J1 Research to J1 Clinical via India my experience

Step 1- Contract -Sign and send the contract asap to get it completely signed by the program director. They will send you back an original copy.

I got the original copy of my contract by around April 4th week. Usually everyone gets it sooner.

Step 2- SON (statement of need) from Indian mohfw (Ministry of health and family welfare)

Step 3- Email from TPL- By this time your training program liaison (TPL) would have uploaded your J1 request to ecfmg and you will receive an email from ECFMG stating that an account has been opened for you.

you will also start seeing a 'J1 visa sponsership' tab on ecfmg oasis'

See the J1 visa sponsorship tab on the lower left corner.

Step 4-J1 visa sponsorship fee- Pay the J1 visa sponsorship fee of 285 dollars and enter your details.
following which you will be taken to a submissions tab where you can view the checklist for the necessary documents to be uploaded

See the submissions tab and view checklist tab

Step 5 - Documents Upload- The documents may be uploaded by the candidate or the TPL depending on the program TPL's preference. I had to upload by myself, otherwise you would be asked to scan and sent the documents to TPL and they would upload.

These are the list of documents that i uploaded based on checklist.

This list is same as the documents needed for a person applying for J1 clinical from a B1. The only difference being that we have to upload the documents relevant to our previous J1 research visa.
such as - previous DS 2019 and J1 passport biographic page.

In addition, ,my friend advised me to upload a proof of departure from the US.
I used the travel history that we obtain from the US Customs and Border Protection (the page where we obtain I-94). Assuming you are in India or your home country at the time of application.

Those highlighted (blacked out) were uploaded by TPL.

The documents that you upload are checked by TPL and they will let you know if further documentation is needed. if still not complete ECFMG will let you and TPL know via email.

Two other points.

1) I had not uploaded an airmail as my program was in Pennsylvania, But i strongly advise to do it even if your program is in Pennsylvania as you can have an overnight delivery.

I had my DS-2019 released by ECFMG on Wednesday and it reached my TPL next Monday.

Getting  prepaid FedEx envelope  for a domestic address in the US, is tough from India. I tried and it was not possible, you may try again. Some TPLs would do it for the candidate, or maybe try asking someone in the US to do it for you.
 
2) I have a page titled general correspondence uploaded by TPL.

 I am applying for a J1 clinical for my preliminary surgery program.

My initial upload was deemed incomplete by ecfmg because i had to provide a signed statement stating  my understanding of the following:
         (1) any future ECFMG J1 sponsorship will require successful progression in training.
         (2) the applicant will not be eligible for sponsorship to engage in a repeat of the preliminary PGY1 in general surgery.

Step 6- After upload of all the documents. i received the Welcome letter from ECFMG in 5 days.

Step 7-  SEVIS fee- $180

The welcome letter has the sevis id and exchange visitor program number which can used for paying sevis fees and booking appointment while you wait for your original ds 2019 to arrive from the US

Step 8- Book appointment and go for visa interview    - appointment fee $160 dollars . I paid in Indian rupees to axis bank