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I did the J-1 trainee program for 18 months and went into an H1B from that. It was ideal for me because I came right out of school without work experience and i
by zmitri 13y ago
I did the J-1 trainee program for 18 months and went into an H1B from that. It was ideal for me because I came right out of school without work experience and it made the process very easy.
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.
- johnking 13y agoThe J1 trainee program sounds really interesting (as I'm currently out of education for > 12 months and therefore ineligible for the J1 intern program). 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?
- zmitri 13y agoI owned my own company throughout university so I just got letters of reference from customers (aka my friends) that vouched for the work I did. Remember, rules are made to be.. um fitted to your needs.