重要消息!美国国务院允许部分在美参加交流访问项目人员延长停留期限

中华人民共和国驻美利坚合众国大使馆网站消息:

4月2日,美国国务院向相关机构发布通告,因受疫情影响,允许正在美国参加交流访问项目的部分人员延长在美停留期限,以便他们有更充裕的时间安排回国行程。具体如下:

一、项目终止时间在今年4月1日至5月31日期间的交流访问人员(例如互惠生、实习生、见习生、学者、专家等),其结项时间可延长2个月。

二、对于今年3月已结项、但因航班等个人不可控原因仍滞留美国的人员,接收院校或机构如在4月15日前递交项目和人员相关信息,系统可恢复项目活跃状态,结项时间可延长至5月31日。项目延期后,接收院校或机构应为交流访问学者重新打印DS-2019表格。

三、对结项时间为6月或7月的学术交流人员(教师或学生)和外国医师,暂不予延长。国务院将继续关注情况发展,并视情发布后续信息。

相关人员如需延长留美期限,请尽快联系所在机构相关部门要求延长结项时间。详情请参考原文如下。

Date: April 2, 2020

Subject: Two-Month Extension of Certain Program End Dates

Dear Sponsors:

The Department appreciates your continued efforts in addressing the health, safety and welfare concerns of your exchange visitors during this challenging time. This email contains important updates regarding a two-month extension of program end dates for certain categories during the COVID-19 situation.

Pursuant to an approval by Assistant Secretary Royce, the Department will now push a two-month extension to program end dates in SEVIS on active records with a program end date between April 1-May 31, 2020 in order to provide exchange visitors the opportunity to complete either their educational or training programs, or continue to finalize travel plans to return home. Examples of categories with exchange visitors who could be extended are aupairs, interns, trainees, scholars, and specialists.

Additionally, for exchange visitors who completed their exchange programs in March but remain in the U.S. due to circumstances outside of their control (lack of flights home, etc.), the Department will work with sponsors to push a reinstatement and extension in SEVIS resulting in a program end date of May 31, 2020. Please submit to the Office of Designation no later than April 15, 2020, a spreadsheet with SEVIS IDs, names of exchange visitor, date of birth, country of citizenship, sponsor program number, category, current program begin date, and current program

end date to whom this action should be applied.

Sponsors should reprint Forms DS-2019 for those exchange visitors whose programs are extended through these actions and provide the updated and signed forms to the exchange visitors when possible. Sponsors should also review and correct records that inadvertently extended the program end dates that should not be in Active status (ex: the exchange visitors already departed the United States, but sponsors had not yet updated their records).

Academic exchange visitors (students and teachers) and alien physician categories that have program end dates in June or July will not be extended at this time. However, the Department will continue to monitor the situation as it relates to the exchange visitors in these categories and will provide later guidance if a determination is made on possible extensions.

More generally, the Department is continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation and its effect on the Exchange Visitor Program closely. We will supplement this guidance with additional information and/or will adjust guidance going forward, as needed. Once again, thank you for your work, patience and understanding as we navigate through these unprecedented times together.

Sincerely,

Office of Private Sector Exchange

ECA, U.S. Departemnt of State