You can participate in Gateway’s online training program without pursuing the second segment, the Professional Experience (internship) program in Washington, DC.
While Gateway cannot 100% guarantee you will gain a good internship offer (‘good’ is defined here as an internship that aligns with your professional interests and that meets the workplace stipulations of the US State Department), we are confident that you will receive at least one suitable internship offer to consider.
No, but we do have a list of several excellent short-term housing providers in the area that we can refer you to.
No, but we can provide you a certificate verifying that you have successfully completed Gateway’s Professional Experience Course, which entails a hybrid mix of class work, activities, and instructional contact hours equivalent to a 3 (academic) credit, US upper-level undergraduate or basic graduate-level class or seminar.
No, but Gateway can work with your home academic institution to determine the optimal arrangement for any of your academic credit needs.
Regardless of if you need academic credit from your home school or not, you still qualify for participation in our Gateway Global DC programs.
In most cases, international students who qualify to work in the US can earn pay or similar compensation for their work in a DC area internship. Ultimately, it’s up to each Global DC program participant (with guidance from Gateway as needed) to arrange with the internship or practicum host employer the specifics of any pay or other compensation offered.
Gateway partners with Cultural Vistas to process and sponsor international students or recent graduates, or professionals with over 5 years’ work experience, for issuance of the requisite J-1 visa. To be eligible, you must:
- Be currently enrolled in and pursuing studies at a foreign degree or certificate-granting post-secondary academic institution outside the United States; or have graduated from such an institution no more than 12 months prior to the program start date.
- If having already graduated from a foreign degree or certificate granting post-secondary academic institution outside the United States for over one year, have completed at least 5 years of professional work experience since graduation.
- If still enrolled in an academic program outside the U.S., be prepared to return to your home institutions to fulfill and obtain a degree after completion of the program.
- Have sufficient finances for you/yourself and any dependents for the entire stay in the U.S., including housing and living expenses.
- Have sufficient English language skills to function on a day‐to‐day basis in the internship/practicum.
- Be primarily in the U.S. for the internship program rather than to engage in employment or provide services to an employer.
Cultural Vistas, Gateway’s partner institution, is designated by the U.S. Department of State as a J-1 Visa sponsor that enables qualified students and professionals to apply for and attain the J-1 visa for participation in Gateway’s Global DC Programs, and to work in a DC-area internship for up to 6 months.
While Gateway does not provide scholarship support, we do offer program fee credits for individuals or groups that recruit other participants who ultimately complete one of our Gateway programs. (Ask us about fee reduction options available to you if you recruit other participants for Gateway Global DC programs.
Yes. Participants in Gateway programs can pursue on their own course options offered by other DC-area schools, as non-degree seeking students or students who are planning to apply to a full DC-area school in the future.
No. International participants in a DC-area Gateway program, who gain J-1 or related visa status to study and possibly work in the US in an educational affiliated program, must abide by the stipulations of the visa granted in collaboration with our program partner/sponsor, Cultural Vistas.