Do not wait 'a few weeks' before trying to get a social security number. You do have to be in the country for 10 days before you can apply, but apply immediately after that.
You can't be paid without a social security number.
How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#22Having recently returned back to school after an 8mo internship in SF on a J1, your write-up sounds pretty much spot on! I'll make sure this gets added to our school's collection of documentation that gets sent out to co-ops going to SF/NY/etc. each term. A couple of things worth mentioning, though: - Rent at $1k/mo for rent is (now) hard to find unless you're living in a living room or a slum. Prices for my friends…
Thanks, I'll add some of these notes later. I was also pinged about UWaterloo's unofficial guide earlier today and it's listed in links, overall good stuff about living and practicalities.
I know that J1 process is relatively simple compared to other visa types but it still takes a lot of time. I originally wrote this guide as I couldn't find a good resource and I was the first student from my school to get the J1 for a startup internship.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#23Do not wait 'a few weeks' before trying to get a social security number. You do have to be in the country for 10 days before you can apply, but apply immediately after that. You can't be paid without a social security number.
Sure you can. You can get a TIN instead. Non-citizens shouldn't be able to get a SS number.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#24Do not wait 'a few weeks' before trying to get a social security number. You do have to be in the country for 10 days before you can apply, but apply immediately after that. You can't be paid without a social security number.
This was a mistake from my part, corrected.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#25I wonder how hard it is to get a TN visa (NAFTA)...
Fairly easy if your job description fits into one of the 13 designated jobs and you are from North America. Computer Systems Analyst and Graphic Designer are two that can work for startups - but whatever you do, do not include "programming" or "programmer" in your job description or tell the border agent you are a programmer. "Programming" or "programmer" is a huge red flag for the TN-1.
In fact, Microsoft brings on a lot of Canadian developers via TN Computer Systems Analyst and outright tells them to lie at the border and say they don't do any programming.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#26Do not wait 'a few weeks' before trying to get a social security number. You do have to be in the country for 10 days before you can apply, but apply immediately after that. You can't be paid without a social security number.
Sure you can. You can get a TIN instead. Non-citizens shouldn't be able to get a SS number.
> Non-citizens shouldn't be able to get a SS number
...nope, anyone employed in the US can get a social number. If you are not employed, but still have some form of taxable income (i.e, a scholarship) you can get a taxpayer identification number instead.
Citizenship is not required for a SSN - trust me, I know!
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#27Do not wait 'a few weeks' before trying to get a social security number. You do have to be in the country for 10 days before you can apply, but apply immediately after that. You can't be paid without a social security number.
Sure you can. You can get a TIN instead. Non-citizens shouldn't be able to get a SS number.
J1 visa holders are instructed to get SSN, it's not limited to citizens at all.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did the J-1 trainee program for 18 months and went into an H1B from that. It was ideal for me because I came right out of school without work experience and it made the process very easy. One downside was that I had to stay in the US between filing for H1B status and receiving it (you file in the spring, but get the status on October 1st) because the H1B is a dual intent visa (meaning you can state that you want to…
The J1 trainee program sounds really interesting (as I'm currently out of education for > 12 months and therefore ineligible for the J1 intern program). According to the j1visa.state.gov site one of the requirements for the J1 trainee program is: "Has five years of work experience outside the United States in the occupational field in which they are seeking training" Did you meet this criteria or manage to circumvent…
I owned my own company throughout university so I just got letters of reference from customers (aka my friends) that vouched for the work I did.
Remember, rules are made to be.. um fitted to your needs.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#29I had a similar story. And de facto I've heard such advice, but from a group of people - it's nice to see it grouped. I would add one point: you DON'T need a _local_ representative of CIEE. I did it with a US-based one, http://culturalvistas.org/ (I guess there are more).
Added a note about this. I think there's quite a lot of these but not sure how startup friendly most of them are.
Re: How to intern in Silicon Valley with a J1 visa
#30What I find interesting though, is that OP went from interning at a YC company, to founding one. Would love to learn more about that process, and the visa situation throughout, since I don't think you can be founding companies and getting investment on a J1 visa.
I interned with a big company this summer that had an established J1 process (Microsoft), so didn't have to deal with a lot of these hassles - they organised the J1 visa and sent me SEVIS papers that I simply took to the embassy in London, and got my visa approved after a 2 minute interview. They organise housing and give you a rental car or bike based on your preference. The biggest worry for me was that they may incorrectly apply the 'home country physical presence' requirement, since India lists every single possible skill as wanted. Still, it's interesting to learn that the process is still doable for small startups without the same resources, in case I need it in the future.