J1 visa guide

A J1 US sponsor is a US-based organisation that has been appointed by the U.S. Department of State to help administer the J1 Summer Work Travel program. These designated sponsors provide the sponsorship documentation (Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor Status or DS-2019 form) for eligible students to apply for their Exchange Visitor visa (J1 visa). Other roles of the US sponsor include: screening of participants and host employers in line with the J1 program rules and regulations, providing your mandatory pre-departure orientation, and providing ongoing assistance while participants are in the USA.

USIT is part of the same travel family as IENA, one of the leading US visa sponsors – meaning we have all the important visa, sponsorship and hiring knowledge within our team. We also work with other US sponsors to support as many students as we can each summer.

SEVIS is a computerised system used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to collect, maintain and manage information about international foreign students and exchange visitors during their stay in the USA.

All J1 participants must register with SEVIS within the first 10 days of their program (the program start date will be stated on your DS-2019 form). Failure to register within this time frame can lead to serious consequences for the individual. Please refer to your J1 handbook for more detailed information about SEVIS registration.

Once you sign up for the program, you will be asked to pay the first deposit of €99, with the second payment of €200 due within 20 days of signing up for the program. These will come off your overall balance and are not extra costs.

The remaining amount (your final payment) will be due after you have submitted your confirmed job offer – either through the US employers on our Job Hub or your own contacts.

See the next dropdown on what happens are your final payment and securing your J1 spot this summer.

The J1 Summer Work Travel program is a capped program – meaning that there is a set quota of international students who can apply and be sponsored to work in the US each summer.

Unfortunately, your deposit does not guarantee your place. Our USIT team and US sponsors can only start to process your sponsorship paperwork (DS-2019) for you to apply for your J1 visa once you have secured your job and paid your final payment. It is only fair that we process bookings in the order of participants who have completed these stages and made their program payments.

We advise moving through the application, hiring and payment stages as promptly as you can. Your online account will show your progress and what you have outstanding – with regular updates on the USIT website on the number of program spaces we have left.

On top of the J1 program cost, there are other costs to consider on your J1. Remember that you are away for a whole summer and even though you will be earning a salary, you need to make sure you have access to enough funds to support yourself.

Other costs to consider include:

• Accommodation (if staff housing isn't included with your J1 job)
• J1 visa fee (currently USD $185 and paid directly to the US Embassy)
• Flights
• Travel insurance (medical cover is included by us but you will still require travel insurance to cover the rest of your trip – such as cancellation, luggage, legal cover, adventure sports and activities, and more)
• Set-up costs (such as security deposits for accommodation, eSim cards, travel cards, uniforms – if not provided)
• Spending money/expenses for transport, food, bills, socialising etc.
• Travel after your job finishes
• It is also an immigration requirement that you have the minimum proof of funds of USD $800 – see the next dropdown

The program requires that all J1 participants have a certain amount of money to support themselves when entering the USA. This is currently USD $800 and you must be able to show proof of this to the US Immigration Official. This proof can be in the form of cash, travellers cheques, credit or debit card statements or bank statements.

However, as a bank account can be closed after a statement has been issued, you could be asked to log in to your bank account online, so the CBP Officer can view the account information in order to ascertain their balances and method of deposits.

Cash and travellers cheques are the only form of proof of funds guaranteed to be accepted by US Immigration.

Yes, final year students can apply to work in America for the summer on a J1. You just need to be able to show your intention to return to Ireland at the end of your program.

The US Embassy may ask for proof of this. It could be in the form of a Master’s application (if you are doing one) or a letter from an employer that you will be returning for work.

If you are looking to head to the USA after finishing college for longer than the four months permitted on a J1 visa, check out our 1-year Grad USA program instead.

Eligible students can do the J1 Summer Work Travel program up to three summers in total – so long as you have not previously been terminated from the J1 program.

No longer a student, but want to have an unforgettable summer earning and exploring in the States? Check out our BUNAC sibling camp program instead which is a non-student J1 program.

Other than the listed prohibited regions in the next dropdown, you can do your J1 anywhere in the USA. Popular places for Irish students to do their J1 are NYC, Boston, Chicago, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Long Island, Montauk, Ocean City, Myrtle Beach, LA, San Francisco, Miami, Rhode Island and more.

