How To

This very interesting report as well has been sent to us by a, in this case female, customer. Thanks for that. This could motivate all those who think that, after September 11, a J-1 (internship) visa is hard to get and any plans like that are mere wishful thinking. This article is sufficient proof for the contrary!

All those who are interested in talking to the author directly may again contact our editorial staff. We reserve the right to forward selected questions in consultation with the customer. She will decide herself, of course, whether she wants to answer.

Please note: We don't take any responsibility for the contents of this article and any behavioral advice, especially for immigration issues. The contents do not necessarily represent the editorial staff's opinion.

When I started planning this project that I had wanted to realize for a very long time, I first of all attended an orientation meeting. Apart from the many confusing pieces of information about J-1 and DS 2019... etc I remembered one thing. The woman who held the presentation that day said: think positive like the Americans do, and you will make it! Ultimately, she was right. But in addition to the positive thinking, a significant amount of time and a strong will is required.

The planning As a student, you are usually advised to have the appropriate international office of your university or technical college help you with the organization. Unfortunately, the people in those offices aren't always competent enough. They only referred me to the internet. Not really a big help. Some application attempts for an internship during my internship semester remained unanswered. Therefore, I decided to first of all finish university and try again after graduation. That is possible. You can participate in the internship program until one year after graduation. That way, I had enough time to plan everything. You need that if you want to make all the deadlines. In case you want to apply for financial support, you need at least one year for that. I have no idea who the application deadlines of some organizations were made for. I, at least, did not know one year in advance whether I would pass all my exams and graduate in time. As a result, scholarships were not an option due to the long planning time. So, I was on my own after all. No support from the international office and all the internet sources only told me one thing - there's nothing you can do if you don't find an internship on your own, unless you want to pay enormous sums of money to be placed by an organization.

Contacts Then I was lucky enough to get to know some US exchange students in my dormitory. My advice to everyone is: use contacts like these. Apart from the fact that you can polish up your own language skills, it is also fun to show them around your own country. I made some good friends like that.

The application At the same time, I had people I could ask about application stuff. Because who knows better how an application to the US should look like than someone actually living there? A good application is vital. And I also happened to find an unpaid employee of my college who was able to help me improve my application. Contrary to all advice, I included a photo in my application. It did not turn out to be a disadvantage. Here is some advice I received myself and found to be quite helpful: don't repeat details from your resume in your cover letter. The cover letter should be used to present yourself - why you want to do the internship, what kinds of positive qualities you bring to the job, you could, for example, point out your obvious flexibility (how many people are flexible enough to just go abroad) and you great motivation to do this specific internship. Above all, you should inform yourself about the company you are applying to and not just send the same standard application to all companies. You can find out a lot via the company's website. Quite frequently you will also find links to newspaper articles about company projects. Then you can, for example, write "I thought your project xy was very interesting." I applied to a company that tests construction material. In my cover letter I pointed out that my college had its own institute for materials testing and that I had already done several laboratory internships there.

Job search in the US - it begins I decided to do the job properly and visited a friend in the US for 3.5 weeks. With me I had 25 applications for local building contractors. You should be prepared for at least 3 weeks for your stay and send the applications far in advance from Germany. The first few days I had enough to do fighting my culture shock and could hardly focus on the job search due to the many impressions. It was very good to have someone who knows his way around and is there to support you. The first company invited me for a job interview after two days already. More interviews followed after I had called all companies again. It is perfectly okay to do that, just point out that you don't want to seem impatient but that you will only be available for interviews for a limited period of time. Just ask them very nicely whether they already had a chance to look at your application. One company first told me they would generally not hire anyone. However, they called me back again later and told me that they had looked at my application and would like to meet me anyway. Good English is, of course, imperative for such a phone call.

The job interview Generally, I was told in all job interviews that they had been worried whether an applicant from Germany was fluent enough in English. But they said they were really impressed with my English skills. In general, I also got good feedback for my application and resume. I had done job training first and several internships during my time as a student. In the US, job training like that in Germany doesn't exist. So I always had to explain what exactly that is. They also don't do as many internships at American universities and also with regard to foreign languages, we have the much better programs. Here is a little advice for the job interview: of course, you should inform yourself about the company before the interview and you should have prepared a number of questions you an ask during the interview. During one interview, they didn't even know what to ask me and I had to talk most of the time. Best bring your diplomas and certificates and think about how to explain them in English. It is quite important to learn the technical terms in English. Fortunately I had learned a lot of vocabulary for testing procedures for soil surveys. And of course I was immediately asked what kinds of testing procedures I know. However, it also okay to ask in case you don't understand something immediately.

