U.S. Scholar Application Instructions

These application instructions are abridged and formatted for your convenience. A more comprehensive PDF version is also available to download.

General Information About the Application

We recommend using the Google Chrome web browser to complete your application.

Before starting an application, please review Eligibility, the Award description of your interest, and the Application guidelines.

The application does not need to be completed in one sitting, and you can return to your saved work to edit it at any point prior to the submission of your application.

We recommend preparing your short essays in a separate document so you can edit them and make sure character limits are followed before copying them into the application. Character limits include punctuation, spaces, and paragraph breaks. For the documents you will upload to your application (such as your CV/resume), we recommend preparing them as PDF files.

Take care not to open the application in more than one tab on your browser, as this will produce conflicting edits.

Before submitting your application, verify that all responses are correct and you have registered your recommenders and language evaluators. Once you submit your application, you cannot make any changes.

Please note these instructions supplement those in the actual application and address frequently asked questions. For any specific situations not covered, please contact scholars@iie.org.

Accessing the Application

The application is located at https://apply.iie.org/fusc2025. Please note this is the application for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. The Fulbright U.S Student and Visiting Scholar Programs have different links and have different applications.

If you have applied in the past, please do not start a new application but see our guidance below for “Returning Users.” Please do not make a new account if you have applied before, as each account is associated with your email address (and also your government name and date of birth).

New users should click “Create an Account” on the application link. Consider using a permanent email address that is not subject to change. Your full name must appear as it does on your government-issued document. Once you enter this information, you will receive an email from apply@iie.org that will give you a temporary PIN to verify the account. Once you enter this PIN on the application link, you will be asked to set a password.

If you have applied at any point since 2020, you are a Returning User: click “Log In” (If you applied for the 2019-20 competition (in 2018) or earlier, you need to create a new application account using the New User instructions above.) If you have forgotten your password, follow the “Forgot Password” link and its prompts. If your password expired, you will be prompted to enter your email and birthdate. Then you will be sent a password reset email with a PIN. If your email address has changed, please email scholars@iie.org, and we can change the email for you. Some information from your previous application will repopulate.

Creating, Completing, and Managing Your Application

Next, create your new application. Click “Start New Application” at the bottom after logging in. The “Application Type” should show “Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program” and the competition year; it should show the current cycle year.

Once you click “Open Application,” you can start working on your new application. You will also receive an email confirmation that you have started. Please save this email confirmation, as it provides you with essential links to deadlines and resources.

Be sure to work on your application in one, single web browser tab (preferably Google Chrome) to avoid making conflicting edits.

To return to your application after closing the tab, remember that you are now a “Returning user” and you must log in to continue your application. Do not create a new application. When you log in, you will see your application for the current year. This is where you should click to continue your application.

To edit your application prior to submission: You may edit any component of your application prior to submission. Please be sure to click “Save and Continue” each time you edit to save your work. The application will log you out after 60 minutes of inactivity; please save your work frequently.

To view your application after submission: You can view and save a PDF of your application after submission by clicking “Preview Application PDF.” Please note that you cannot change any part of your application after submission, but you can check to see if your recommenders and language evaluators have uploaded their documents.

Letters of Recommendation and Language Evaluations: These components are uploaded directly by your recommenders and language evaluator(s). Once you register them in your application, you can monitor their progress. This means you can submit your portion prior to their uploads. If a recommender is no longer available, you can exclude them and register a new recommender, so please register recommenders earlier than needed!

Navigating the Application and Eligibility

When you start your application, you will only see three pages: Home, Welcome, and Program Eligibility.

The rest of your application depends on your eligibility, so you will not see pages like Program Type, Country and Award Selection, and any application components available in your application until you complete the Program Eligibility page (Eligibility Criteria). When it is time to select your country (or countries) and award, begin by selecting the country to which you will apply, which in turn populates that country’s available award(s). You may see red text before you select the country, but afterwards this should disappear.

Changing Awards

Because you can only apply to one award per cycle/year, you may find you change strategies for your application this year and would like to apply to another award. This is possible until you submit your application.

Depending on how much of your application was completed before changing awards, you may need to update some responses and materials to match the new award. Application pages that may be impacted are Award Details, Language Skills, Essays & Uploads.

