Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is pleased to announce the opening of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program competition for 2023. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, this program is a ten-week non-degree professional and faculty development program to send to the U.S. 15 junior Iraqi scholars. Grantees will be selected from the following discipline only: Engineering [Mechanical, Computer, Civil, Chemical, Electrical, Industrial, Materials, and Systems Engineering]; Science & Technology [Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Sciences, Information Science, and Geographic Information Systems]; TEFL/Linguistics [Applied Linguistics and Teaching of English as a Foreign or Second Language]. While introduction to new research methods and doing collaborative research with American scholars in the scholars’ disciplines are components of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program for Iraq, the program is not intended to provide a venue for individual research projects.
Eligible Applicants must be:
- Iraqi citizens, residents of Iraq now and throughout the application process.
- Full-time Iraqi university faculty member who possess, at a minimum, a master’s degree and at least three years of university-level teaching experience or a Ph.D. and no more than eight years of teaching experience.
- Committed to classroom teaching and a desire to strengthen teaching and leadership skills.
- Eligible candidates should possess a high level of proficiency in written and oral English (minimum iBT TOEFL score of 61, ITP TOEFL score of 500, or IELTS score of 6).
- Must not have applied or be planning to apply for a U.S. green card or asylum status.
- Applicants cannot be dual citizens of the U.S. and Iraq.
- Able to travel to and remain in the U.S. during the dedicated grant period of June through September 2023.
Fulbright Visiting Scholar Grants Provide Funding for:
- A stipend that will be distributed upon arrival to the United States,
- Travel allowance,
- Professional development funds,
- Round-trip airfare from Iraq to the United States,
- Accident and sickness medical coverage,
- Furnished, apartment-style accommodations.
Policies of the Iraq Fulbright Program:
While there are overarching policies to which all Fulbright scholarship recipients from around the world must adhere to, there are also policies which are country-specific:
- Two-year home residency requirement: The J-1 visa is an exchange visa which requires all Fulbright scholarship recipients to return to their home country for at least two years upon successful completion of the program.
- Intention to return to Iraq: Your eligibility for a Fulbright scholarship is based, in part, on your intention to return to Iraq immediately following your program. If you show intent other than to remain in the United States for a temporary, specific, limited period (such as applying for an immigrant visa to the U.S., asylum in the U.S., or residency in a country other than Iraq) you will be ineligible to receive the Fulbright scholarship. Please carefully review the J visa policies
- No-dependents: J visa sponsorship is offered only to the Iraq Fulbright scholarship award recipient. J-2 visa dependents (spouses and children under the age of 21) cannot accompany the Iraqi scholarship recipient on his/her study program.
For more information about the program and the application process visit:
https://iq.usembassy.gov/education-culture/exchange-programs/
To apply directly, visit:
https://apply.iie.org/jfdp
Have questions? Please send any inquiries you have during the application process to IraqVSP@amideast.org
Application deadline: Thursday December 1, 2022!
