J1 Grad Visa advice needed urgently

swatki

Can someone please please give me advice on the IIIC- i have paid my deposit with them but now i am having second thoughts and im thinking of opting for the dreaded but familiar USIT instead as i have heard they are less strict with your job that you find - My worrys stem from the fact that realistically it will be hard to find a full time paid job in my field "art" it doesnt put me off going entirely, can anybody tell me how strict they are with the mininum 32 hours etc and if it is a safer option to go with usit becuase they give less hassle when you are actually over there although the cost about 600 euro more

jaymcg91

USIT are definitely more flexible and less hands on compared to IIIC. IIIC are notorious for being sticklers for rules - even reporting you to immigration if you break them.

swatki

Thank you so much for reply this was my thinking also

swatki

i know about their story with the irish echo girl and found it appalling , only reason why i went for them initially was because of the price - but someone also suggest i press usit to get a cheaper flight price - i went into their office yesterday and got quoted a 673 one way to jfk - im good at hunting down flights with my usual price of 400 return to jfk

Duff

swatki wrote: »

i know about their story with the irish echo girl and found it appalling , only reason why i went for them initially was because of the price - but someone also suggest i press usit to get a cheaper flight price - i went into their office yesterday and got quoted a 673 one way to jfk - im good at hunting down flights with my usual price of 400 return to jfk

673 one way is insane money! I got mine for 617 return flying to San Francisco in May and out of JFK in September with SayIt!

swatki

yeah for some reason when you book the 12 month j1 with usit , idk the normal j1 is prob the same with them the flight prices they quote must have a hefty usti tax added

culx

Hey I've been looking into the graduate visa recently too and was thinking about going with the IIIC I'm just terrified of getting a low paying job or worse an unpaid position so would like the option of an under the counter type job but just for peace of mind more so than anything. USIT are far too expensive quoting about €2500 for everything, where as the IIIC works out at approx $1530 excl flights. I got a phonecall from travelbug the other day and they said that they are going to be offering the graduate visa for €1700 and then you book your own flights - still a big chunk of change in comparison to the IIIC but it could be an option?

swatki

never heard of travelbug but will check them out now

jaymcg91

Travelbug are legit BTW.

swatki

thanks have you had much experience with them - they told me to email my cv today thanks and that they have a limited no. of visas