judderman

Hello All,

I've recently been reading a lot about US visas, and my head is a little fried with it all. I am a british citizen and I want to go to the US for 3-4 months during this coming summer to work - what I do I don't really mind, but it seems things aren't quite as simple as that. I can't exactly just land there and start looking. (duh!)

I do have a BA Hons Degree in Design (graphics/interactive/web) so I'm thinking this would allow me to enter into the states with a H1-B visa, working as a web designer or 3D graphic artist (I'm multi-talented ). But to do this, I have to have employment pre-arranged and I will be tied to the one place.

Not that that would be so bad, but ideally, I'd be looking for lots of freedom, and part-time work (in bars or whatever) to keep me by. I'm not graduated that long, and I would like a bit of a rest from the world of design, which is why I'd prefer not to get into something too serious, and besides, the HI-B visa allows me to stay in the US for longer than I actually want to (3-4 months).

Perhaps this all sounds silly, but I want to just visit and work a little, and travel. What type of visa should I apply for? My girlfriend will probably be getting a J1 visa as she's still a student. Does she need to have pre-arranged employment?

Thanks for your help

Ivonne

A J1 sounds rigth for you. I don't know, how things work in UK, but in Germany, you can attend a program called work and Travel by Council on international educational exchange e.V.
www.council.com (I think, thats their page)

The length of the programm is, I think, up to 4 month, but of course, you can leave earlier, if you like. You will get an J1 and this allows you to come to the US and look for whatever job you like within the 4 months. You can travel and change jobs, and if you don't find a job, no problem. Then you just travel. No obligation other then returning upon expiration of your programm end date. You don't need to find an employer beforhand.

Well, thats for Germany, like I said before...

NorthSouth

Your entry to the United States (based on the information your have given) seems limited to sponsorship from a US employer.
This would involve an employer offering you a position and petitioning to the INS to issue you an H-1B visa. The INS will require your employer to prove that you were the most qualified candidate for the position and that no local (citizen or permanent resident of the US) was suitably qualified.
Many employer, in this current ecomomic climate, will not even interview those candidates who are require sponsorship.

Post your resume (cv) on Monster.com and Hotjobs.com and you will see how difficult it can be, though not impossible, highly unlikely.
Unfortunately you cannot enter the United States under the Visa waiver program and look for work since the requirements for the VWP are that you do not have immigrant intent.

Furthermore, the only way you could work casually at bars and so on would be with permanent residency (green card). You are not eligible to apply in your current situation since independent applications are only accepted from those who are very highly skilled in areas such as medicine/law/business etc. PhDs/Nobel prize winners etc etc.

Ivonne

I disagree with Northsouth. I still would suggest getting informations on J1 programms.

But i agree in one point: A H1B is hard to get, especially if you only want to stay for 4 Months. The procedure would be the same, and no employer would do it for an employee who wants to leave after 4 months.

judderman

After some reading I guessed that it might be difficult to gain entry into the US with a H1-B visa, though not impossible. It doesn't seem like the ideal situation for me though becuase my stay would be relatively short -

I have absolutely no intention of remaining in the US for longer than this time and I have plenty of things binding me to the UK (car, insurance, family).

J1 I thought to be only for Students though - on some sites it says to be eligible for a J1 you have to be enrolled in a 3rd level academic institution - I'm no longer enrolled at a Uni becuase I graduated in July 2002. Some people my dad spoke to said I might still be eligible for J1.

For the record (if this even makes any difference) I'm 23, Male, have a dual nationality (british and irish passports) and am educated to 3rd level, graduating last summer.

Anyone have any thoughts?


Thanks.

judderman

I was just looking at Interships in the US, and I'm about to pull my hair out. What kind of fools do these companies take me for? Unpaid interships are the biggest pile of s**te I've ever heard of - maybe during the middle of your degree, but not when you've completed it. Like we can afford to run up more debt. Idiots. The prospect of working in America is becoming more of a challenge than I had originally thought.

The council exchange program that Ivonne mentioned led me to the internships - becuase it seems with the exception of getting a H1-B visa, to be the only way I could work in the US for a relatively short period of time. But then I'm reading about all these unpaid interships - and thinking "why the hell would I want to go and work my ass off for some US company and not get paid when I could just go on a 90 day holiday instead?!?"

Maybe if I was completely inexperienced and untalented I might consider it, but I think I've more to offer than working for someone for nothing. I just don't do that...not anymore at least.

Ivonne

Did you find this:

http://www.councilexchanges.org/partners/

click on the bootom of this site on "work and Travel", maybe this helps. The requirement is to be Full time student.

Maybe you can ask them, if they also like to enroll you, when you've already finished.