Volunteers, Visitors, & Visas

The Cognitive Science department hosts visitors for the purpose of participating in collaborative research, under faculty supervision, for up to one year. It is important that visitors register with Human Resources in advance of traveling.

Once a visitor has planned their travel dates, they should schedule a meeting with Human Resources for the week of their arrival. At this meeting, they will obtain more information on parking permits, bus transportation, library privileges, and campus ID cards. In order to obtain these resources, you must have an approved appointment.

Visiting Scholar Student Interns

Visiting Scholar Student Interns are students who have not completed a bachelor's level degree program and are currently enrolled in one in their home country. These students are typically on leave from their home university while visiting UCSD. If you are interested in a Visiting Scholar Student Intern appointment, please email the faculty member you are interested in collaborating with. Once you have received their endorsement email CogSci Student Services Office to begin the appointment process. Visiting Scholar Student Intern appointments should be processed minimally 4 months in advance of arrival.

Visiting Scholars

Visiting Scholars are required to have a doctoral degree, and are typically on leave from their home university while visiting UCSD. If you are interested in a Visiting Scholar appointment, please email the faculty member you are interested in collaborating with. Once you have received their endorsement email Human Resources to begin the appointment process. Visiting Scholar appointments should be processed minimally 4 months in advance of arrival.

Visiting Graduate Students

Visiting Graduate Students must be enrolled as a pre-doctoral graduate student at a university outside of the University of California system. If you are interested in a Visiting Graduate Student appointment, please email the faculty member you are interested in collaborating with. Once you have received their endorsement email CogSci Graduate Office to begin the appointment process. Visiting Graduate appointments should be processed minimally 4 months in advance of arrival. Please note there is $100 Visiting Graduate Student processing fee.

Volunteers

Volunteer appointments can be processed for visitors who do not meet the above qualifications for Visiting Scholar or Visiting Graduate Student titles. Registering as a volunteer permits them to get a temporary UCSD ID card, parking permit, on-campus protected internet access, and library resources. It also gives them an official record of having worked in the lab, which may be useful to those building their resumes or applying for future lab positions or graduate school. Please contact CogSci Student Services Office, minimally three weeks in advance of beginning your Volunteer appointment to complete a Volunteer application.

VISA Information

Human Resources can help you process the correct visa application after you have an approved appointment. If you are traveling to collaborate with a UCSD faculty member, you should travel under the J-1 classification. Visit this link for a summary of the costs involved.

If you plan to travel for the purpose of consultation, conferences, invited presentation, or independent research, for less than 90 days, you may be eligible to apply for an ESTA visa waiver. If your home country participates in this program, it is important that you obtain a WB (waiver business) stamp at US Immigration. As a reminder, if you will be here in collaboration with a faculty, you should be traveling under J-1 classification.

It is not appropriate to visit the Cognitive Science department with a WT (waiver tourism) designation.

Regardless of visa status, international visitors to UCSD are asked to check in with the International Faculty & Scholars Office on campus. Please review the information on the UCSD International Faculty & Scholars Office (IFSO) website if you are considering traveling to UCSD.