Foreign Workers in USA

Seasonal business owners have been witnessing a steadily increasing stream of international students coming to work to the United States, usually for a summer period. Many hear their distinct accents and wonder where they come from. Mostly, they are college students from Eastern Europe on a J1 visa. Brazilian, South Asian and Chinese students are in the mix too. J1 students are great workers, adding diversity to the American workplace and promoting cultural exchange. Besides that, here are the four reasons why you should hire J1 students:
J1 visa students work harder. To be fair, most of their American peers are industrious too, but exchange students have more motivation to give their best. They have to work extra to make up for travel and sponsor program expenses. It is harder for a non-native speaker with little cultural experience to find a job, so they appreciate the job they are given and do their best to keep it. Also different work ethics might play a role. Many post-Soviet cultures have a stronger sense of subordination than in Western countries. These workers less often have casual relationships between the employee and the employer, unless it it encouraged by the management. J1 students are under a certain amount of pressure – they are representatives of their country and they know they will leave a lasting impression of their work ethics. Knowledge of this fact can be useful for American employers to boost morale of slacking workers, if such thing happens.
Employers save on taxes. J1 workers are temporary residents and are exempt from Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes. To calculate how much you could save by hiring an exchange student, use this payroll taxes savings calculator. For example, hiring five full-time J1 workers for a 4 month period could save you over $2,000.
J1 workers would love to work extra hours. You can count on a J1 worker for those busy Friday and Saturday shifts. When most of their American peers would call in “sick” because the weather is nice or because the local dance club is hosting a wet T-shirt contest, J1 visa workers would jump at the opportunity to make extra bucks. They would gladly pick up extra shifts during the week or go for a double shift.
They won’t quit before Labor Day. And they can start working before Memorial Day. J1 visa allows its holders to work for up to a four months period plus to use another month for travel. J1 workers usually try to make the most out of their stay and try to arrive early in the season by passing final exams at home universities ahead of time. Traditionally, Fall semester in Russia and other Eastern European countries starts on the First of September. But, international students arrange for their late arrival at their colleges, so they could use all the time allotted in their J1 visas and work through Labor Day.
Diversity.
The purpose of the Work and Travel program is to bring diversity to the workplace. It will be fun to learn about a different country and its culture from the first hands. And you, the employer, by hiring a J1 student will help him or her learn about the United States. You can help someone see the world from the new perspective and make new friends.

Every year thousands of businesses open only to close down a few months later, but some businesses continue to do that year after year.  Summer camps,  resorts, seaside restaurants and cafes  and ski schools – those are typical seasonal businesses that operate for a season or two at most. Such irregular or rather regularly irregular operations schedule forces the owners to let all or most of their employees in the end of the season. Naturally, to begin next season businesses owners and managers have to hire new crews. It often happens that loyal employees keep returning to the same place year after year, but their numbers are negligible compared to hordes of new employees that have to be searched for, selected and trained anew.

Traditionally, college kids and high school students made up the majority of seasonal employees; in the past decade a new breed of seasonal workers  appeared – exchange workers. Increasingly often vacationers hear Eastern European accents from their service providers. Majority of these workers are J-1 students haling mostly from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries.

The question that every person responsible for hiring summer or seasonal staff asks when hiring exchange workers is whether it is worth it.  Let us look at the process of hiring exchange workers, specifically J-1 visa holders. They are usually sophomore and junior college students who come for about four months to the US to work in various seasonal fields. The advantage of hiring these workers is that they usually are more goal-oriented than their American peers. J-1 workers are more willing to work extra shifts, especially on weekends and on holidays and work overtime.  Another reason why many employers like to hire international stuff is that seasonal stafffing agencies do not charge any fees for their services.  So, for a large employer, like a hotel or an amusement park, it is easier to secure enough staff for an upcoming season.  An advantage that agencies like to bring up is that both employers and J-1 workers are exempt from Federal Tax.

But there is also a number of issues that obviously come up when J1 workers are employed. Although most of the workers have a good grasp of English language, some may have trouble comprehending and expressing themselves. In some cases it is just a matter of time and after a short adjustment period students start speaking with more ease. Inevitable part is having to deal with a bit of paperwork before hiring workers – they can only get visa after their potential employer confirms the intent to hire by filling out a form. However, the employer is not obliged to hire workers, although certainly expected to.  In some cases, J-1 workers turn out to be … needy. Coming from a different  cultural background, they may seem to be ignorant about realities of American everyday life.  They will probably ask a lot more questions than your regular workers, but you sure can ask them questions too. This is actually the intent of this program – to exchange cultural experiences and promote tolerance and diversity.