J1 visa renewal
I’m looking into extending with my current family, as I’ve done my education and my visa expires this August, and I’ve been told by my agency I only need a new DS-2019 for my stay to be extended. But if I want to travel outside the USA I will need to extend my visa and fund all the flights and use my holiday time to sort this myself.
My host family does not leave the states apart from a cruise they do in the summer. They’ve done this cruise with all their other au pairs so I’m assuming they’ll do it again next year.
My questions is will I need to renew my visa for this?
- The cruise is a closed-loop cruise from the USA
- The countries I visit are Mexico and Bahamas
- Google says I only need a valid DS-2019 for re entry as I’m not flying but my host family and I are not too sure whether to trust this.
Also what would other people advise:
- Lose some of my holiday time and pay for a new visa and flights for the cruise?
- Or do I sit out for the cruise in 2027, or potentially have the family change what they do?
I will do the cruise this 2026 summer so if they do it again next summer I won’t completely be missing out on the experience.