在国内申请J1要美国这边的sponsorship吗？

我一个哥们在国内，美国一很好大学邀请他过来做visiting scholar, 人家问他要不要visa sponsorship, 是不是应该要啊？

这是原话：

I will be your contact person assisting you with all the paperwork for the visiting scholar application.
The first question I have is do you need visa sponsorship? The answer would determine
how we proceed. If you do need visa sponsorship I and the university would assist you.