by Peter Tobin

Created on: February 13, 2007

A J1 Visa is a visa which is available to Irish students who wish to travel to the United States to work and live for the summer. There are thousands of students from Irish universities who travel to America every summer. They end up all over America in places like San Francisco, San Diego, Newport, Rhode Island, South Carolina, the list is endless. A J1 summer is a lot of fun and you get the opportunity to meet so many new people but there are a few things which are worth planning before you go.

1. Where do you want to go?
Once you arrive in the States you have the freedom to travel wherever you like but remember that unless you have unlimited funds you should decide on a location to spend your summer before you arrive. There will be much more job opportunities if you get to your intended destination as early as possible

2. Getting Work.
You should try to get work before you go but this is not always possible. Some employers refuse to give employment through email, phone or letter contact and this is understandable. It is, however, a good idea to make contact with a prospective employer in advance to give you an edge once you get there over another rival employee.

3. Getting Accommodation.
Again it is difficult to attain accommodation before you are even in the country but any attempt to do so will provide some kind of assurance before you set off on your travels.

Once you are in the country there are many things which you may want to do. Having just left your own country for the beginning of a four month adventure you will no doubt be nervous but once you arrive at your intended destination it is vital that you begin the hunt for accommodation and work as soon as possible due to large numbers of students in many of the popular destinations. If you have not secured anything before you arrived then there is no need to panic.

1. Getting Work.
Your best bets are theme parks and large shopping centres. These are places which are likely to be taking on seasonal employment and usually pay minimum wage. There are not many places who pay over minimum wage so be prepared. Other than these places you could try the usual bars, shops and restaurants. If there is a real shortage of work then you may have to consider moving further afield or even moving to a different location.

2. Getting Accommodation.
You will be competing with nearly every other student so get to work early! The two best ways are going through local newspapers and directories looking at the property sections and simply walking around neighborhoods you may like to live in. This could be facilitated by renting bicycles and simply hunting down properties to rent.

3. Support.
There are support systems in place for students on J1 Visas so don't panic if everything goes wrong for you. Make sure you keep all your documentation safe and keep a list of all the phone numbers which may be useful and CALL if necessary.

For my own part, I went to San Diego on a J1 two years ago. It is a beautiful place and I would recommend it to anyone but be careful because a LOT of Irish students go there. Be sensible about it too, if you here that an awful lot of Irish are going to a particular destination then it may be a good idea to think of somewhere else.

Best of Luck!

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