american working visas

Hey all, I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about getting a working visa for temporary travel in the US? Me and my friends are from the UK and are hoping to go traveling in the west coast of the US around June and are hoping to get a working visa - for casual work (bar/retail) to fund our journey.

We have graduated so no longer fall into the student category (I've seen on some gap year websites that you can take up casual work for up to 4 months on a student J1 visa if you are on your university summer break).
Any help would be awesome as I'm finding the US embassy website very confusing - there seems to be infinite types of visas available... Some people have even said that this idea is unattainable and we'd be far wiser applying for a working visa somewhere like Aus or NZ.... :confused:

Thanks!

Reply 1

oxymoronic

19

FaceyFacerton

Hey all, I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about getting a working visa for temporary travel in the US? Me and my friends are from the UK and are hoping to go traveling in the west coast of the US around June and are hoping to get a working visa - for casual work (bar/retail) to fund our journey.

We have graduated so no longer fall into the student category (I've seen on some gap year websites that you can take up casual work for up to 4 months on a student J1 visa if you are on your university summer break).
Any help would be awesome as I'm finding the US embassy website very confusing - there seems to be infinite types of visas available... Some people have even said that this idea is unattainable and we'd be far wiser applying for a working visa somewhere like Aus or NZ.... :confused:

Thanks!

You're right, it would be fairly hard to get a J1 visa for the USA as you've now graduated and they're aimed mostly at students at university or on a gap year. For the USA you can't just get a visa and then go and work as you need sponsorship and they only seem to be willing to sponsor students, as then they know you're forced to leave and go back home for university. The ones for Aus and NZ are for anyone under 30 so you might have better luck there, you can go with BUNAC etc like you would for the USA and they sponsor your visa.

http://www.bunac.org.uk/uk/workaustralia/eligibility.aspx

Reply 2

WolfSong2000

9

It's incredibly difficult to get a vis for the kind of work you're looking for...used to be possible many years ago (my father did something similar to what you're proposing), but they've tightened up the laws...basically, as has already been mentioned, you need a sponsor as the government needs to know that you're not getting work at the expense of American citizens, hence why it's going to be even harder in the current economic climate. You;d be much better off working in the UK and saving up and *then* going on to travel round the USA. Or, as oxymoronic hs already pointed out, do a work/travel thing in Australia/NZ...Canada *may* be more relaxed, so might be worth a shot...also I seem to remember some companies offering summer work in USA for adults as well as students, but you'll pay to use them, so may not be worth it. Especially as the pay for bar work is going to be godawful...the min. wage for waitresses at the moment in the USA is about $3 thanks to Bush, as the assumption is that this will be topped up with tips.

Reply 3

FaceyFacerton

OP

1

Thanks for the advice you guys - we did enquire and it seems to be imposible now that we're no longer students - there's that idea out the window! So we're going to New Zealand instead on a years workin visa - apparntly they're easy to get :smile:

american working visas

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