Working in the USA/J1 visa

I am about to start 4th year in college, and have already started thinking about what to do the summer after I graduate. I would love to travel, love to go interrailing but I'm going to be flat broke. I will at least have to make enough money to support myself during the summer. I've always loved the U.S and dreamed of living there for at least a few months and now I'm starting to think, why not go?

Has anyone done this who could give me some advice? Am I eligible for a J1 visa? How long does that take to process, and how much would it be? Do you get much hassle from immigration on entering the country? How do you find a job there? Did you arrange it beforehand or after arriving?

The only thing I've really heard of so far is Camp America, it seems appealing because you get your accommodation and food and everything visa wise is sorted for you, but I'm not sure I could hack 2 months of moody American teens. Has anyone does this? Hope someone can help.

dermot_sheehan

You'll be eligible provided you have applied for a postgraduate course and can produce evidence of this to the embassy.

SoupyNorman

Yes you can get the J1, just apply for any masters or add on course in your college and get a letter from admissions that states "joe soap has applied to return to do such a course"...yadda yadda.

You can apply for the J1 from as early as october I believe, which is good because it gives you plenty of time to get the money together.

It costs 1000-1500 euro, depending on who you book with and where you want to go in the states. This fee includes flights.

Immigration is a breeze, the interviews in the American embassy are a breeze so no need to worry there.

As regards jobs and accom, this is where they cut the apron strings and you must take charge of your destiny. Impossible to give advide on accom and jobs when you dont know where in the US you want to go.

Im in San Diego working at the san diego zoo, its one of the best jobs ive ever had. we (me and my g/f) were really lucky to land the jobs. we are the only two irish working in the whole zoo! most of the irish that came to SD work at seaworld.

Thanks for the help. So you actually need to be a student? Sorry if it's a stupid question but the website wasn't very clear, it said you have to be 18-30 (I'm 21). I'm actually not sure if I will be applying for a postgrad course - if not is it alright to apply to any old course and then drop out once I have the J1? I also don't have an Irish passport, I'm a British citizen so that might be a problem for doing the interview in Dublin. I guess I'll have to ring them if I can find a number and find out. Do the Embassy deal with enquiries like that or is there a specific office or something?

I would like to work in NYC but am aware it will be very expensive and there probably won't be many jobs. I found a website with jobs listed but they're all waitress or coffee server and pay very low wages. Do you get paid much, and do you get accommodation and food included? If not how do you manage to live there? Are they selective about giving out the J1 or do they give it to everyone who applies?

p.pete

Which website are you refering to? I'm not sure that there is an upper age-limit of 30...
You should hopefully be fine applying as brittish in Ireland - I hope to apply as Irish in the UK for next Summer.
Main thing is you can confirm that you'll be coming back, usually that you're on a course of 2 or more years in duration - so apply for some sort of follow on course as said above. You don't need to do the course

Noelie

I was always under the impression you could also get a J1 in your final year if you have a Job to come home to. So if you have a job lined up for september you get a letter from them saying such and you'll be given a J1.

murfie

If it was an extended period that you wanted to stay in the US, you could go for a J1 internship.

I am currently working for a company in Houston, I got the job through a internship company based in San Diego, http://www.usainternship.com/ , but there a plenty others out there as well.

They found me the position and arranged the interview, I was offered a position within 2 months of signing up but then it took another 3 months to get all the visa info sorted. It may not take this long for you, but be patient when applying for the visa. You can get a 18 month J1 visa and work in the field you graduated in, obtain experience and also doing it in a different country! But ya you will need to have the job lined up before you apply for your visa. So its just another option for you, its working out well for me right now and I hope it does for you to.

Derek B

Nash Swift Eggshell wrote:

I'm actually not sure if I will be applying for a postgrad course - if not is it alright to apply to any old course and then drop out once I have the J1?

They're very lax on this. Just go to your admissions office and say you are interested in doing XYZ next year. They'll print off a basic letter for you, and you give this to the travel agent (who don't particularly care BTW). I did this, but had zero intentions of actually doing the postgrad. The whole thing was much easier than i thought

breadmonkey

If you are considering an extended stay, I would strongly recommend you sort out employment beforehand.

BossArky

Nash Swift Eggshell wrote:

I would like to work in NYC but am aware it will be very expensive and there probably won't be many jobs. I found a website with jobs listed but they're all waitress or coffee server and pay very low wages. Do you get paid much, and do you get accommodation and food included? If not how do you manage to live there? Are they selective about giving out the J1 or do they give it to everyone who applies?

I worked in upstate New York, a place called Pearl River, for a dodgy construction company in the summer of 2001 on a J1.

Tough work it was, but a great experience. Every now and again we would have a job in the city, i.e. knocking walls down or the likes. One job involved working on a roof in the Bronx... the kind of rooftops you see when footage of sept 11th is shown as the plane flys into the twin towers. Deadly view, etc.

I was getting $12 per hour which was alright. THere was an El Salvadorian my own age working with the company too, they only paid him $5 which was a bit mean... but he was illegal.

Wow, 5 years ago :eek:

I remember I just smashed my Piggy Bank and went to USIT to book the flight. It can be daunting not having a job lined up etc, but just take the plunge... it will be worth it.