the Mayor and the Governor's naivety blocked participants access to and egress from Manhattan. 

This is the danger:  setting a precedent for crying wolf!  The next time the Mayor and Governor panic and fall for the overexaggeration, the public will not cooperate fully.  Some New Yorkers are not happy about the wolf howling, Broadway producers and actors included ... shutting down Broadway on one of the biggest tourist weekends of the year when there was just a little rain -no heavier than normal- and a few wind gusts?

One reason New Orleanians tend to be laissez-faire is they have seen the cycle repeat itself: dire prediction, followed by far-off-target wind fizzling to tropical depressions, followed by the media's song and dance: making excuses, expressing euphoria that shouldn't we all be happy it didn't turn out as catastrophic as they predicted, shouldn't everyone be happy for not experiencing what they falsely predicted, being released from the fear engendered in them by the media.  There's that conditional tense ... almost a mantra. 

One hopes future governors and mayors might learn this expensive lesson in depressed economic times.  This time Irene played a trick on the hurricane-crazed media ... the bulk of the damage occurred inland where they never predicted it would happen.  But they may continue to follow conventional wisdom anyway "Better safe than sorry" and fail to consult hurricane veterns who have heard these wolf cries many times before.

Here's the Associated Press assessment of closed transportation routes on Monday, August 29:

"All of the subway's 22 lines, including express and local service, were restored, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Area airports reopened this morning. Amtrak canceled all of its trains between Boston and Philadelphia, and Acela Express service was not running. The PATH train was operating between New Jersey and New York, and bridges and tunnels were open to traffic.Still other parts of the region's mass transit network remained partly paralyzed for the morning commute, and many commuters from New York's northern and western suburbs had to make do without the suburban rail networks that carry thousands of workers to hospitals, investment houses and corner bodegas alike.

Although the city escaped wind damage, New York's ability to return to its usual humming self will rely largely on how quickly its lifeblood mass transit system can recover.  ''Transit is the economic life, the cultural life of the city," said Mitchell Moss, director of the Rudin Center at New York University. "If you don't have that infrastructure working, you can't have a meal, you can't make a living, you can't get a prescription filled."

Cross-Cultural Workshop Schedule for SY 2011-12

Part of the Cordell Hull Foundation's responsibility to the State Department as J-1 visa sponsor is providing pre-arrival info to new teachers plus training on J-1 visa regulations and cultural adjustment.

Each fall, I moderate a series of cross-cultural workshops in New York and California, aided by guest principals and teachers.  In 2010, I presented one in Portland, Oregon and in Paris as part of the French government-sponsored orientation.  Getting to Paris for the past two years was time-consuming and expensive for most CHF French exchange teachers who do not live in the region.

You can refer to The Cordell Hull Foundation New Program Guide on http://www.cordell-hull.org/ which details the easy steps that a school, state or district follow to become a partner in sponsoring J-1 visas for international teachers to work in US primary or secondary schools.  Participation is for exchange teachers and school principals only, and Education Consuls from foreign governments, in small groups of 25 maximum.

We are grateful for the valuable participation and input of many talented, experienced, knowledgeable educators to the Cordell Hull Foundation's Cultural Orientation workshops each year.  This fall, Tom Gilbert, British CHF Exchange Teacher, will present the new interactive PowerPoint session on Culture Shock. 

Like many people, I suspect, when I was told of the stages of culture shock I was convinced it wouldn’t happen to me.   The whole thing sounded way to simplistic, surely an intelligent person’s reactions to a new culture couldn’t be so easily codified?

• I had been visiting the US for 5 years before I came here with CHF.
• I really believed I would not be affected by culture shock.
• I went through textbook culture shock.
• I went through every phase like clockwork.
• The good news is that Phase 4 (bi-culturalism) feels pretty good once you get into it.
• I've got a nice apartment, a dog, and even a new baby (the last two are not mandatory).

Culture shock is a documented phenomenon.

Accept it, plan for it, but don't believe you can avoid it. 

CHF is privileged to receive the contribution of highly trained, experienced, creative education professionals who donate their time, helping keep non-profit organization operating costs low. For several years, Dr. Pilar Fernandez, the Spanish Government Education Director in New York, was a  workshop presenter, including a special session for Spanish teachers. Pablo Diez, the Spanish Government Education Director in Washington, helped translate the visa quiz. Yves Rivaud, French School Head, offers his vast expertise in French teacher adjustment to American culture to teachers at CHF cross-cultural workshops.

CHF orientation materials are translated into French, with the input of French-immersion school principals. George Vlikidis, New York Education Consul for the Greek government, participates in CHF workshops for NY Greek teachers, as well as many Greek-immersion school principals.
To obtain a copy of the materials, you may buy my newly published manual: J1 Visa Uncloaked--Complete Cultural Training Guide available on Amazon.com.

Marianne Mason, President, Cordell Hull Foundation for International Education
http://www.cordellhull.org/
http://www.cordellhull.net/
http://www.cordell-hull.org/

Greek-teacher 2-yr J1 visa extension

In March 2010, I met with the State Department and obtained a special 2-year extension for Greek government-paid teachers in J1 visa status to continue teaching in the US to fulfill their five-year Greek government contracts, quoting humorist Bill Maher in my pitch:

Besides democracy, philosophy, geometry,  poetry, architecture and drama, what have the Greeks ever given us?

