EVAN MCCARTHY: Sveiki.
My name is Evan McCarthy.
I am Consul at theU.
S.
Embassy, and it's my pleasure to talk to you todayabout the Summer Work Travel Program.
So the summer travel program isgreat, creative, unique program that allows full-time universitystudents to spend their summers working, traveling,and experiencing the culture of theUnited States in English.
Well, the whole visaprocess of a J-1 Visa, because that's what we'retalking about– the summer travel program in our parlance,in our world, is a J-1 Visa.
And you can actuallyfind out a lot about that and many differentprograms on j1visa.
State.
Gov.
And that's J, the numberone, visa dot state dot gov.
The process withthe program sponsor and the special form and thevisa is your work permit.
This is the way to do it right,to be eligible for something, to prove your eligibility,and to get that ability to earn some moneyin the United States while having a perfectculture exchange.
The jobs really come inmany different forms.
They tend to be inthe traditional summer industries the United States.
I myself worked in an amusementpark for a few summers as a teenager and loved it.
Still one of my favoritejobs of all time.
But they tend to bethings like that.
What we're looking for,and what the program really is designed for, is afull-time, real student with a summer free to gopractice English skills, to work hard, andto see things kind of in that classic Americansummer perspective where we do like to work.
This is the targetof the program.
There are many differenttypes of programs if you look at thegeneral scope of abilities to travel and workin the United States, but this one is foruniversity students.
So, university student,this is for you.
The numbers are around 100.
And quite frankly, wethink that could go up.
We think there's moreinterest and more there's more out therefor a Latvian who really wants this type of summer.
That's a two-part question.
Some of the programs comeready-built with a job for you.
It's selected for you,you know about it, you have a point of contact,and you kind of show up.
You do your part, but you butyou have it all set for you.
There is, however, a secondpart to that question, and that is, as avisa waiver country, many Latvians cantravel to the United States for normal touristand business reasons without a visa, you'vegot a different ability.
You could sign up for a programin which you find your own job.
Now, for the truly enterprising,pioneering, and confident individual, thatcould be for you.
But you know you have toput that into the process, and know the right rationaleand the right method to find that job for you,as many Americans have had to do in their summers.
Yeah, in our system,almost everybody does appear for avisa interview just to make sure that they'reeligible for the visa that they're applying.
This is actually just a simple,straightforward conversation where you presentyou to a Consular Officer such as myself.
It's a great opportunityto get to know each other and even ask questionsback and forth.
But one has to be eligible,and that's the process.
Denial of a visa,while it sounds kind of like a harsh term, canhappen for a number of reasons.
One, it could just be that thestudent, or maybe the person is not quite a student, isn'tquite eligible for the program, whether or not they or theprogram thought they were.
That's a minority of cases,and it's not something we want to worry about.
But you need topresent yourself.
And need to be aware thatit's for most people, and that we get to makethat final decision on actual eligibility.
I think just to preparefor a visa interview, you come with a goodattitude, you're open, you discuss your plans,you have the transcripts of what you do at school.
You just kind of comeand show yourself in person and on paper theway you are, and that's it.
It was great to just sharea little visit with you, and we hope that youthink about this.
And consider the United Statesif you're a full-time student, and you want to show somecultural just curiosity and some goodAll-American work ethic.
Source: Youtube
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