paolomcmillan

Hi all,

I have an undergraduate degree in Physiology & Sports Science and currently carrying out a research master's degree. I am looking to begin an internship in the USA in October 2014 to gain some transatlantic experience and at present am speaking with a company who may be willing to offer me a position. I'm just wondering if anyone has a past experience of doing such a thing? I'm meeting up with them in January of next year to discuss possibilities in Cincinnati.

If anyone has an idea of potential costs for a 7-8 month stay on the East Coast (Cincinnati region) and past experience dealing with companies such as BUNAC etc, it would be great to hear from you.

PS I'm from the UK.

Thanks

Pulaski

Your question is dependant entirely on your potential employer being both willing and able to obtain a visa for you.

paolomcmillan

I believe I am required to apply for a J1 visa once the internship details are finalised. I wouldn't be employed as such by the company in so far as needing a working visa.

I am looking for information from people who have past experience in the same situation and how it worked out and helped their career.

Bob

Good luck!

Well you can search on here for Bunac, should be a bit of info from folks, mostly in the immigration forum though.

As for costs, well you can look at city-data.com for a better idea....though you're likely to want to budget around $10K a month for the first couple months - cost of deposits for rental for a shorter than 12 month lease with no credit history etc, utilities deposits, car/insurance and other start up costs and be glad if it's less and once you're settled, all down to how much you want to do on your spare time.

Then again, it all depends on what help the company is willing to offer. So it could be much less than that but it's a not to unreasonable figure to work from.

Pulaski

. It would be easier, and probably cheaper to find a long term hotel, such as "In-Town Suites", than mess with short term leases, utilities, and credit checks, especially as flats/apartments are invariably rented completely unfurnished, except perhaps for a fridge and cooker.

ITS facilities aren't particularly fancy, but for basic accommodation with cooking facilities and an on-site laundry, for a few months they're OK. I used them once myself for about ten weeks, and lived to tell the tale.

I don't know what the ITS weekly rates are in Cincinnati, but allowing for the taxes that get added on to hotel bills, you should probably be budgeting around $1,500 a month for accommodation, which sounds steep, but if you rented an apartment, you'd have to find furniture, and bedding, and utilities would be on top.

penguinbar

I would also check to see if any families in the area are renting rooms to students in their homes.

kins

I did something similar a long time ago - it was set up through the university I believe going through CIEE, and I went on a J-1 visa.

I lived in Dayton OH in a shared apartment incredibly cheap. Rented furniture, bought a secondhand car which I shared with a fellow intern. It was a great experience.

paolomcmillan

Thanks for the input guys,

Kins, can you remember how much on average you spent monthly? How long was your internship? What was sharing with a stranger like?

Thanks again,
Paul

tomholub

As far as J-1 processing goes - there is also a cost of about $1400 to $2000 for processing. I've worked with Intrax and CulturalVistas (sponsor companies - who will process the paperwork). Also they will require you to have insurance for the whole time while in USA. It's about $50 a month. You can purchase it through them

Back then my employer paid this. If your employer doesn't want to pay it, you will have to.

There's some requirements for employing company, I believe there should be not more than one intern per 10 full time employees, it will not work for a startup - company needs to be established, and preferably related to what you studied.

Once you found the company, it's good to start doing paperwork and talking with sponsor ASAP - it will take time - the paperwork itself is not very demanding but from my experience it always takes at least 3 months until you even get to local US embassy for interview. After the interview though, you have your visa in a few days.

There's internship starting date on the application form - choose wisely because you can't arrive earlier than 30 days before the start nor later than 30 days after, take in account ~ 3 months processing time.

If you arrive earlier than your internship start date you will not be able to legally work/get paid until the the date as stated on the paperwork.

Good news is that if you like it in the States and want to stay longer, you will be able extend the visa if needed while in USA for up to 12 months (intern) or 18 months (trainee). Intern is usually still a student or recent graduate, trainee would be someone a few years into their career.

Oh and don't forget to ask the sponsor for a multiple entry visa - there will be a little "M" printed on the visa itself - so that it's still valid if you need to leave USA and come back.

Good luck finding a company

paolomcmillan

Thanks for the info Sir. You're a true gent!

tomholub

Glad to help, let me know if you struggle in the process, I've done my own and helped 3 friends do the same. Shouldn't be a problem if the company is cooperative

paolomcmillan

I may take you up on that. Are you currently doing your internship just now or have you managed to move to the USA on a more permanent basis?

Thanks again.

tomholub

Nope, I had internship for 12 months. If I wanted a new one, I'd need to sign up for school probably a semester or two back here and then reapply.

Right now I have E-2 Treaty Investor Visa - started my own business.

One of my friends just left USA and will be finishing his Bachelor's degree and then he can go ahead and apply for H1-B with the same company, I believe that's 3+3 years.

Check with the sponsor company that two year rule won't apply. I know nothing about this rule except that when it applies, you won't be able to visit USA for two years after your internship ends. It didn't apply to me nor any of my friends.

paolomcmillan

Ahhh I see. That makes sense then. I'll be sure to ask that but may I ask which sponsor company you went with just incase?

tomholub

I went with http://culturalvistas.org/
Then my friends went with http://www.intraxinc.com/ , it was a few hundred dollars cheaper

Both were ok