Once someone even apologized to me for not speaking German. You will almost always be asked why you think that you would be a gain for the company. Best already prepare an answer for that. You may say, for example, that you are especially motivated and wouldn't travel so far if you didn't really want the position. After the interview I was already told that it looked good and that I should accompany them to the construction site the next week to see how they worked. When I went there the next week, I was immediately handed an employment offer. I should confirm this in written form and everything would be all right. You don't usually get a work contract like those in Germany.

Payment I asked about the hourly wage right away during the first job interview. They told me that interns usually got $12 an hour and this could be increased up to $30. That was a lot more than I had expected. So during my next interviews I didn't hesitate to state $10 as my expected wage and everyone thought that was okay.

The exchange program Back home, the real work began. I had decided upon the program Council Exchanges (CIEE). You really only need an exchange organization to be issued the DS 2019. That is the document you need to apply for the visa.

Until you get that, you have to submit a lot of documentation to CIEE. You should always make sure to inform yourself about all documents they want to have in good time. Here are some of the most important ones:

1. Documentation of your English skills. A letter from you college/university that you took an English class is enough. Generally speaking it is always good to find a professor who can talk to about your plans and who will help you with any such documents.

2. Evidence that you have the financial means to pay for everything yourself. In my case, that wasn't necessary, since I had found a paid internship in the US. It is enough if your parents act as a guarantor and you provide a bank statement documenting that there is enough money available. You should also bring this to your interview at the consulate.

3. The Employer Section, to be filled out by your employer in the US. You should take care of this in good time, since letters from the US may take a while to get back to you. In retrospect I think it might have been better to give this to my employer in the US while I was there. This way, it took quite a long time since it had to go through the main office and several enquiries were necessary. However, everyone at the company was always willing to help me.

The intern/employee regulations Even though I had checked everything ten times and was sure I had submitted everything, there was still one little obstacle before I could be admitted into the internship USA program.

In the Employer Section, they ask for the "number of trainees CURRENTLY working at the company." That's why my company stated the current number of trainees. However, CIEE then informed me that the regulations stated that only ten percent of all employees at the company may be interns or trainees. Otherwise the company could not ensure appropriate supervision and you would be employed as a regular employee. However, my employer informed them that during the time I would spend with them they would only have 1 other trainee and everything could be solved.

So make sure your company states the number of trainees that will be at the company while you are there and that the total number is less than 10%.

The Visa Everything else went smoothly and without any problems. However, I soon learned that the exchange program's promised visa service doesn't apply to all cases anymore.

All applicants who fall under the jurisdiction of the US consulate in Berlin have to take care of that themselves. That is no big deal. The only little annoyance is that you have to call an expensive 0190 number to schedule your interview at the US consulate. During that phone call I was told to bring documentation about my close ties to Germany, e.g. birth certificates from my family or evidence that I am enrolled at college.

Interview in Berlin Of course I was very nervous since it would have been more than disappointing for me not to get a visa after everything I had taken upon myself. However, I worried for no reason. My appointment was early in the morning and I was there way too early because I had been afraid of not finding a parking space right away. That was no problem, however. Since the consulate doesn't open before 8am, I had to wait out in the cold for some time. On the bright side, I was first in line and had a chance to have some nice conversations with some of the other people who were waiting there. They all wanted different types of visas. After I had passed security, I was asked to have my application forms DS 158, DS 156, my passport, my DS 2019 and the payment confirmation for the consular fee ready so that everything would go quickly.

Then I was called to the friendly lady at desk 7 (Editor: unfortunately, she isn't there all the time...) who briefly complained that I had mentioned my postal code under "place of issue" for my passport. After about 15 more minutes of waiting time I was called in for the actual interview. I was interviewed by a really nice American lady. She briefly asked what exactly I was planning to do in the US and then quickly calculated when I was allowed to travel there at the earliest. You can enter the country 30 days prior to the beginning of your internship at the earliest. Then she told me I should wait another 15 to 20 minutes and by then, my visa should be ready. She didn't want to see any of the documents I had been asked to bring during the phone call (Editor: unfortunately, this isn't usually the case) at all. So all in all, the entire appointment didn't take more than 2 hours. I had also booked my flight earlier already, contrary to all advice. So now I am ready to go on February 7. I would be glad to tell you about the further development of my trip from time to time.

One more time to conclude: despite the long way I am glad to have taken this chance and I am sure that everyone who really, really wants it will succeed.