Hi there,

I'm a 22 yr old Aussie female, and my friend and I are heading to the US in August this year - hoping to work and travel our way across the country. However neither of us are qualified in a specialised industry, both having worked heaps in hospitality and retail, and also both unwilling to give organisations thousands of dollars to find us jobs & visas before we leave our home country.

Anyone have any advice on independently getting sponsorship for a H2B visa, or better yet, how difficult is it to do cash work if we just get tourist visas? Sorry if this sort of thing has been asked many times, any advice appreciated.

Cheers! Kobi

Nothing personal, but we have enough people out of work who need jobs. We really don't need a couple of kids here taking jobs just to have a good time travelling. Save money up and just travel the old fashioned way

I like your moxie, but I think what you outline would be difficult considering our high unemployment rate and U.S. law: http://www.usa.gov/visitors/work.shtml

HTTY

I'm sorry but you're not allowed to work in the US - visitors can come to travel or attend school - but it's illegal to work if you've entered as a tourist.

And agree that with the massive unemployment that we have now your chance of

1) finding a job
2) convincing an employer to hire you illegally (if you're discovered they are the ones who have to pay the fine)

is practically nil.

The only options - and this would be illegal, you would have no protection if the employer didn't pay you etc, are either being paid under the table in mostly cash business (ie washing dishes in a restaurant) or as an au pair without any benefits or protection - and can't imagine who would hire you for the latter wthout references.

(I've had friends hire au pairs who entered on tourist visas - but they brought references with them that could be checked, had to live with the family, received room and board and minimal pay - and had extremely limited free time while employed.)

While it might have been possible to breeze in and work in a restaurant or bar for cash in the past, it's harder now. I think you've miscalculated if you think this is going to be easy or even possible with the economy the way it is right now. Same for Canada.

Lots of Australians are hired to work in the national parks or in holiday resort areas for the summer, but I suspect it's already too late for that, and you'd have to commit to more than just a single month. You'd be wanted by the end of May in many cases.

You would not be able to "work and travel your way across the country" on an H-2B visa even if you got one - which would seem highly unlikely to me, given the conditions for issuing them. For one thing, the employer who applies for it must demonstrate that there are not enough US workers "able, willing, qualified, and available to do the job". That does not seem to apply in your case.

But if you DID get one, remember that they are employer- and job-specific. You would need one for EACH place you intended to work. And if you fail to show up for work (either initially or during the term of employment), you are let go, or you complete the work you were hired to do more than 30 days early, the employer must report you to the immigration authorities.

I would also be very leery of working for people who would hire you knowing you did not have a work visa (or not bothering to find out whether you are allowed to work). If they are willing to wink at or ignore labor laws, what does that say about how they might treat you?

"how difficult is it to do cash work if we just get tourist visas?" - maybe you can find a babysitting position, or taking care of an elderly or sick person. Also, apartment cleaning is a popular cash work, but who will recommend you?

Oh, almost forgot. I know somebody who's out of work, she's posing for students in the art institute. Don't know if nude or clothed.

1. As Ozzies, you may qualify for a student visa:

http://canberra.usembassy.gov/consul...udentwork.html

2. You are not going to qualify for an H visa of any sort. Don't even bother.

3. You are not likely to earn enough money to fund your travel. Travel in the US is expensive, plan on at least $120 a day.

4. You may be asked to provide proof of funds when you arrive in the US and present to immigration. The immigration agents may want to see that you already have adequate funds so that you don't work illegally. Be prepared.

Oh - and casual work simply won;t pay enough for your travel. Cash jobs are likely to pay you no more than $50 per day - and a bed in a hostel will be $35 or $40.

In large cities there are "day labor" places, some of which are a little lax in checking credentials - I am a nurse working in inner city areas. Everyone lined up at these places is a young to middle aged male - and jobs are usually heavy manual labor - you would be totally out of place in such a situation, and many of these places have few jobs these days.

I have no idea what employment situation is in Australia at the moment, but the only alternative I can think of is to work like crazy - 60-80 hours/week in Australia until the time of your trip and research cheap ways to travel and pay expenses while here.

What you're proposing to do is illegal and logistically impossible which shows your immaturity. With only 4 weeks, how do you expect to find work in one location let alone "across the country" and also have any time to see anything??? Students who come over to work for the summer do so for ONE job in ONE location for 2-3 months. With the economic downturn, I don't think that's even possible anymore. You'd better rethink this plan.

