How can interns or trainees come and work and get some training in the United States?
Well there's special visa for that.
Stay tuned and I'll tell you how to do it.
Hello everybody.
My name is Jacob Sapochnick and I'm an immigration attorney based in San Diego, California.
In this video I want to talk about the J-1 Visa, the Cultural Exchange Visa specifically
for practical training and internship to allow students and trainees to come and work in
the United States.
The J-1 is a very popular Visa, although been used for many years and it's administered
by the State Department yet so many people are confused about it and not really understanding
how it works and who qualifies.
In this video … in this particular video, I'm going to focus on the J-1 category that
applies for interns and practical training allowing young individuals to come and gain
experience in United States and then go back home and implement that experience.
So the J-1 Visa specifically designed for trainees and individuals that are seeking
experience that is typically not available in their home country and they want to come
to the United States as part of the cultural exchange program to gain an experience so
they can go back home and, and use that when they finish their program.
The J-1 program is administered by the State Department typically and is not controlled
by the U.S. Immigration Service like many other visas.
And it also requires a third party sponsor that is typically controlling and supervising
the program wherever that trainee is designated to.
So essentially we have the State Department that will be accepting applications that are
being filed by the individuals.
And then there's a third party agency that is controlling the program that is signing
the DS forms that are required and also making sure that everything is, is happening by the
rules.
That the trainees are safe and that they're going to go back home at the end of their
program.
There are many categories for J-1.
They are all pairs.
They are scholars, they are researchers.
I want to focus in this video on trainees and professionals and work and travel individuals
that are coming to the United States to work, learn and gain experience in something that
they typically cannot gain in their home country.
So under the work and travel J-1, this is typically happens in the summer period of
the foreign trainee.
So if the summer in your country is June through September, then you're going to be able to
come into the United States and apply for the J-1 work and travel.
If your summer is November through January, and then you'll be able to do that same program
in that same period of time in United States.
The work and travel is a 90 days program where you apply and get that J-1 designation and
you have the right to find an employer after you get that approval of your J-1.
With a trainee J-1, a trainee J-1 typically requires you to find the already an employer
and the third party sponsor is able to issue a training plan where you have to show the
State Department what are you going to be doing for a period of about a year to 18 months
with that potential employer.
So for example, if you're coming to work in a hotel, you would need to know what is going
to be the hotel, where you're going to be doing your internship.
That hotel must complete a third party application with the sponsor stating that this is what's
going to be in the training program.
This is what's going to be done every month while you are at the hotel.
And typically you are not coming there to replace a U.S. Citizen, an employee.
You're coming there as an intern doing work, getting paid, but it's not a permanent position.
Typically Hospitality J-1's are issued for about a year.
And if you're working in a business capacity in a hotel or something related to hospitality,
you can get it up to 18 months.
But again, the period of time must be justified in their training program.
There are also, examples, other examples for J-1 professionals or interns could be in marketing
companies and engineering companies.
As long as the end employer can justify the one year or 18 months training on the training
form, then the third party sponsor will approve it.
And the State Department will finally issue that DS form, DS 2019 which will allow the
applicant to apply for their Visa at the home country.
So just kind of to summarize it, for J-1 trainees or interns, there has to be an employer that
is already designated then a third party agency that will process the training program and
then once it's approved, the applicants will go and apply for the J-1 Visa at their home
country embassy.
And just like a student that requires an I20.
An approved J-1 requires a DS 2019 which is a form that will state the requirements of
the program and they'll have all the package that the third party agency issued to the
applicant when they apply for their visa.
J-1 visa is a very, very popular visas because there is no limit as to when you can apply
for it.
There's no cap on the visa.
If you qualify, meaning if you're qualified intern, either you graduated from university
within one year or if you have graduated from before, but you have five years experience,
you can apply as a professional trainee.
Whatever their requirements are, if you meet those requirements and your age requirement
as well.
There has to be … there's an age limit.
Most trainees should be under the age of 35.
And the idea is that they want to encourage younger people to gain experience so they
can bring it back to their home country.
So it's a very good visa because you know, at the end of the J-1, when you go back home,
you can always return to the U.S. with that skill.
And the fact that you already held a J-1 Visa will make you much more attractive to get
other visas in the future.
So again a J-1, in this video we're covering the trainee, on interns, people will come
to the U.S. to gain experience that normally they cannot get in their home country.
You need an employer who is willing to sign your training program and a third party agency
that is going to be processing all the paperwork.
Everything is filed with the State Department and upon approval you can come to U.S. for
a year or for between one year and 18 months and do your training.
It's really good visa for people that are interested in exploring their life in the
U.S. to see if they like it.
It's quick and it's very attractive.
And we've done many, many of those, one in hospitality, in business, in consulting, and
many employers are really happy with those J-1 trainees because they're dedicated, they're
excited, and they really love what they do.
So hopefully this video was a little bit of a intro on the J-1 visa.
We'll put some more links in that video … in this video to give you some more info about
what it is.
And if you have questions and you wouldn't know how to do it, feel free to post a comment
or send me an email and I look forward to seeing you in our next video.
Thanks for watching.