Let's go to U.S.A in 7 Steps! Work and Travel USA for Malaysians

Hello, I'm here to share with you about my experience with Work and Travel U.S.A.

I got this opportunity by following a Work and Travel Programme to USA and I'm gonna run you through all the processes and cost that I had to spend. So, this is gonna be long as it all about the cost and process. Hopefully I'll be able to share more fun stuff in the next post.

Firstly, this post is about HOW I got there...being able to stay longer and cheaper as I had to fund the whole travel on my on account. Therefore, cost was very important to me. Some of you may be considering to join the next summer or winter programme so I hope that my experience going there will somehow give you a clue or two before you decide. 

1. I joined Work and Travel U.S.A (WAT) through an agent

There are 3 well established agents that I know of. I'm not sure if there are others, but all the people that I know previously who went and came back alive, well and happy took one of these three agents. I'd suggest you to make your research and follow a legit agent to ensure that you don't end up....nobody knows where....

Click on the link to see more!

i) Speedwing - Work and Travel USA

ii) Out of the Box - Facebook is more updated OOTB Facebook

iii) Infinity Abroad - Subscribe to their e-mail for more updated news/jobs Work and Travel USA

They also provide internship and other places for Work and Travel such as Canada but lets not get out of topic. 

I chose Out of The Box not because that they were the best or the most popular one but mainly because by the time that I made the final decision to go, Speedwing did not have any more employers offered at the places that I wanted. Out of the Box managed to land into their upcoming employer listing that was not posted by Speedwing yet. It was just a matter of job availability and the location that I wanted to go. I wanted Bromley...because they had awesome benefits like accommodation, free bus to town and entertainment but they were taken up so fast, the employer was out in the speed of light. Remember FIRST COME FIRST SERVE. The fastest usually gets the best ones.

2. Eligibility

You can check on the eligibility on their website, but the main gist of it is that you have to be an undergraduate or a fresh graduate within the 6 months of course completion. So, this means that this is my last chance to join WAT since I completed my studies in July 2016. If you have a 3 month break, you can keep joining until you graduate. By that time, you will probably be sick and tired of USA already. If you have passed your uni days, I think New Zealand goes up to 30!

Check when can you go!! 

WAT is only available twice a year:

Summer	25 May – 15 Sep + 1 month travel
Winter	25 Nov – 15 Mar + 1 month travel

Other than that, you need to go as a tourist and spend a gazillion. 

That's why I choose WAT. The money I earned can hopefully cover my cost and I could stay longer and live the culture there itself. I would have loved to join the summer one, but it would be off my eligibility so I'm left out in the cold winter...

3. Choose your Employer, Job and Location

Contact all the agents that you know and they will e-mail you a list of updated employers, type of jobs and the locations and technically everything you need to know. The reason I chose to go with an agent is because it was my first time, With an agent, they gave me the guidelines to apply and could connect to to the employers. It was also one of the ways I could meet other participants going to the same place to share living costs.  

Nature of business of employers:

Theme park or waterpark	Fun place. Sociable students would love it here. Large selection of jobs. Although you may have a preference employer will place you depending on their needs and your skills.
National park	For nature lover. Remote areas not close to shopping malls but there are nearby towns for day trips. Beautiful scenic area. Hiking is the main day-off activity. There are always student activities going on in the week. The US countryside is a lot more hospitable than Malaysia countryside.
Restaurant/ fastfood	Usually located in busy holiday area. Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment, matured and with great personality. Work can be challenging.
Hotel / Inn	Usually located in busy holiday area where 2nd job opportunity is plenty.

Warning: I will not choose theme park during winter. At my working area, it got so cold that even working indoors was tough. Winter is not easy for us who stayed in the warm and tropical country. However, I do know a couple of friends who work outdoors during the winter and survived. It just depends on your durability during the cold.

I finally chose to work in a hotel because of higher chances to find a second job looking at my own financial situation. I wanted Yellowstone National Park (everybody wants Yellowstone), but they never hire in the winter.

I worked with Waldorf Astoria, Park City because:

i) Good reviews from previous seniors

ii) Hot HOT tourist location (opportunity for second jobs and more fun activities to do), hopefully bigger tips (please do not set high expectations)

iii) Indoor working environment for a person that's scared of the cold like me

iv) Park City around 30 to 45 minutes to Salt Lake City, not too city like and not to suburban which is what I am looking for
v) Free shuttle around Park City! (save on transportation costs)

vi) Why doesn't Yellowstone open during winter :(

Remember, PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR EMPLOYER WISELY. 

You would be spending the next 4-5 months of your life there and far away from your momma and papa so they ain't gonna be there to pat your butt to sleep if you end up hating your life and job. Some would only choose employers on the west or east depending on their one month free travel plans but some (me me me!) wouldn't mind as long as I like the employee benefits and the environment. 

Moreover, some employers do not provide accommodation and you have to find yourself which could be more troublesome. So, you need to be prepared for the consequences of your choices. 

You can choose up to 3 employers that you like and then fill in a google sheet, the agent will try to accommodate your options and will inform you with new employers and if the one that you want is already filled.

