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Changes in Work/Travel regulations

June 22, 2011 

Greetings from your International YMCA family!! As you may already know, the U.S. Department of State has issued new Summer Work & Travel J-1 visa regulations which have recently been published and will go into effect on July 15th, 2011. We want to make sure you are aware of what these changes mean to you as a trusted employer of YMCA sponsored J-1 work & travel participants.
                                                                                                                                  
What follows is a summary of the regulations and how they will affect you:
 
Employer and job offer vetting: As the J-1 visa sponsoring organization, the YMCA will continue to vet each employer and confirm each job offer before sponsoring participants. Additionally, we must obtain and verify the Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can provide your EIN # to the YMCA as soon as you receive this message in order for your employer file to be updated.  

Participants must validate in SEVIS within 10 days of arriving to the U.S.: Employers will be asked to assist participants in ensuring they validate their arrival and U.S. residence with the International YMCA within 5 days of arriving to the United States. Failure to validate will result in participant’s programs being cancelled.
 
The YMCA will also verify that the employer meets state-specific Worker’s Compensation requirements: You can provide us your Worker’s Compensation insurance policy number or proof that you are exempt from Worker’s Compensation requirements.
 
No Third Parties in fulfilling core programmatic functions in the United States: All monitoring of the program participants while on the J-1 visa must be done by the International YMCA as a visa sponsor.
  • Participants and employers will hear directly from YMCA at least once a month throughout the duration of the program, and
  • YMCA staff will continue to be available 24/7 (through our Toll Free number) +1 (888) 477-9622 to ensure all participants and employers have the best possible YMCA Work & Travel experience.
 
Employers to notify sponsor immediately when participants arrive & any changes in employment conditions: As the employer, we need your help to notify the International YMCA when participants arrive at your site so that their visas are validated on a timely manner.
  • The YMCA must also be notified about any changes to employment conditions or if any issues affecting the participant should arise (e.g. sickness, performance issues, change of job assignment or job location, etc.).
 
The International YMCA is always available to assist and support you as an employer of YMCA sponsored J-1 Work & Travel participants. Our team would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have and we look forward to hearing from you!
 
Thank you so very much for choosing to work with the International YMCA!
 
Yours in Service,
 
Dio Gica
Executive Director
INTERNATIONAL YMCA
5 West 63rd Street – 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10023 U.S.A.
(P) +1.212.875.4336 (F) +1.212.724.2344
(E) dgica@ymcanyc.org  (W) internationalymca.org
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