Our placement team have scoured the States to find US employers in all of these destinations who are looking to employ J1 participants for the summer. Once you're booked onto the program and paid your second payment, you'll get access to our online Job Hub where you can search, apply and video interview for jobs.

The J1 program is a cultural exchange program. This means that the locations where you plan to live and work on your J1 must provide opportunities for regular communication and interaction with US citizens, and allow you to experience everything that US culture has to offer.

Sponsorship rules and considerations

If you are independently finding your own J1 job, these are some things that your US sponsor will consider when approving your choice of job location:

• You cannot work in remote or isolated areas of the US
• You cannot work in locations that may cause safety concerns
• Seasonal accommodation must also be readily available for you to live for the summer
• You must be able to keep in contact via phone and email with your US sponsor at all times

US Sponsors hold the right to refuse locations that may be deemed a concern for J1 participants.

Note that all the US employers on our Job Hub are in areas that are permitted on this visa. However, there may be some housing stipulations that will need to be adhered to in order to ensure that you have safe and affordable accommodation for the summer.

1. Prohibited or restricted areas

• Hawaii (HI) Due to a lack of available housing, it may not be possible to do your J1 in Hawaii but please contact the J1 team for more information.

• Alaska (AK) Due to remoteness, job offers only with accommodation included will be considered. Approval for jobs in this area are not guaranteed. Please check with the J1 team for more information.

2. Restricted job locations requiring an extra housing provision or requirement

If housing is not provided with the job offer, participants must secure housing at least two weeks in advance of their arrival and work with their employer if necessary to secure a place to live.

The following communities and/or US states have become areas of concern as suitable housing options for participants are limited:

• Cape Cod, MA
• Myrtle Beach, SC
• Ocean City, MD
• Rehoboth Beach, DE
• Virginia Beach, VA
• Cape May, NJ
• Wildwood, NJ

We recommend searching for accommodation in these areas as soon as you have secured your job.

3. Restricted job locations where transport/safe commuting is required

Due to multiple student collisions with vehicles while biking in the area this past summer, all students in Cape May must be proactive in finding appropriate housing and transportation and have requested the same of employers. If students are living in Wildwood but working in Cape May, they will not be allowed to bike back and forth to work. Your US sponsor has asked employers to help arrange work schedules to fit the public transportation schedule, provide transportation for them, and/or set up a ride share system with local staff members. Please remember, if they are using bikes locally (within Cape May or within Wildwood) that you should always have a helmet and reflective gear.

Yes, it is a visa requirement to have a pre-arranged summer job. And we cannot issue your sponsorship paperwork (DS-2019) to apply for your J1 visa to work in the US without a confirmed job offer.

Included job with USIT

Included in your program cost is access to our online Job Hub where we annually add 1,000+ pre-vetted jobs with our tried-and-trusted US employers. As early as October the year before you can start to search, apply and video interview for jobs. We also have in-person hiring events in Ireland where employers fly over and bulk recruit face-to-face for their summer staff over 1-2 days. Keep an eye on this page and social for any upcoming hiring events.

YOU MUST be available to work for the whole contract. Leaving your job early not only lets down our employers, but damages the future of the J1 program for future Irish students.

Finding your own job

If you want to find your own job through your own contacts, that's also permitted. Read through these FAQs carefully so that it is clear the types of jobs and locations that are permitted on this visa and will likely to be approved by our US sponsor.

Typical J1 jobs include working in country clubs, resorts, theme parks, hotels, ice-cream parlours, shops and restaurants as servers, bartenders, lifeguards, pool attendants, baristas, housekeepers, groundskeepers, receptionists and more.

Your J1 job must be:

• Between 15 May-15 Sep.
• A minimum of 32 hours per week.
• Your job must be 'seasonal' in nature.
• It must not take work away from US citizens.
• If you are working as a bartender, you must be 21. However, there are other positions available in bars/restaurants such as servers, hosts and bussers where you can be under 21.
• The J1 visa is a cultural exchange visa, so is designed to be able to balance work responsibilities with time spent exploring your local community, learning about the US and getting to know Americans. It is not designed to get career experience.
• Your job must not bring notoriety or disrepute to the J1 Exchange Visitor program.
• All jobs need to be screened and approved for this program by our US sponsor.