The Greek exchange teacher program has been a special project for the Cordell Hull Foundation (CHF) over the past several years.   Working closely with Georgios Vlikidis, Greek Government Education Director, and Greek Consulate General Aglaia Balta, we have advocated for talented, highly intelligent Greek teachers to work in expanded educational venues.  Most teach in New York area schools, where CHF can offer additional workshops and training during the year, primarily in teaching Greek as a Second Language.  CHF also works closely with Greek-school principals in Florida and Chicago to sponsor J-1 visas.



I was privileged to meet Deputy Greek Minister of Education Fofi Gennimata on her visit to New York City on February 21, 2011, who fully expects third-year teachers would continue being supported, and replacements sent for departing educators.  Greek government teachers are hand-picked by the Greek government to meet rigorous criteria.  They are experienced, well-educated, generous and cheerful.  Most belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.  Orthodox Priests have a hand in running some parochial schools.  They usually wear black robes and are colorful, brilliant, charismatic personalities.  They are allowed to marry and have families.

To extend Greek teachers now in their third year of J-1 visa status for 2 additional years, copies of the following are needed for each J-1 teacher:
 (1) DS-2019 form - original signed by American Embassy Consular Officer
 (2) I-94 card (both front and back sides of the card, even if the back has no writing)
 (3) Name page of passport (enlarged and light enough to read)
 (4) J-1 visa stamp in passport 
Please Xerox and enlarge the 3 passport documents, on a light setting, and fax to: 646-349-3455 - all right side up in the same direction. 

Copies of the following are needed for each J-2 dependent:  (1) DS-2019 forms signed by the American Embassy Consular Officer, (2) I-94 cards (both sides), (3) Name pages of the passports, (4) J-2 visa stamp(s) in passport(s).

A second offering letter is required on letterhead signed by the school principal, requesting that the teacher be allowed to continue teaching in J-1 visa status for two additional years.

An additional $233 fee is due the State Department for extension of status.  CHF submits the supporting documents above via email.  After the approval is processed, CHF generates new DS-2019 form(s) and instruction letter(s).

I would like to express my deep appreciation, on behalf of CHF, to Greek journalists Despina Syriopoulou, correspondent for the United Nations, and Alexandros Stefanopoulos of the Greek-American News Agency, for their responsible reporting, professionalism and high ethical standards publishing the accurate story of how the Cordell Hull Foundation obtained permission for Greek teachers to extend J-1 visa terms to five years.

Greek teacher salaries are paid by their government.  They spend most of their earnings in the US in contrast to teachers from other countries, such as India and the Philippines, who send half their income back to the home country.  Thus, Greek teachers contribute to the US economy as well as greatly enhance the US educational system.

J1 visa teachers for SY 2011-12 New & Renewals

The Cordell Hull Foundation (CHF) is currently accepting applications from public, private and charter schools to join our teacher exchange program, allowing CHF to sponsor foreign teachers to work for one to three years in US K-12 schools.  For an easy and concise synopsis of the process on how new schools can join, see http://www.cordell-hull.org/ and click on New Program Guide.  CHF works with schools directly.  If individual teachers or attorneys would like to refer the school principal or contact to us, we will be glad to explain the process.  The first step, as you can see from the guide above, is to click here to complete the New Exchange Program Application Form:  http://www.cordellhull.net/new_program_app_08.html

As of mid-May 2011, CHF already sees a significant increase in the number of teachers in current exchange J-1 visa teacher school programs.  The Chinese government operates a teacher exchange called "Han Ban" through the Confucius Institute http://www.chinese.cn/  which places teachers of Mandarin and Chinese culture in public and charter schools throughout the US and pays their salaries, living expenses, and round-trip transportation.  Though teachers are offered a one or two-year contract, the American Embassies in China usually issue their J-1 visas for only one year at a time. 



 Han Ban Teacher Hui Li at post in Maryland

For Han Ban teachers who wish to stay in the US over the summer and not return to China, CHF can extend their visa term for an additional year without their having to obtain an updated visa stamp.  Unfortunately, Han Ban does not usually make decisions whether to renew US teachers' contracts until mid-summer, though we are encouraging the Confucius Institute to begin sooner so that teachers are able to arrive at the beginning of the school year.

Note that there are fifteen categories of J-1 visa.  See http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/exchange-visa.html#1 and click on the first link that takes you to the category list.  A Han Ban teacher who comes to the US in J-1 teacher status cannot work in a university without the necessary permission from the university's Responsible Officer (RO) or Alternate Responsible Officer (ARO) overseeing J-1 visas.

One of the oft-misunderstood facts about J-1 visa renewal is that, if the J-1 visa in the passport is expiring in mid-June of the current year (for example, June 30, 2011), it is not necessary to update the passport visa IF the foreign teachers STAYS in the US.  The updated DS-2019 form issued by the visa designation sponsor (the Cordell Hull Foundation) which lengthens the term of the J-1 teacher visa, or  offers an updated travel validation, is sufficient to keep the J-1 visitor in status.

A J-1 visa passport stamp that expires before the beginning of the new school year (for example September 1, 2011) does not pose a problem for the 15 categories of J-1 visas (of which "teacher" is one category) UNLESS the teacher leaves the US and tries to return to the US later than 2 weeks before the expiration date.  Therefore, to stay in J-1 visa status, an updated stamp is only required to RE-ENTER the US (provided that the teacher has received a new DS-2019 form from the visa sponsor, the Cordell Hull Foundation).

Please stay tuned for weekly updates on this blog clarifying J-1 visa issues and details, and feel free to comment or ask questions.  You can also find a wealth of information on our FAQs page:  http://www.cordellhull.org/english/FAQ/Default.asp

Marianne Mason, President, Cordell Hull Foundation for International Education, New York