International Center Office Hours: Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm
Drop-In Hours are Monday through Thursday, 2 pm to 4 pm and Friday 11am to noon
Appointments can be scheduled through Handshake. The URL for Handshake is:
https://clarkson.joinhandshake.com/edu
Search for Global Opportunities in CU Global at this link:
https://clarkson-horizons.symplicity.com/https://clarkson-horizons.symplicity.com/
International Education Week!
Traditionally recognized in November, IEW is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education & exchange worldwide.
The International Center kicked off IEW with a record number of students attending the Global OpportunitiesFair on October 2nd. The GO Fair showcases global opportunities for students, including:
semester – short-term – faculty led – research and – service programs.
The Traditions Tables hosted by our awesome international population were a great success! Record numbers of students stopped by to learn about traditions, food and cultures abroad.
Be sure to see the photos on the following pages! We are so lucky to have international students help us with these amazing displays!
International Visitors: The Process
The International Center assists departments and faculty sponsors with hiring or hosting international faculty, staff and scholars under the J Exchange Visitor Program. This includes:
- assistance with immigration document preparation
- arrival guide for J Scholars
- general scholar advising to those on J visa status
Clarkson can issue documents under the following categories:
- J Professor / Research Scholar: Individual whose primary duties are teaching or research. These categories commingle. Length of stay is 3-weeks to 5-years
- J1 Short-Term Scholar: A professor, research scholar or person with similar education or accomplishments coming to the US on a short-term visit for the purpose of lecturing, observing, training or demonstrating special skills. Length of stay is up to 6-months.
- J Student Intern: Student pursuing a degree outside the US where the internship is fulfilling the education objective for his/her degree at home institution. Special conditions do apply. Length of stay is 3-weeks to 1-year.
Please visit the International Center intranet to view the ‘Steps to host a J-1 Scholar’.
Important Note: Please allow at least 2 – 3 months processing prior to the start of the J program. This allows enough time for International Center staff to review and process the visa paperwork, visa processing – and – travel to Clarkson University.
Please email internationalcenter@clarkson.edu with any questions or requests.
Visa Application Updates
As the spring recruiting season continues in full force please be mindful that students from certain countries may encounter delays in visa processing.
The turnaround time is shorter prior to the start of the spring term, encourage students to submit their documents in a timely manner.
The soft deadline for visa document processing is November 20. After that dates we will review each situation on a case by case basis.
Please encourage students to be patient and visit the US Consulate website daily to see if appointments have become available.
It is important to understand that when students apply for their student visas, they are required to answer three basic questions:
- What is the reason for your travel to the United States?
- How do you plan to pay for your educational expenses?
- Prove strong ties to your home country
Challenges once these questions have been answered:
- Global/political challenges – Some countries are currently going through some political turmoil which impacts the US Consulates availability to provide regular visa services. In some instances, that makes the US Consular Officer sensitive to the applicant’s intent to travel to the US.
- Overcoming the US Consular Officers’ perception of immigrant intent. The applicant must prove strong ties to their home country.
- Visa appointment shortages.
- The applicant’s previous visa application history. If a student has been denied more than two times, this may have an impact on their visa application.
The US Department of State continues to make student visa applications a priority.
Special Note: As the number of students from India increases, we are monitoring the number of visa appointments available. The average wait time for an appointment is 42 days.
The Four pages of student photos from the GO Fair and International Education Week include:
- Various photos of Exchange Students representing their exchange school.
- Cultural and Traditions Tables included Mexico with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Students painted ornamental skulls with paint to display at their celebration in November.
- The Pakistani students hosted a table to share their home country traditions.
- Two students participated for two days and painted student names in Chinese Calligraphy
- Students from Nepal dressed in their traditional apparel and talked about their home country
- Nigerian students made Puff Puffs to share and talked about their home country traditions.
- The Sri Lankan students had a wonderful display with video and shared Kiribath (milk rice) which was delicious!
Send students our way! Meeting with the International Center
Types of Appointments
- Students and Scholars Appointments which include Completion Plans, Health Insurance Questions, Taxes, J-1 and F-1 Travel questions, and Work Authorizations
- Study Abroad Appointments which include study abroad interest and advising, the application process, advising on the types of programs abroad, questions about visas and applications for those accepted to go abroad.
- Drop In Appointments include things like document pickup, signature on student documents, social security questions, new student check-in and general quick questions.
Appointments can be made on Handshake: https://app.joinhandshake.com/login
We want to hear from you! The International Center’s communication with faculty and staff is key for the success of our programming. In an effort to better communicate with all of our internal audiences, the International Center is in the process of restructuring our intranet site. We would love your input on how best to reach you with our communications and any specific information you typically have trouble locating or would like access to. Email us with your suggestions at internationalcenter@clarkson.edu!