Irish students in New York on the year-long J-1 graduate visa available to recent university graduates, or those still completing a course of study, have declared themselves unhappy with the services offered by issuing companies such as USIT and GO4LESS, according to a random survey taken by the Irish Voice last week.
All of the 20 graduate students asked for an opinion stated they were not satisfied with the terms of the program offered to them, citing the expense, limitations and the time span of the visa as major factors in their discontent.
“It’s just hard to believe that you are getting so little for so much,” says Orla McKevitt, living in Manhattan. “I mean, I paid over €2,000 euro to get here and saved €3,000 more. It is hard to get that kind of money, and then you get here you find it almost impossible to get a job that you are happy with.”
Alan Reilly, living in Queens, concurs.
“They tell you that they are going to help you in your search but all they really do is give you a load of generic websites to look up,” he says of USIT and GO4LESS, which processes the visas for the State Department.
“Nothing is specific. They should have people in place to help search for jobs specific to everyone and help people more to get jobs.”
John Brennan, also from Queens, feels that a year is not long enough for people to get set up in the U.S.
“It takes a few months to find your feet, especially if you want to do a bit of traveling,” he says.
“You can turn around and be here three or four months and then you are writing in your cover letter that you only have eight or nine months left and companies will not want to hire you then. I think the visa should be extended to at least two years.”
Mary M, who came over originally on the year-long program but is now undocumented and living in Manhattan, also voiced her dissatisfaction.
“The only good thing about the visa is that it gets you into the country. You get here and you are told that you are not allowed to work in this place and not allowed to work in that place,” she said.
“A lot of the internships that you get offered over here are unpaid, so why shouldn’t you be allowed work in a bar to pay for yourself? All you get is hounded from your sponsor asking for financial security every month. It’s nearly better to be illegal.”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.greengiant | Oct 22, 2012, 06:52 PM EDT
Couldnt agree more. I think the worst thing about the whole thing is the lack of information to young people about how to stay in the US after the 1 year visa expires. For instant If you go at the beginning of the year and dont find a job and get sponsored in time for the H1B opening date of April 1 your in trouble. The visas can run out very quickly. They ran out this year in June and many people manage to find the right job-but by the time they do the H1Bs are all gone and they have to go home when their J1 visas run out. This has happened to me and I had to go home after my 12 months after going to all the bother of getting set up in San Francisco. 12 months is not enough!! Students and graduates should be told to go between October 1st and Christmas to give themselves the best possible chance to get sponsored. April 1st-H1B application process opens (80000 per year are issued. These visa could go in 2 weeks or could last 6-7 months theres no way of knowing. October 1st- The earliest date with which you can activate your H1B visa. Therefore if you miss this window the first time you will have to go home or else stay illegally (which is a tough road to go down).
Scrivner | Oct 22, 2012, 04:30 PM EDT
The kids are disillusioned because they were sold an illusion, just like the Yanks who go to Ireland expecting to see dancing leprechauns. Jobs are scarce and employers are able to be picky. You may know the naunces of 16th century Italian verse, but that does not qualify you to trade long bonds on Wall Street. The hospitality industry is one area where the J-1's have a natural advantage--no long term committment, youth & energy are needed and, once you get away from the NYC-Boston arc, a bit of an Irish accent is considered charming.
greensod | Oct 22, 2012, 11:55 AM EDT
olovely: What did I miss?
olovely | Oct 21, 2012, 09:18 PM EDT
greensod, may you only ever encounter the harsh, one-sided judgmental meanness and petty-mindedness you dish out to others from now until you learn.
greensod | Oct 21, 2012, 01:52 PM EDT
Hop right back on the plane,back to the land of milk and honey.Lazy bums.One states he does not have enough time to travel,can you believe that.These are the same crowd that think they are too good to work in Ireland,so they go to America and start complaining.In America there is one very important requirement,its called work.That means working at any job that you may be lucky to get.No wonder Ireland is in a state of shambles,with only the old people supporting lazy bums like these.I guess thats what you get after 80 years of RULE under the Free staters. Welcome to the real world.Now ,grow up,go home,look around and pay your dues.WORK.
89west | Oct 21, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT
Hope they have their return tickets!