Common J-1 Summer Work and Travel Jobs: Lifeguard, Resort, Retail and More

A 2015 review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that in 2014 about 79,000 participants worked up to 4 months in jobs such as lifeguard, cashier and resort worker. This page lists the common ones, what each pays nationally, and the jobs the rules rule out. The jobs hub covers the steps around them.

The short version

1. Check that the job is seasonal or temporary.
2. Check that the job is not on the list of jobs the program does not allow.
3. Arrange your job before you enter the USA unless you are from a visa waiver country.
4. Do not start work until your sponsor has vetted the employer.

What makes a job eligible

A job qualifies when it is seasonal or temporary and gives you regular contact with Americans. Sponsors may place participants only in jobs that are seasonal or temporary and that provide opportunities for regular communication and interaction with US citizens and allow participants to experience US culture.

The rule defines both words. Employment is seasonal when the required service is tied to a certain time of the year by an event or pattern. It is temporary when the employer’s need is a one-time occurrence, a peak load need or an intermittent need.

Three more limits shape the list. The job may not require licensing, may not be on the program exclusion list, and may not belong to another specific J visa category, such as Camp Counselor, Trainee or Intern. Sponsors may not place participants with employers that fill non-seasonal or non-temporary job openings with exchange visitors on staggered vacation schedules. And host employers must not have had layoffs in the past 120 days or have workers on lockout or on strike.

Common jobs and what they pay nationally

The table shows national medians for all US workers in each occupation. It does not predict your offer. Each row names its data month, and the months differ, so compare with care.

Your own pay floor is set by the program, not by these medians. Participants must be paid at least the higher of the federal, state or local minimum wage. The pay and wages page shows how that works, and the where students work page lists state rates.

Lifeguard jobs

Federal data file lifeguards under occupation 33-9092, a category that monitors recreational areas, such as pools, beaches or ski slopes, to provide assistance and protection to participants. In May 2023 about 123,560 people worked in the category, with a mean hourly wage of $15.07. The 25th percentile wage was $12.57, the 75th was $16.97 and the 90th was $18.82.

Where the work is: local government employed 42,140 and other amusement and recreation industries 32,940. Traveler accommodation employed 7,550, and amusement parks and arcades 7,280.

Training is part of the job. The Red Cross requires everyone in its lifeguarding course to complete a swimming skills prerequisite first. The assessment includes a swim-tread-swim and a timed event sequence. A Red Cross lifeguarding certificate is valid for 2 years. As with any job, the sponsor must vet the position before you start. The job vetting page explains that check.

Resort, hotel and amusement jobs

GAO listed hotels, restaurants, retail stores, ski resorts and theme parks as typical employers. Amusement and recreation attendants perform a variety of attending duties at an amusement or recreation facility. Their median pay was $14.13 per hour in May 2023, with the 10th percentile at $10.31 and the 90th at $18.31. Amusement parks and arcades employed 69,610 of them, and other amusement and recreation industries 178,100.

Housekeeping follows hotels. Traveler accommodation employed 397,640 maids and housekeeping cleaners in May 2023, the most of any industry. The median was $16.08 per hour. The rules add care here. Sponsors must use extra caution when placing students at employers in lines of business frequently associated with trafficking persons, and the rule names housekeeping and janitorial services as examples. If a housekeeping job pays by the room, the sponsor must make sure your earnings at the end of each pay period at least equal the predominant local wage, supplementing your pay if not.

Restaurant, cashier and retail jobs

Waiters and waitresses work in restaurants, bars, hotels and other food-serving and drinking establishments. In establishments that offer seasonal employment, they may be employed for only a few months each year. The national median wage was $16.23 in May 2024, and those figures include tips. Tipped employees earn at least the federal minimum wage, paid as a combination of direct wages and tips, depending on the state.

The federal tip rules set a floor for the cash part. An employer must pay a tipped worker at least $2.13 per hour, and the maximum tip credit an employer can currently claim is $5.12 per hour.

Other food service jobs include taking and preparing orders, clearing tables and serving food and drink to customers. Most of these workers get their earnings from hourly wages alone, even though some earn tips.

Cashiers process payments and disburse money in retail settings. Retail sales workers sell merchandise, spare and replacement parts and equipment to customers. They sometimes pick up additional shifts, particularly during holidays and other peak sales periods. Sales jobs have one catch: positions that are substantially commission-based are excluded, because they do not guarantee minimum wage.

Jobs the program does not allow

Sponsors must not place participants in:

• domestic help positions in private homes, such as child care, elder care, gardener or chauffeur;
• any position in the adult entertainment industry;
• positions related to clinical care that involves patient contact;
• positions that require sustained physical contact with other people, such as body piercing, tattooing, massage or manicure;
• positions as operators or drivers of vehicles or vessels for which drivers’ licenses are required, and as pedicab or rolling chair drivers;
• positions in chemical pest control, warehousing, and catalogue or online order distribution centers;
• positions involved in gaming and gambling that include direct participation in wagering and betting;
• positions with travelling fairs or itinerant concessionaires;
• positions requiring work hours that fall predominantly between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.;
• sales positions that require you to buy inventory that you must sell to support yourself.

The full list, with the other exclusions, is on the prohibited jobs page. The rule text is in 22 CFR 62.32.

Other J-1 programs with work

In 2015 the GAO counted 14 component programs in the J-1 Visa Program, Summer Work Travel among them. The others include Au Pair, Camp Counselor, Intern and Trainee. A job that belongs to another specific J category cannot be filled through Summer Work Travel. A camp counselor job, for example, goes through the Camp Counselor category, not this one. The Summer Work Travel page is for college and university students enrolled full time and pursuing studies at post-secondary accredited academic institutions located outside the United States.

Before you accept any of them

Run the offer through three checks. First, if you are from a country outside the Visa Waiver Program, your job must be arranged before you enter: participants must be pre-placed in a job prior to entry unless from a visa waiver country. Second, do not start work until the sponsor has verified the terms and fully vetted the host employer. Third, if you find a job after arrival, the sponsor must vet it within 72 hours. The finding a job page covers the search itself.