Well, most of these answers have merit, but the situation is not quite as well-defined as they suggest. In general, it will be harder to find work here than in the UK, where the entire Scottish hotel industry seems to depend on people from Oz and New Zealand doing what you want to do.

There is essentially no way you can work legally: true.

You may well need to show resources when entering the country: also true. Count at least on having to show a return or onward ticket and you may well need access to roughly $100 for each day you plan to be here. The more vague your plans, the more likely you are to have this issue. You don't actually have to spend this money, of course, so maybe a joint account with your parents at home for which you have an ATM card would do.

You are coming at the right time of year because most US univerities go back into session in mid- or late August, and the summer/fall tourist season does not end until later, say mid-October. Thus any employer who needs attractive, well-spoken employees is going to have a gap to fill, and you they may be willing to skip the formalities in desperation, especially since the number of H2B visas has been reduced.

Jobs like this are found in resort areas and areas of natural beauty, just where you want to be. The jobs will move south and to ski areas in the winter and to national parks and coastal areas in the summer. Jobs will vary from restaurants to housekeeping to cleaning to child care to adult day or night care, as suggested above. You may be exploited, even in some legal jobs, but unlike real economic migrants, you aren't facing a lifetime of this.

The problem will be housing. You can't afford a hostel or hotel or apartment of your own on what you will make, so you will need to find a room in someone else's place to sublet. Again, you may find yourself in a miserable situation, but it is temporary and will all sound funny when you are 40 and swapping experiences with friends over a gin and tonic.

Staying overnight with an infirm older person or being a nanny/tutor solves the housing problem, brings in a bit of money and may allow you to have a day job, though it isn't usually an ethical thing to do this for only a couple of weeks, then take off. They wouldn't hire you off the books if they didn't need you badly, so I would expect to offer them a three month commitment unless you are planning only to work as a short-term substitute. Think in terms of three or four three month gigs in different parts of the country, followed by a few months of wandering around.

For the kind of work you would be doing to fund your visit, I wouldn't feel too much guilt about taking jobs away from American citizens. These jobs exist and are filled by others (Jamaicans, Brazilians, Salvadoreans where I live) because they are short-term and in an expensive location and because they are not good enough jobs to support a family to an American standard of living. I would strongly object to your taking these kinds of jobs from Americans in the kinds of areas where Americans are available and will do this work.

Finally, since what you are proposing to do is illegal, you need to be v-e-r-y careful about other illegal activities while you are here, even activities that are tolerated in locals. I refer, of course, to public drunkenness and especially to drug use. In many places, getting caught with a joint is no big deal -- a quick fine. If you are here illegally, it opens a whole list of negative consequences that you don't even want to think about.

So I am not suggesting that you do what you plan -- Europe would be a lot easier -- but many have done it, and these are some of the issues you need to think about.

Given that last I heard Australia is hard core on immigration issues, especially against anyone non-Australian doing work unless there's a crying, strenuously demonstrated need, I'm having a hard time not seeing the OP's clearly illegal request as awfully nervy -- especially when we're in the middle of terrible unemployment in the US. Note that college positions in Australia, for example, routinely say they will consider Australian nationals only, and have done so for years.

I would strongly suggest to the OP that you play it on the up-and-up, and if you're this broke, start working in your own country and saving up for the trip. Then look into hostels and couch-surfing possibilities and eating ultra-cheap if that's all you can manage. There's no shame in being a super-budget traveler. I would not recommend going the "sneak under the table" route.

I personally have no sympathy for those who try to work in the US illegally, no matter the reason, and cannot in good conscience recommend it.

This is OP's first and only post.

I think the question might have just been bait or OP is genuinely clueless or in dreamland somewhere!

Genuinely clueless AND in dreamland, which is where most of us were when we were 22!

The world was different back in "our day". Things have changed so much.

Do what a lot of young New Zealanders do, get a job at a summer camp, or in the winter, you can get visa's for working in the ski industry. These are only temporary, I think 3 months but worth looking in too.

My DD and SIL paid $ 10,000 or so to get their work visa's, which last for 3 years.

Genuinely clueless AND in dreamland, which is where most of us were when we were 22!

I agree! She came here to ask a question -- if what she wants to do is illegal, ok, then tell her so, but why assume she "knew" that before she asked the question. Let's just lock her up now