Volunteering in the USA

[165721]

Hi

I have been directd here from "Introduce yoursefl".

I am a UK citizen looking in the the short term is to spend some time in the USA, and I have agreement from a chap who is happy for me to spend a few weeks with him helping him getting handle on what he does, and lending a helping hand.

There is absolutely no remuneration, lodging, food, travel, nothing. I will be paying my way every step of that way. I want to know what the rules are regarding volunteering, as it's pretty hard to find anything definitive. Is it possible to do this kind of thing on the VWP? Is there a specific visa for this type of thing? Etc, etc!

In terms of timing, I would plan to go there in Mid August, after a few weeks in either the Caribbean or Fiji (if the other half of my plan comes off).

Please ask any questions you need answering, I'm new to this so guessing at useful info.

Jack

[peter gold]

You come like any other visitor on the I-94 visa waiver program.
Please remember before you travel to register on line
You can stay for up to 3 months.

[byjove]

If you get your PhD Could you not apply for the exceptional person visa and get over that way?

[165721]

Well that sounds fairly straightforward. I had heard that one couldn't do anything "constructive" in the volunteer role under the VWP, and this is what made me wonder about whether I could actually travel under the VWP.

[165721]

If you get your PhD Could you not apply for the exceptional person visa and get over that way?

Lovely to be thought of as an exceptional person!! What does that involve? Sponsorship? Does one need to have a paid position for applying for that?

[Ray10]

Well that sounds fairly straightforward. I had heard that one couldn't do anything "constructive" in the volunteer role under the VWP, and this is what made me wonder about whether I could actually travel under the VWP.

You cannot do anything that would normally be a paid job

So if the work would normally done by a volunteer ..i.e. a soup kitchen worker
or for a charity that would be ok

Helping a man rebuild his barn would not ..

Even mothers who have arrived and said they have come to help the daughter with a new baby have been refused entry ..that was considered work... of course that is extreme ..but its happened

[byjove]

I think Peter may know more on the subject but I think its an "o" visa?????

[165721]

You cannot do anything that would normally be a paid job

So if the work would normally done by a volunteer ..i.e. a soup kitchen worker
or for a charity that would be ok

Helping a man rebuild his barn would not ..

Even mothers who have arrived and said they have come to help the daughter with a new baby have been refused entry ..that was considered work... of course that is extreme ..but its happened

That's what i thought, but how can one decide whether it would normally be a paid job if no such job exists in the organisation???

[InnVic]

If your plan is to only be here for a few weeks (less than 90 days) then the easiest thing to do is to just say your visiting friends or on vacation. As long as you can prove you have sufficient money to fund you stay (regardless of if you use it or not) Only caveat would be if you were travelling with a toolkit, or the position involved some high profile exposure (TV media) or some other dead giveway.

[165721]

If your plan is to only be here for a few weeks (less than 90 days) then the easiest thing to do is to just say your visiting friends or on vacation. As long as you can prove you have sufficient money to fund you stay (regardless of if you use it or not) Only caveat would be if you were travelling with a toolkit, or the position involved some high profile exposure (TV media) or some other dead giveway.

To be honest that's the conclusion I was coming to. My only toolkit is in my head and at the end of my arms, and I will be avoiding any exposure!! Maybe it would even be pertinent to not use my title? How do you prove the thing about money, do they ask to see bank statements when you enter if you are staying for an extended period of time?

[InnVic]

Hi Jack I just read your post on the other thread - if your only going to be in the US for a few weeks then its not a problem. I had thought you may have been talking about a couple of months. They won't ask, say your visiting friends/vacation, smile sweetly and don't worry about it. I realise your a marine biologist, so pardon the pun, but I seriously think they have bigger fish to fry!:D

[165721]

Hi Jack I just read your post on the other thread - if your only going to be in the US for a few weeks then its not a problem. I had thought you may have been talking about a couple of months. They won't ask, say your visiting friends/vacation, smile sweetly and don't worry about it. I realise your a marine biologist, so pardon the pun, but I seriously think they have bigger fish to fry!:D

By a few weeks I was thinking up to the limit (i.e. not a few months)... But in that time I hope to have a break from the volunteering to go and see some friends and contacts around the area. Do you have to prove you have a return flight on your passage into the States? The reason I ask is that I will be going to the States in May, then from the USA to a deployment somewhere in the Caribbean or Fiji, then back to the States and home a few weeks (12) later... If I got a return flight on my leg TO the States, then it would look as if I was staying for 5 months! But I would be leaving in that time for 9 weeks... Sorry for the complication. Maybe they need to be dealt with separately...?

[Bayfield]

You need an onward ticket, so to Fiji or wherever you are going to.

As has been said the job does not need remuneration to be classified as working.

[165721]

Onward ticket, no problems. There appears to be no concensus of opinion on the topic of the volunteering I am planning to do. This is the problem I was encountering before, no one can decide what to do!

[Bayfield]

Generally it is pretty clear, what are you doing?

[165721]

As per the first post, and I am going to VA to do help out at Virginia Aquarium (behind the scenes). The reason I say there is no consensus is that in this thread alone I've been told VWP, exceptional person, that i can't do anything that would normally be paid (if there isn't a job how can it be paid ??)... I need to decipher whether I can come as a tourist and keep my head down or whether I NEED to apply for a visa?

[Ray10]

As per the first post, and I am going to VA to do help out at Virginia Aquarium (behind the scenes). The reason I say there is no consensus is that in this thread alone I've been told VWP, exceptional person, that i can't do anything that would normally be paid (if there isn't a job how can it be paid ??)... I need to decipher whether I can come as a tourist and keep my head down or whether I NEED to apply for a visa?

If its a commercial enterprise ..its working ...

but for a few weeks who would know if you happened to pop in there regularly ..you like fish ..

[InnVic]

Its a technicality....if you ask at the Embassy or POE they will probably say no - ask 80% of the Irish folk working the bars in Boston and they'd say no problem! Who is going to know if you say nowt! There are MANY people who use WV for purpose such as this - just get your story right. After all its not as if your taking anything from the US - you're contributing - but we all know how the little Hitlers in charge of letting folk across the borders wouldn't be able to see that!

[165721]

So are we coming to a concensus of saying nothing? I am there for 89 days (got to give myself time to leave!), first of all going on a weeks course in NC (this is unrealted to the volunteering but hsppens to be at the same time) and then travelling on to visit friends in Virginia (I do actually have friends in Virginia) for an extended break. I may actually also pop and see some other friends in New York for a few days at some point. What kind of information will they ask for. The other times I've been there it's only for a week...and I wasn't fearful of getting thrown in jail!!

[lxh11]

This is like watching paint dry!:) If you get thrown in jail, it's just another adventure. No doubt if you ask enough people, you'll get the answer you are looking for, but by now you'll have realized, that for every "what if", there is a different scenario. So, go on, be daring 165721 and just do it.

[165721]

This is like watching paint dry!:) If you get thrown in jail, it's just another adventure. No doubt if you ask enough people, you'll get the answer you are looking for, but by now you'll have realized, that for every "what if", there is a different scenario. So, go on, be daring 165721 and just do it.

OK... I'll have to practice my non wobbly voice, but those people always make my voice go wobbly!! Thanks everyone!