J1 Visa Companies

Bah

Hey,
After deciding that Canada is out for this year (Prohibitive costs and lack of easily available jobs being the main reasons, although only having to be 19 to drink would have been handy...) and now I'm considering a J1 to the US. Just a few questions for anybody who's been on one recently (since USIT staff tend not to have a clue...):

• J1 Visa Companies:
  Is there any one company that's better than the other? The ones I've found so far are: USIT, SAYIT, Go4Less and Bunac.
  USIT seems to be the most popular, but judging from their website, they seem to be the least flexible with regard to flights - very limited destinations. I'd assume that their employer database would probably be the biggest (can anybody who's already applied let me know what it's actually like?) and they seem to be slightly better organised than the others, except maybe Bunac.
  SAYIT's site seems similar to Go4Less - they look like they offer more flexibility with their flights - although some are a bit dearer than the rest. The only thing I'm weary of is that I've never really heard of them before...
  Go4Less seem to offer less information than either SAYIT or USIT, and it doesn't look like their package is in any way better than any of the others. Prices are average.
  Bunac seems like a great site, but since they're in the UK, I'd imagine it's a lot more hassle to deal with them, and with the sterling-euro rates, I think it'd be a lot more expensive too.

So which one would you recommend? All their prices are (roughly) the same, give or take €100. But which offers the best service/reliability?

Bah

*Bump*

Third_Echelon

I went with SAYIT in 2001 and I have to say they were very good to deal with. I would have no problem recommending them at all.

Even if you have some problems in the states with getting social security number etc, you can give them a call or email and they can help you and advise you etc.

The staff were very friendly and they were pretty flexible with date changes etc.

My flight home was scheduled for 11th September 2001 from New York, so you can guess that I didn't get to fly home that day. I got a call from my parents later that day telling me that SAYIT rang them to ask if I was ok and that 'I was accounted for'. Luckily we had paid our rent up until the 17th, but the offered vouchers etc for hostels if you were stuck for accomadation etc...

The personal touch of such companies matter to me anyway

wheres me jumpa

sayit and usit are much the same rice wise and they offer identical services. i went with sayit and had no trouble. guys i was staying with went with usit and had no trouble

isolde

what's the deal if you're a final year student? it says something about having to prove that you'll be returning to full-time education. what if you're planning on returning to work, and you have a job lined up (in sept/oct, i mean)? anyone any experience of this, or any idea if there's any way around it?

thanks!

~ isolde.

Bah

isolde wrote:

what's the deal if you're a final year student? it says something about having to prove that you'll be returning to full-time education. what if you're planning on returning to work, and you have a job lined up (in sept/oct, i mean)? anyone any experience of this, or any idea if there's any way around it?

thanks!

~ isolde.

Seems like you need to have proof of an offer from a Uni/College of a postgrad course - that's what I understood from the USIT website anyway...

Terrier

isolde wrote:

what's the deal if you're a final year student? it says something about having to prove that you'll be returning to full-time education. what if you're planning on returning to work, and you have a job lined up (in sept/oct, i mean)? anyone any experience of this, or any idea if there's any way around it?

thanks!

~ isolde.

You have to have an offer of a place in college.. post grad or something like that OR a letter saying you have a full time job waiting on your return.. this option worked for me...

isolde

Bah: Yea that's the way I understood it too..

Terrier: Was that this year? (the letter about the job)

penexpers

As far as I'm aware they don't give J1's to final year students at all anymore.

chump

They do they do....
The clarified this on the websites, it seems different and much more flexible then last year (I read up on it a few months back out of interest and it wasn't nearly this clear), just read the following...

Final Year Students:
Returning to full-time education in autumn 2005 to continue at least one more year of full-time study on your current course or programme of study, ultimately leading to a degree or higher qualification.
-Strong evidence should take the form of one of the following:

* College stamping and signing the return statement on the J1 application form
OR
* Official letter of acceptance or conditional offer from a recognised post-secondary institution here or in the UK to continue programme of study toward a degree or higher qualification in similar or closely related discipline
USIT

If you are in a final year course you must be able to provide written proof to convince the US Embassy that you will resume full-time study for the 2005/2006 academic year.
Go4Less

So it seems it'll be a fairly easy job to get round!
Now I'm 4sure gona go... just need to recruit a few amigos and bluff my way into a masters (or interest in...)

As an aside tis a pity the Go4Less website doesn't give you a package price instead of all the bits individually...