Summer Work and Travel Prohibited Jobs: The J-1 List of Jobs Sponsors Cannot Place You In

A job offer can look fine and still be one your sponsor is not allowed to approve. The rule that decides it is a list, and you can check any offer against it in a few minutes. The jobs hub shows where this fits in your season.

The short version

1. Check every offer against the list of jobs a sponsor cannot place you in.
2. Send the offer to your sponsor before you reply to the employer.
3. Do not start work until your sponsor has vetted the job.
4. Check the paid weekly hours on your offer.

The full list of jobs a Summer Work and Travel sponsor cannot place you in

22 CFR 62.32 lists the positions that are excluded, and the State Department program page lists them too. Sponsors must not place participants in any of these. The table follows the rule’s wording.

If an offer matches a row, ask your sponsor before you reply to the employer. Sponsors must confirm every placement before you may start work. The job vetting page explains how that check works.

Night shifts and the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. rule

The night-work exclusion covers positions requiring work hours that fall predominantly between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m..

Hours matter for a second reason. Employers must make good-faith efforts to provide the paid weekly hours stated on your job offer. The State Department lists the same duty for host employers. The paid hours on your offer are the hours the sponsor vetted.

Pay-based exclusions

A job that cannot promise minimum wage is out. Substantially commission-based jobs are excluded because they do not guarantee that participants will be paid minimum wage under federal and state standards. So are sales positions that make participants buy inventory they must sell in order to support themselves.

For every allowed job, sponsors must inform participants of federal, state and local minimum wage requirements. They must ensure pay is at least the higher of the applicable federal, state or local minimum wage (including overtime), or pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to similarly situated US workers. Employers must pay eligible participants for overtime under state or federal law. The pay and wages page shows how to read your pay stub against this.

Jobs with risk to you or to other people

Chemical pest control is out. So are jobs as operators or drivers of vehicles or vessels that need a driver’s license, even when no passengers ride along. Pedicab and rolling chair work is excluded by name. Clinical care with patient contact is excluded. So is any position the Secretary of Labor has declared hazardous to youth.

Sustained physical contact jobs, such as body piercing, tattooing, massage and manicure, and gaming or gambling jobs with direct participation in wagering or betting, are excluded too.

Sponsors must also use extra caution with employers in lines of business frequently associated with trafficking persons, for example modeling agencies, housekeeping and janitorial services. The sponsor must also check that your activities match the category on your DS-2019.

Goods-producing industries and staffing agencies

After November 1, 2012, sponsors may not place participants in positions in the goods-producing industry sectors 11, 21, 23 and 31-33 of the North American Industry Classification System.

Staffing agencies are allowed only if the placement meets three criteria. Participants must be employees of the staffing agency and paid by it. The agency must provide full-time, primary, on-site supervision of the participants. It must also effectively control the work sites, with hands-on management responsibility for the participants. Sponsors also may not place participants with employers that fill non-seasonal or non-temporary openings with exchange visitors on staggered vacation schedules.

Employer conditions that also rule out a placement

The employer matters as much as the position. The State Department lists host employer conditions: no layoffs in the past 120 days and no workers on lockout or on strike. Host employers must also not displace domestic US workers at the worksites where participants are placed.

Sponsors and third parties acting for them may not pay or give employers any incentive to accept program participants. Sponsors must verify each potential host employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy or equivalent in each state where a participant will be placed.

Housing and transport are part of the check. Sponsors must consider the availability of suitable, affordable housing and reliable transport to and from work when they approve a job. If the employer provides housing or transport, the job offer must include details of the arrangements, including the cost to you. If the employer does not provide them, the sponsor must actively and immediately help you arrange them. Under 22 CFR 62.10, the sponsor must give you, before you arrive, details of any housing, its expected cost, and any deductions from wages for housing and transport.

Seasonal or temporary: what the rule means

Every allowed job must be seasonal or temporary. Employment is seasonal when the 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. The program is for jobs that need minimal training.

The job must also give you regular communication and interaction with US citizens and a chance to experience US culture. Sponsors must ensure participants have opportunities to work alongside US citizens and interact with them regularly.

Your own time in the program is limited. Participants may take part for up to four months during the long break between academic years, as the Department of State determines. The maximum length of the program is four months. Extensions of program participation are not permitted.

What to do before you say yes to a job

1. Match the position and the hours against the table above.
2. Send the offer to your sponsor. You may not begin work at an initial, replacement or additional job until the sponsor has verified its terms and fully vetted the employer.
3. If you find the job after arriving in the US, the sponsor must vet it within 72 hours.
4. Check the paid weekly hours on your offer. Host employers must make good-faith efforts to provide the hours identified on the job offer.
5. If the employer provides housing or transport, the job offer must spell out the arrangements and the cost to you.

Sponsors will terminate the programs of participants who fail to comply with the program rules. A prohibited job puts your program at risk. A second job needs the same approval, which the second job page walks through.

Duties you keep once the job starts

Your sponsor must give you a copy of the State Department’s Summer Work Travel Participant Letter before you leave. You must notify your sponsor within ten days after you arrive in the United States, and within ten days after you first secure or change a residence. Employers must notify the sponsor promptly when you arrive at the work site to begin.

The sponsor must also monitor the physical location of your activity and your progress and welfare. It must give you an itemized list of all fees you will pay. The sponsor must also ensure that your activities stay consistent with your DS-2019.

Who the program is for

The program is for college and university students enrolled full time at accredited post-secondary institutions outside the United States. Sponsors must confirm that applicants, including final-year students, are enrolled full time at classroom-based academic institutions. Applicants must have completed at least one semester, or equivalent, of post-secondary study.

Sponsors verify English through a recognized test, signed documentation from a school, or a documented interview. Participants not from a visa waiver country must be pre-placed in a job before entry. For participants who arrive without a job, sponsors must ensure they have enough money to support themselves during the search and receive pre-departure information on how to seek work and lodging.