If you are finding your own job and submit a job offer from the list below, it will be immediately rejected for THIS program. However, please give us a call to talk over your US plans, as we may be able to help you via a different program. For example, if you want to work with children, we can sponsor you to work under our BUNAC Summer Camp USA program. Or if you wish to do more of a work experience role, this might be possible under our J1 Career program.

The below jobs are prohibited by the US Department of State on the J1 Summer Work Travel visa:

• Au pairs, child carers, mother's helper, nanny
• Babysitter, maid, or other jobs of a domestic nature in private homes
• Childcare provider
• Medical Services (medical interns or anything involving hands-on therapy, counselling, administering treatment or making diagnoses of medical, psychiatric or psychological patients)
• Jobs involving sustained physical contact with other people
• Veterinary Science (making medical diagnoses or administering treatment to animals)
• Teaching, including but not limited to language teacher, teaching assistants, or full-fledged trained teacher
• Coaching positions or as a PT
• Beauty therapy jobs including massage, hairdressing, manicurist positions or any jobs involving 'hands-on' therapy of any kind
• Farmer ranch jobs
• Camp Counsellors
• Crew member on ship or airplanes or as pilots
• Certain casino positions
• Pyramid salespersons
• Jobs involving driving a vehicle
• Operators of pedicabs, rolling chairs, or other passenger-carrying vehicles for hire
• Jobs in gaming/gambling
• Jobs in manufacturing, warehouses, or factories/fisheries Moving companies or catalogue/online distribution centres
• Mall kiosks or carts
• Jobs in modelling
• Jobs involving controlled hazardous substances
• Employment with a staffing agency
• Commission-only positions
• Jobs in the adult entertainment industry are not permitted, including but not limited to: escort services, adult book/video stores, massage parlours, strip clubs
• Jobs requiring shifts that are predominantly between 10.00pm and 6.00am are not permitted
• Lifeguard with a pool management company
• White water rafting guide
• Vacation home cleaning crew
• Housekeepers, dishwashers or laundry
• Apartment building doormen
• Jobs with multiple sites of activity, i.e. tent setup, landscaping, catering
• Bouncer or security positions
• Positions involving any advance or start-up fee to the participant or with a travelling concession business
• Jobs identified as hazardous to youth by the US Department of Labour
• Labour/construction work

In the main, each person must interview individually for jobs on our Job Hub and are hired on their own merit. Therefore, there is no guarantee that you will be placed together. We recommend mentioning in your job application that you’re applying with friends, but be clear that you are happy to work in different areas of the business. Then apply for the larger employers advertising multiple positions on the Job Hub – such as country clubs, hotels, sports grounds and theme parks.

In previous years, we have been able to arrange group interviews at our in-person hiring fairs in Ireland. However, group interviews are not guaranteed to happen each year, so we wouldn't hold out for this. There are not unlimited places on the J1 program, so it is more important to move quickly to secure a J1 job than wait to see if these group interviews happen.

You can only work for the employer listed on your DS-2019 form, as this is the employer that has been vetted and approved by your US sponsor. If you are unhappy in your current job, you must first try to resolve the issue directly with your employer. Changing jobs is not allowed simply because you want a different experience or found a better opportunity.

You may only request a job change for serious reasons – such as not being scheduled for sufficient work hours, facing ongoing disrespectful behaviour, unsafe working conditions, or other significant employment issues. If problems persist after you've made a reasonable effort to resolve them, you must contact your US sponsor to discuss your situation.

Only your US sponsor can approve a job change. If they approve it, you must:

• Give your current employer a minimum of two weeks’ notice, and
• Only begin working at a new employer that has been vetted and approved by your sponsor.

If you leave your job without approval from your US sponsor and begin working elsewhere, you are in violation of your visa. This is a serious matter. Your US sponsor has the right to terminate your program, which could impact your ability to travel to or work in the US in the future.

Leaving a job early and without proper approval undermines the integrity of the J1 Summer Work Travel program. Every participant has a responsibility to follow the rules to help ensure that this cultural exchange program remains available for future students.