These are the procedures for changing the award to which you are applying:

Same country, different award

Different country

Single-country award to a multi-country award (or the reverse)

Now that you have confirmed your eligibility and specified your country and award to which you are applying, you can now start telling us about your project.

You must first specify an Award Activity, even if there is only one option for that award. If your activity is “Teaching/Research,” you will be asked to specify a ratio of teaching to research. Make sure this is consistent with what you describe in your Project Statement, and please check the award to which you are applying for any additional guidance or requirements.

Then you will be asked to select the award duration, proposed host institution (Enter this even if an award already has a designated host), and, where applicable, proposed award calendar (for Flex awards or multi-country awards).

Next, select the discipline and specialization in which your proposed project most closely falls. If your discipline or specialization does not appear, check this indexed, searchable list containing all the disciplines and specializations available in the application. All complete and eligible applications will undergo discipline peer review; the discipline and specialization you select will be used in part to inform the committee assignment. The Other Specializations text box is where you can enter additional details about the discipline(s) and specialization(s) of your project. This is especially recommended if your project is interdisciplinary. Please note if you choose “Medical Sciences” (or related disciplines) as your discipline, no clinical work can be conducted on a Fulbright as noted in our FAQs. Similarly, religious workers, lay or ordained, are not eligible for consideration if their projects involve engaging in pastoral, missionary, or other professional religious activities.

Here also you will be expected to enter your Project Title and Abstract. The Title has a 100-character limit and the Abstract has a 700-character limit, including spaces and punctuation. Please note the Abstract is a summary of your project and its impact, to be used by reviewers for quick reference as they discuss your application during review meetings.

If you are an artist, architect, journalist or select a discipline outlined in the Portfolio section, you will be prompted to upload a Portfolio. Only these applicants will be asked to upload the portfolio. Please note that files must be uploaded to your application; links to websites will not be accepted. Content to be considered in the application review must be contained within the application itself. More guidance for portfolios can be found in the Essays and Uploads section below.

Recommendations and Language Evaluators

Two Letters of Recommendation, and a Language Evaluation (where applicable) are the only third-party components of your application. We recommend registering the people who will be submitting for you as soon as possible.

Once you input a name and information for either the Letters or the Evaluation, the person will receive an automated email with upload instructions. You are responsible for managing their awareness of the deadline. Your recommendations and foreign language evaluation(s) are due by September 16, 2024 (5:00 p.m. EST). You may send them reminder(s) from the application interface. Only two recommendations will be accepted; and up to two language evaluations. Please note our guidance on who may serve as either of these parties.

You may submit your application prior to these external uploads from letter writers and evaluator(s). If needed, you can also put in a new name for a recommender up until the deadline, but you may only have two recommenders. If you add a new recommender, you must delete a recommender/evaluator who was unable to submit their letter/evaluation.

Language Skills

If your chosen award requires foreign language proficiency, you will be prompted to provide information about these skills. This is for languages other than English.

For any language self-evaluations, you will rate your reading, writing, and speaking proficiency, and describe your previous experience with the language(s), and if language proficiency is necessary for your project to be feasible.

For Language Evaluations, please see the subhead above on “Language Evaluators.”

The table below explains what will be required of you depending on language in your award:

Self-Evaluation: Optional: You may complete the self-evaluation for language(s) relevant to your proposed project

Foreign Language Evaluation: Do not register a Foreign Language evaluator on the Recommendations & Language Evaluators page

Self-Evaluation: Required: You are required to complete the self-evaluation for language(s) relevant to your proposed project

Foreign Language Evaluation: Optional: You may register a Foreign Language evaluator(s)on the Recommendations & Language Evaluators page

Self-Evaluation: Required: You are required to complete the self-evaluation for language(s) relevant to your proposed project

Foreign Language Evaluation: Recommended: You are encouraged to register a Foreign Language evaluator(s) on the Recommendations & Language Evaluators page (waived if native in all three skill areas)

Self-Evaluation: Required: You are required to complete self-evaluation for language(s) relevant to your proposed project

Foreign Language Evaluation: Required: You are required to register Foreign Language evaluator(s) on the Recommendations & Language Evaluators page (waived if native in all three skill areas)

Essays and Uploads

Now you will upload components of your application and enter your essay responses.

Requirements for the format of all uploads can be found on our Application Steps page, along with guidance for the content of these materials.

Please see which uploads you will need, depending on your award activity, below: