Please make photocopies of your travel documents and keep the copies in a safe place, separate from the originals. Photocopy the following documents:

• Passport pages that have your picture and personal information, as well as official information (including its date of expiration)
• Passport page with the visa on it
• Both sides of your Form I-94
• DS-2019 form

Passport

Your passport is your own government's permit for you to leave and re-enter your own country. You should keep your passport valid at all times (most passports contain an expiration date) unless exempt from passport requirement. Consult your own embassy in the U.S. to renew your passport. The embassy officials will tell you what forms and fees, if any, are required. If you are required to supply a letter affirming that you are a student at Emory University you can request a letter at ISSP or an official letter from the Emory University Registrar's Office. For addresses of your country's embassy, link to Washington, D.C. embassies.

Visa

The visa stamp put in your passport by the U.S. consul abroad is required to enter the United States, unless exempt from visa requirements, but has no bearing on how long you can stay here. It also indicates the classification status you will have upon admission to the United States. It is necessary to renew your visa if the visa has expired and you are planning on traveling outside the North American continent. You may renew your visa by visiting the U.S. consul in the country to which you are traveling; unfortunately, it is not possible to renew an J-1 visa within the borders of the U.S.

Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record

The I-94 shows that you have been admitted to the US. The I-94 is usually stapled onto a page in your passport. It contains an eleven-digit identifying number (referred to interchangeably as your admission, departure, or I-94 number) that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses to keep track of your arrival and departure from the United States. There may be a date written in the upper right-hand corner of your I-94. You must either leave the US by that date or apply to extend your stay. If there is no date, but rather the inscription "D/S" (duration of status), you are admitted for the length of your program of study as indicated on your current DS-2019 plus 30 days as long as you maintain your immigration status. If you graduate before the completion date indicated on your DS-2019, you are considered to have completed your program of study, and you must have your DS-2019 shortened to reflect the new completion date.

Form DS-2019

The DS-2019 is the J-1 Exchange Visitor's certificate of eligibility for the J-1 visa and is issued by the sponsoring program (Emory University, Fulbright, etc.) for the program of study the student is presently pursuing. The Form DS-2019 is generated once a student's information has been entered into SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System). Various boxes on the front side of the form denote important information; for example, box 2 denotes the ponsoring agency; box 3 the start and end dates of the J-1 program for the particular Exchange Visitor; box 4 identifies the category of the particular Exchange Visitor (e.g., student or professor); box 5 lists the funding for the Exchange Visitor's program. The lower right side of the DS-2019 has lines for validation by responsible officers of the sponsoring agency affirming that the Exchange Visitor is in good standing, should the Exchange Visitor wish to travel outside of the U.S. and return in J-1 status.