The Department of State requires site visits for certain organizations in order to ensure that they are suitable hosts. The Sponsor is required to conduct site visits of hosting organizations that do not meet one of the criteria below.
If you can answer yes to any one of the following, you will not be subject to the site visit requirement.

•     Has your organization hosted an intern with a Sponsor within the past three years?
•     Does your organization have more than 25 full-time employees?
•     Does your organization generate more than three million dollars in annual revenue?
•     Is your organization an academic institution?
•     Is your organization a federal, state, or local government office?

A site visit will usually add 7-10 days to the application processing time.

A third-party provider carries out the site visit on behalf of the Sponsor. A representative from the provider will contact the company to schedule a day and time for the visit. Please note that the Sponsor is not able to assist hosting companies with the site visit arrangements.

The visit will last approximately 5-15 minutes. During the visit, the representative will view and take photographs of the company environment, including the prospective intern’s workspace.

(based on the description of binding procedures of a Sponsor, i.e. CIEE)