Jobs Alert:

Please take note that the jobs you are taking up are seasonal jobs, so it's not going to be like working as an intern in a bank. But it ranges from a host, server, server assistant, dishwasher or room attendant  for my experience in a hotel. Therefore, working life will be really tough!

People have told me that it would be a waste of my time going because I'll end up like an immigrant worker with a job that has no added value. But technically I've set my mind to this and I just accept their opinions and never felt that I made the wrong decision. 

4. Resume and Confirmation

If you have seen the bright side of this and wish to proceed, you will to fill up a resume form that they have set up a template for you. Once you have everything confirmed, you can make a confirmation payment of  . This amount will not be returned to you but will be deducted from the full payment (haha! you wish la the fee RM400 only!!) to agent later on.

5. Scheduled Interviewed, Job Offer and Full Payment

The agent will set you up with your employer for a face to face interview. It can be through Skype but for me the employer came all the way to Malaysia and gave us a briefing about the Hotel and interviewed us. Unfortunately, I didn't get the post that I wanted but I accepted another position they offered me because...my point is just getting to USA. I don't mind taking a tougher job and to be honest I'm willing to try out anything new. 

Psst...the agent will give you tips on the interview ;)

After receiving your job offer, you will need to make full payment to the agent as below:

USD1 = RM4.06 – 4.15
Programme fee	4235
SEVIS Fees	145
Visa fee	656
Deduct paid deposit	(400)
TOTAL	4,636

I paid another RM40 extra because the currency was being a B****. 

The programme fee also covers your insurance in the U.S.A so that was another plus point. They liase with another agent in the USA that will keep tabs on you when you are there and provide guidelines for you to seek for help when you are there. All will be briefed before you leave.

The fee might change in the future if they decided to up the fee. 

To be honest, I think that the programme fee is quite expensive (especially if it's from your own pocket). 

However, it's still considered a safer and cheaper option rather than going on your own and handling everything on your own. 

Maybe, if you have joined the programme once and would like to handle the next one yourself then you would save probably another RM3000 or RM4000 depending on how much they really earn from you. I might be wrong but I heard that Infinity Abroad actually offers a lower fee, so check that out too!

6. U.S.A Visa Application

There will be an online visa application form which you will need to fill in, but Out of The Box has provided us with proper and quite detailed guideline in filling it. 

They actually prepared a separated excel form to fill in all the necessary details and all you have to to is just copy and paste into the online server. 

You can schedule your visa according to the date of your convenience if you tell the agent and off you go to the embassy!

The embassy has strict rules, I'd prefer to arrive early to get better parking opportunities. But all in all, it takes around 2 hours for me to get my visa approved. Just make sure you filled the forms correctly, bring the right documents and answer the question honestly.

Because its an undergraduate programme, I think that the chances of your visa getting rejected is very low as you will have a job there (so you won't die of starvation) and the visa has a limit of 5 months maximum. The fact that you must come back to Malaysia after ending you visa will get you approved quite easily. 

7. Almost there, get your flight tickets!

Few Guidelines on getting flight tickets:

i) Scout through a flight scanner. I used KAYAK because it was recommended by my aunt, and its quite user friendly to me as I can filter through airlines, price and location. I've never actually tried other websites because this was good enough to get me what I wanted. I had other friends who also tried other third party websites and we all saw that China Southern offered the best deal.

ii) Try not to buy from third party website. Even though you used the third party website to check on the prices, try not to buy from there because there are many instances that people buy and something happens along the way and you have to play the blame game over and over again which is a waste of time, energy and frustration. Instead, check out the prices and buy straight from the airline. Third party websites will show you which airlines and go straight to that airline to buy. 

You can check out my friend, Wannie's Blog experience. She had a bad time after buying from Expedia and also recommends buying from the airline itself.

iii) Buy as early as you can!! The earlier, the better the rates. I was only lucky as the day that I wanted to fly had the lowest price. If I bought any later, the price would have shoot up way more, from few hundred to a thousand.

iv) Go according to what you prefer. If you prefer comfort then you can go with Japan or Korean Airlines which many of other participants followed. But when I checked the prices, they were wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more expensive ranging from RM6000-RM7000. Not sure if it was my noob searching skills or that I'm just really poor.

I finally settled with the most cheapo one i could get which is China Southern at RM4003.00 for a return trip. Many people have been telling me it's a good buy! But of course, I'm expecting it to be uncomfortable and bad service with the price I'm paying.

We bought it at the office itself because nobody picked up when I called. Bad sign of service even before buying already!!!!

As you can see....our layover in Guangzhou is 24 hours and they provided us with accommodation. We could have take another 12 hour layover option but that would risk us of dying of boredom. So at least we could get a glimpse of Guangzhou, get some rest and continue with the long haul the following day. 

Cost up to here

In total now I have spent:

Confirmation Fee	400
Programme Fee Total	4,636
Currency Fluctuation	40
Air ticket	4,003
TOTAL (RM)	9,079

But wait....looks so cheap but its not. There are other things you need to take into account some of them which are housing deposit, rental, winter clothings, USD preparation. I'll talk more about this in my next post in a week to give you a better picture of things that need to be bought and brought there also. But I would say if you would need at least RM15000 to be able to fully afford to follow the WAT U.S.A programme.