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J1 Visa Information
CHI is designated by the Department of State as a sponsor of an Exchange Visitor Program under the
"Trainee" category. This designation allows CHI to issue Form DS2019 to qualified Career Training Program
participants in order to apply for the J1 visa.
CHI SEVIS
SEVIS - Student & Exchange Visitor Information System
SEVIS facilitates timely reporting and monitoring of international students and exchange visitors in the United
States. The US government has created this system for electronic tracking of all J-1 participants. SEVIS enables
sponsors to transmit participant information to the Department of State (DOS) and Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), originally Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
This new system requires every participant of the Career Training Program to provide CHI with the necessary information.
This information will be used to update their record in SEVIS and validate their program.
• Within 30 days of the program start date
printed on the DS 2019 form, every participant must contact CHI to confirm that she/he began the Career Training Program.
• To confirm arrival every participant should contact their coordinator.
For the students that were placed by CHI, they will need to contact their CHI area coordinator:
Irena Anthony at chiirena@chinet.org
Irena worked her way up from Teacher Coordinator for Group Homestay to Area Administrator to Regional Coordinator
of the Internship/Career Training Programs in her ten years with CHI. A native Siberian, Irena completed her Bachelor's
degree in education in Russia before coming to the USA as an interpreter for the Boy Scouts. Irena is tri-lingual
(English, Russian, German) and her passion is traveling to new countries. Irena has helped interns from over 30
countries develop professionally in the USA!
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Dayna O'Brien at chidayna@chinet.org
Dayna worked as a Community Coordinator in the Internship/Career Training Programs before she was promoted to Regional
Coordinator for all of Western USA. Dayna volunteered with Afghan and Iranian refugees in St. Louis for many years,
and she hosted a student from Thailand for a year. Her young son now appreciates cultural differences around the
world. Dayna currently studies Spanish. Her passion is learning about the world and getting to know the wonderful
people who participate in the Internship and Career Training Programs.
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Hospitality: Kim Barbarji at chikimb@chinet.org
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Self-arranged Amy Benjamin chiamy@chinet.org
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Participants must report any change of address or Host Business to their CHI coordinator within 10 days of
change.
All exchange program participants must inform program sponsors about their arrival to the US and provide required
information. If the participant does not provide this information to CHI in the required timeframes, his/her record
will automatically become invalid in SEVIS. When the participant's record become invalid, CHI and the participant's
home agency will attempt to notify the participant of their status, based on the amount of contact information
available. Any participant whose record becomes invalid must return to their home country immediately.
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