Payments to International Visitors

Honoraria Payments
Honoraria Payments are only permitted to B1, B2, WB, WT and J1 visaholders. Visitors entering the United States in B status are authorized to accept an honorarium payment for “usual academic activity” provided that the following conditions are met (the 9-5-6 rule):

The services are conducted for the benefit of the university.
The academic activities last no longer than 9 days at UGA.
The visitor has not accepted an honorarium payment from more than 5 institutions within the previous 6 months.

If your visitor will exceed the 9-5-6 rule, you will need to contact OIE (http://www.uga.edu/oie/) regarding obtaining a J1 visa. Please note that a J1 visa requires 6-8 weeks of advance planning and may require an employment relationship with the University.

A J1 visaholder that is NOT sponsored by the University of Georgia must have written authorization from their sponsoring university allowing the J1 visitor to receive payment for services or expenses. The authorization must be from a Responsible Officer (generally in the Office of International Education). Permission letters from academic departments are not acceptable for this purpose. In general, J1 visaholders sponsored by other Universities are not eligible for tax treaty benefits under the self-employment article of the treaty due to time limit or “fixed base” in the US.