Citizenship and Residency

• Applicants must be citizens of the United States to be eligible. Permanent residents of the U.S. are not eligible to receive Fulbright Scholarships. In addition, any applicant who has resided abroad for five or more consecutive years in the six-year period preceding the date of application will be ineligible to receive a scholarship. Applicants already living, working and studying in a foreign country are often ineligible to receive a grant to study in that country. Preference is given to applicants who have not resided or studied in the country to which they are applying for more than six months.
  
  

Academic and Professional Criteria

• To be eligible, an applicant must hold at least a bachelor's degree; Fulbright Scholarships are not awarded to current undergraduates. However, applicants who already hold a Ph.D. are ineligible. Artists and musicians who do not have a bachelor's degree may still apply as long as they have at least four years of professional training or experience. Applicants operating in professional fields such as journalism, law or business may have no more than five years of experience in the field.
  
  

Other Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must meet two other criteria in order to qualify. Firstly, an applicant must be in good health, and must submit a satisfactory Medical Certificate of Health from a doctor before a scholarship will be awarded. In addition, an applicant must have sufficient proficiency in the written and spoken language of the country to which they plan to travel. Candidates with very limited experience in the language of the host country will probably be deemed ineligible.
  
  

Criteria for Disqualification

• Several situations may disqualify a candidate from receiving a Fulbright Scholarship. Applicants seeking enrollment in a medical degree program abroad are not eligible for funding under the Fulbright Program. Previous recipients of a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant may not receive a Fulbright scholarship. In addition, employees of the State Department, their families and employees of any public or private agencies that perform administrative or screening services on behalf of the U.S. Department of State's exchange program are ineligible to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship until such employment has ceased for at least one full year.