Hiring J1 Student Workers for the 2023 Summer Season

The Upper Valley Business Alliance is working with Interexchange, a nonprofit organization that coordinates bringing foreign student workers to the US on J1 visas for temporary seasonal work. We are exploring the feasibility of bringing a group of foreign students to the Upper Valley to work in the summer of 2023 in restaurants, retail stores and hotels. While we know this will not solve staffing issues, we hope that it will provide some relief to our businesses to have extra help for 3-4 months. 

 

Some facts on the program:

1. Businesses sign up to sponsor a student. Sponsoring the student through Interexchange does not cost the business.
2. Students are foreign college students on their summer break. All speak English. 
3. Students can work in positions such as restaurant servers, dishwashers, table bussing, hotel housekeeping, front desk, retail sales.
4. Students must be paid the same wages as an American worker for the same job.
5. Housing needs to be arranged for the J1s but the students are expected to pay rent. Students pay their own travel arrangements, visas.
6. Timeframe varies but most students arrive in May/June and may work until Aug/Oct. J1s may not work more than 4 months. Timeframes depend on the student and their country of origin. As a business, you may sponsor a student(s) from May -August and another from June/July to October.

We are in the early stages of exploring options, but we are hoping to find a collaborative housing solution for the students, as well as provide coordination on transportation for the students to sign up for social security and coordinate some social events for the students as well. There will be some cost sharing involved. UVBA hopes that by coordinating this as a group, we can make the process easier for our members and pilot an ongoing program to provide seasonal staffing. 
We would also need to know how many businesses would be interested in hiring J1 students and how many students. If interested, please take a quick survey so we can get a sense of how many we would hope to bring to the region and how many will need housing. Click here: https://forms.gle/wS9gKCjSBv4qSeGG6