How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
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Signs of Cultural Adjustment Issues
“This country is really stupid…” - A common statement from trainees who are seeing a cultural trait of the United States through the experience of their own culture, not that of the U.S. A response might be, “Why do you suppose we’ve done that for the last 200 years?”
“English doesn’t have enough words…” - A common statement from trainees who cannot find a way to express emotions that are described in their native language, but not shared by the Anglo cultures.
“All I want to do is sleep…” – A common statement of depression brought on by the overload of change.
“I’m gaining a lot of weight…” – The change in food often results in weight gain. It is often difficult for trainees to understand how to use local and different foods for a healthy diet.
“Americans ask ‘How are you doing, but don’t really want to know…”– An accurate and common observation that may indicate the trainee is understanding what is said literally, but not hearing the underlying or cultural meaning.
“Why should I celebrate your holiday; I’m not American…” – A common attitude that could indicate the trainee is suffering a bit of cultural identity crisis.
That's always kind of sad.
A couple of things worth mentioning, though:
- Rent at $1k/mo for rent is (now) hard to find unless you're living in a living room or a slum. Prices for my friends ranged from $1300(decent place w/ 2+ roomates) - $2000+(nice studio)
- We all had pretty decent experience staying in a student hotel/hostel upon immediately arriving in SF rather than relying on an airbnb or related. Places like the Herbert Hotel (http://theherberthotel.com/) are ~$1100/mo (can't confirm weekly/nightly rate) and are a great place to settle at first, but you shouldn't bank on staying there for long. Bonus: you've got a "hotel" booked once you arrive in SF (customs loves to hear this).
- As soon as you get to SF, join the ~"bay area interns group" on Facebook, invite the entire (2K+) group out for dinner wit hone post, and instantly meet 15+ new friends at once. It's definitely the best collection of smart, talented, cool kids I've ever come across and everyone is working on something cool (usually outside of work, too).
- Here's another great write up (targeted at UWaterloo co-ops, but still applicable): http://stephenholiday.com/Unofficial-Waterloo-USA-Intern-Gui...
Most importantly: someone PLEASE build a better product for visa sponsor companies (Intrax for me, CIEE/local rep for you) to streamline the J1 (and other visas, I'm sure) application process. I have never had a more frustrating experience going back and forth via email with so many different people at my sponsor company, having to upload identification and documents, print/fill out/scan/send forms, and bug them for the status of my visa application. The application fee was something my host company paid for without hesitation and would have paid more for to streamline. I've looked into this problem and would have built it myself if it weren't for the bureaucratic requirements req'd by the US gov't (which are fair, just hard to MVP) - ping me if you are interested in solving this problem :)
I know that J1 process is relatively simple compared to other visa types but it still takes a lot of time. I originally wrote this guide as I couldn't find a good resource and I was the first student from my school to get the J1 for a startup internship.
On a J-1 visa you may have to return to your home country for 2 years after it expires -- you can only visit on tourist/student visas in those two years, not work in the US. I was subject to this, as a UK citizen interning in Redmond between undergraduate years (in 2002), but I have not met many other J-1 holders and don't know how common it was.
http://internationalaffairs.uchicago.edu/page/j-1-status-two...
The 212-E 2 year home country requirement has 3 conditions [1]. Specifically, if you're interning, you do not fall under "Government funded exchange program", nor do you fall under "Graduate medical education or training". You may fall under "Specialized knowledge or skill: Skills List" but that list is on a per country basis. [2]
[1] http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1267.html#15
Here's more information: http://www.isso.cornell.edu/academicstaff/jwaiver.php
I interned with a big company this summer that had an established J1 process (Microsoft), so didn't have to deal with a lot of these hassles - they organised the J1 visa and sent me SEVIS papers that I simply took to the embassy in London, and got my visa approved after a 2 minute interview. They organise housing and give you a rental car or bike based on your preference. The biggest worry for me was that they may incorrectly apply the 'home country physical presence' requirement, since India lists every single possible skill as wanted. Still, it's interesting to learn that the process is still doable for small startups without the same resources, in case I need it in the future.
To my knowledge there's no limit to how many J1 visas one can have so you could do another one in the future. The process isn't complicated but a small startup probably doesn't have experience of it so you need to do the heavy lifting there.
One downside was that I had to stay in the US between filing for H1B status and receiving it (you file in the spring, but get the status on October 1st) because the H1B is a dual intent visa (meaning you can state that you want to stay in the US permanently and it is not just a temporary visa) in case they questioned me at the border about the conflicting status of my J-1 and H1B petition.
According to the j1visa.state.gov site one of the requirements for the J1 trainee program is:
"Has five years of work experience outside the United States in the occupational field in which they are seeking training"
Did you meet this criteria or manage to circumvent it?
Remember, rules are made to be.. um fitted to your needs.
You can't be paid without a social security number.
...nope, anyone employed in the US can get a social number. If you are not employed, but still have some form of taxable income (i.e, a scholarship) you can get a taxpayer identification number instead.
Citizenship is not required for a SSN - trust me, I know!
I'd love a $24/hr development position. Interns these days are getting paid too well. I interned for half as much and I'm not making much more.
You can easily do everything without a lawyer too. I paid for my initial 4 month work-travel visa for ~$400 USD.
H1B is a whole other story...
In fact, Microsoft brings on a lot of Canadian developers via TN Computer Systems Analyst and outright tells them to lie at the border and say they don't do any programming.