Visa for USA

PluckedTurkey

Hi all, I have recently decided that I'm going to go abroad next year for 12 months. Most of my friends are in Australia or New Zealand but to be honest they're too far away for me. I have always loved visiting the States and I am not long home from a 3 week holiday in it so ideally I would love to spend the 12 month over there. I know visas are a bit of a nightmare and I have been researching how I could go about working legally over there. Has anyone done the J 1 Trainee program? This seems like my best option at the minute. I don't have a degree but I have 6 years experience in the finance industry (I worked for a life assurance company) and by this December I will have 5 years experience working in the media. I see a lot of people on these boards talk about moving to America and asking how they would go about it and very few people mention this option. Is that because this visa is a short term one (12-18 months) whereas they're looking to move over there long term? I don't mind what job I do when I'm over there, I'm going for the year's experience before I'm old and settled and have no travel stories to talk to my friends about!!! My workplace does career breaks so I will hopefully get one but if I don't I'm not that bothered about having to quit. So, has any done the program, did they find it difficult to get a traineeship with an American company and did they actually pay you?

Thanks in advance

Batgurl

No 3rd level qualification = no J1 visa AFAIK

athtrasna

Have you considered Canada? Without a degree you're not eligible for the J1 and other working visas are beyond difficult to get unless you have very specialist skills in a sought after field.

Much easier to get a working visa for Canada.

PluckedTurkey

It's not the Summer J1 or the Graduate J1 though, it's Professional Career Training under the J1 umbrella. This seems to be the eligibility according to the FAQ on usavisa.ie:

Is the Professional Career Training Programme open to all Irish Nationals?
No. You must either have a qualification of at least a degree and at least 12 months of full time work experience in your qualified field. If you do not have a third level qualification you need to have at least 5 years of full time work experience in your career field.

So according to that if you have 5 years work experience you can go for 18 months on a traineeship. I might email USA Visa and get more details on it.

PluckedTurkey

Yes Athtrasna, if America doesn't work out then Canada will be my next choice, probably Toronto. Have you been?

endofrainbow

Does your company have offices in the US? It might be possible to get a short term transfer. This was very popular about 15 years ago but lots of places clamped down as the employees were getting one foot in the door then moving to other FS companies.

PluckedTurkey

Endofrainbow, the company I work for now in media don't have any offices in the US but the previous company I worked for in Insurance do. I have emailed the HR department to see if it's possible I could work for them in one of their offices so I'm waiting on a reply (I haven't worked there in 2 years but as far as I know from reading online it's ok as long as I worked with them within the last 3 years). From reading up on that intra company transfer visa though am I right in saying only managers can transfer? And have to be able to prove that no American would be able to do the job?

endofrainbow

not necessarily - I think each case is looked at on an individual basis. No harm in asking.

DM addict

PluckedTurkey wrote: »

Endofrainbow, the company I work for now in media don't have any offices in the US but the previous company I worked for in Insurance do. I have emailed the HR department to see if it's possible I could work for them in one of their offices so I'm waiting on a reply (I haven't worked there in 2 years but as far as I know from reading online it's ok as long as I worked with them within the last 3 years). From reading up on that intra company transfer visa though am I right in saying only managers can transfer? And have to be able to prove that no American would be able to do the job?

If you're a manager, it's a little easier - your management experience can be taken as a reason they can't get an American to do the job. Otherwise, they tend to have to demonstrate that your experience/qualifications/skills are such that you're a significant asset to them in the US.

PluckedTurkey

Thanks for that DMAddict

DM addict

PluckedTurkey wrote: »

Thanks for that DMAddict

No problem. I'm not an immigration specialist, but I am over here on an L visa and know a fair few people who are as managers/specialists.