Usually, yes. However, if you're wishing to visit neighbouring countries (i.e. Canada) or return to Ireland for a short period while on your J1, you still need to check and confirm that your visa allows you to make multiple entries to the US.

This will be indicated by the letter "M" under the word "ENTRIES" on your J1 visa. This will allow you to re-enter the USA more than once, as long as your J1 visa and DS-2019 are both valid. If your J1 visa and/or DS-2019 form is expired, you will NOT be able to re-enter the USA under the J1 visa status.

Before your trips, you must have your DS-2019 form signed by a "Responsible Officer" in the US Sponsor's office. Please refer to your J1 handbook for more detailed information on how to do this.

Travel to the Tijuana Metropolitan area in Mexico (includes Rosarito) is not permitted under any circumstances. Failure to abide by this will result in immediate termination from the program.

It happens! If you need to return to Ireland during your J1 to repeat your summer exams, this doesn't have to mean the end of your J1. Contact the USIT team or your US sponsor to explain the situation and we'll advise you on what you need to do and the costs involved.

There are travel insurance policies that have 'Exam Failure' cover – where you could be reimbursed for the costs involved in returning home to re-sit exams. This cover must be taken out before you sit your original summer exams. You would not be covered if you know the results of any of your exams before you depart from Ireland.

Staying in the US to travel

You can stay in the US after your job finishes, but only for a maximum of 30 days. You cannot work during this 30-day grace period and you cannot leave the US and re-enter on your J1 visa during this time.

Staying in the US to work

It is not possible to extend your work authorisation in the USA past the dates listed on your DS-2019. Working in the US without authorisation is a serious offence and can result in imprisonment, deportation, legal proceedings and will impact your ability to ever travel to the US again.

Not adhering to the rules of the U.S. Department of State will also jeopardise the future of this program for other Irish students.

The Social Security Number (SSN) is the American version of the Irish PPS number. All individuals must obtain a SSN so they can work legally in the USA.

All first-time applicants must apply for a Social Security card when they arrive in the States. Only if you have obtained a Social Security Number (SSN) in the past through a previous US visa are you exempt from this requirement. In this case, you can use the same card/number again.

You can start working for your employer before you have your SSN through (which can take 3-5 weeks to process while you're in the US), but your employer will want to see that you have applied for it. Just follow our guidance when you arrive on exactly how to apply for your card and what to take with you.

If do not provide your employer with your SSN, they will face implications with the IRS, and you will not be able to do your US taxes when you return from your J1. It is imperative that you follow our guidance to get one and send it to your employer as soon as you have it.

Outside of the main cities, many employers we work with (such as theme parks, resorts and country clubs) provide free or subsidised staff housing. This is usually shared accommodation that can cost between USD $50-$125/week depending on the location.

If housing isn't provided, your employer will often be able to assist you in finding accommodation nearby. In your online account, you’ll also find a list of sites where you can search for accommodation. In US cities like New York, short-term accommodation can be expensive and hard to come by, so we advise researching accommodation costs before you apply for those jobs.

Yes. Medical insurance is included in your program cost that will cover against accident and illness while you are in the USA, however, it does not cover for routine care.

Therefore, you must also purchase travel insurance to cover you against other aspects of your trip – including cancellation, curtailment, legal cover, luggage, personal items, repatriation and more.

All participants are required to complete a US sponsor orientation online before you depart on your J1 visa. This is a US Government mandatory requirement. The orientation is extremely beneficial as it gives information on how to apply for your Social Security Number, information on the monthly monitoring survey, registering your US summer job with SEVIS/your US sponsor, and more.

Failure to complete the orientation before departure will result in your removal from the J1 program. Full cancellations fees will apply in these cases.

For any of our customers that will be attending their appointment at the US Embassy in Dublin, the J1 team will book your appointment for you. The US Embassy in Dublin require all J1 agencies to book their customer’s appointments.

Once your DS-2019 is issued, you’ll receive instructions on your online account on what you need to do in order for us to book your appointment.

If you will be attending your appointment at a different location (i.e., Belfast or London), there will be detailed instructions on how to book your appointment.