Summer Jobs - For Foreign Students only

Date: Sunday, April 28, 2002 5:22 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at www.ZaZona.com

Normally I don't pay much attention to spam but this one caught my
notice:

Dear Sir/Madam,
If you or your friends are going to the
US on a J1 visa, here is some very useful
information.

A new website - http://J1Jobs.com has
just been released. The site contains
thousands of jobs that are available only
for students with a valid 2002 J1 visa.

You can browse the jobs, apply directly
online, or simply save your Quick-CV and
apply when the right job comes up. Best of
all, the site is free to use. If you don't
have a J1 Job already, now is the time. Don't
leave it too late. Remember you must have a
J1 visa to apply. If you don't have a visa,
contact your Work & Travel organisation.

What to do now? Just log on to http://J1Jobs.com
and click Jobseekers.

Take care & good luck,
The J1Jobs Team

I went to their website and I was very impressed with their database. They claim to have over 16,000 job listings for J-1 visa holders. J-1 is a student visa that is exempt from Social Security withholdings.

I did a couple of searches on their database and this is a typical result:

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Call Center / Sales & Marketing for a remarkable staffing agency

Location:
San Francisco, California

Job Description
J1 students are needed to work in Call Center / Sales & Marketing positions in San Francisco, California, United States. There are 8 positions available.

These jobs are only available for foreign students who will have a valid J1 visa. These J1 jobs will be available during the summer season. Fluent level of spoken English is required to do this J1 job.

Job Information
In this job you will earn a minimum of $8-14 per hour working 40 hours per week. Meals are not provided . Regarding housing and accommodation, this is not provided. For social and recreational purposes, you should be aware that this J1 job is located in a Metropolitan City. The term "Staffing Agency"
best describes this employers area of business.
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I decided to email this organization and ask a few questions. I got even less as far as answers but here goes:

H1BNews: Why would a company advertise a job for J1 Visa holders only? I would think that they could just as easily hire a US citizen high school or college student that wants a summer job.

J1Jobs.com: As to why a company would offer positions to J1 students is clearly stated in the employer section of the site.

Their home page says "This is a free website dedicated to ensuring that J1 students find good jobs in America, and hence, the continued existence of the J1 programme." I went to the employer section and found out the real reasons. Apparently American students don't have these qualities:

Why hire J1 Students? They are Motivated: They have the drive to travel half way across the world to gain new experiences.
Hard working: International travel is not cheap. J1 students work hard to pay their way.

Qualified: All J1 students must be in college / university. Many are multi-lingual.
Diversity: New people bring new ideas and abilities. Neat Fit: J1 students can stay for 4 months, neatly fitting your seasonal employment needs.

H1BNews: If a college student applied for these jobs but they were a citizen, not a visa holder, could they get the job?

J1Jobs.com: We cannot guarantee that the vacancies on the site won't be seen by non-students. We have no way to figure out whether a person is J1 visa holder or not.

Conclusion: Although they can't stop American students from applying to these jobs, the companies that advertised have made it very clear that they will only hire J1 Visa holders. Most of these jobs seem to be the kind of jobs our students are seeking and yet they are shut out of the job market. That will be a good lesson for these students if they ever manage to get
a degree and then try to interview for the jobs advertised for H-1Bs only.

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