Program Eligibility

In order to be eligible to participate in CIEE’s Trainee Program, applicants must meet certain standards of eligibility. These vary slightly depending on each applicant’s specific educational and professional backgrounds.

For Internship USA, the basic eligibility criteria are as follows:

• Applicants must be students enrolled on a full-time basis at a nationally accredited post-secondary institution or recent graduates within 12 months of graduation.
• Applicants must be at least 18 years of age.
• Applicants must have sufficient English language skills to function in a business setting.
• The applicant's academic program/course of study must be at least one year in duration and result in some form of degree, qualification, certification, etc.
• Proposed training program must demonstrate a correlation to the applicant’s program of study or degree area.
• If the applicant has previously participated in an Internship USA program they must show that desired training is not duplicative of previous training or work experience.

For Professional Career Training USA, the eligibility criteria are as follows:

• Trainees must either be graduates of foreign post-secondary institutions with one year of work experience outside the US related to their field of their training, or have five years of relevant work experience outside the US.
• Applicants must have graduated from secondary school.
• Applicants should be between the ages of 20 and 40.
• Applicants must have sufficient English language skills to function in a business setting.
• If the applicant has previously participated in a PCT program they must show that desired training is not duplicative of previous training or work experience. All PCT participants must observe a 2-year hiatus in their home-country before returning on another PCT program.

Acceptable Training Programs

The J-1 Trainee Visa is designed to provide qualified international students and young professionals with the opportunity to gain valuable practical experience in the US in their field of endeavor. To help ensure the quality of these training programs, the US Department of State has created a clear set of program regulations that outlines what represents an acceptable form of training and what does not.

Specifically, this means that Trainees are only permitted to engage in skilled activities at their Host Companies. A skilled activity is defined as something that requires some form of educational and/or theoretical base knowledge in order to be performed. Unskilled occupations, on the other hand, such as work as ‘receptionists,’ ‘clerks,’ ‘cashiers,’ or ‘bartenders,’ are in most circumstances not acceptable elements of a training program.

For a complete listing of unskilled positions, or positions not allowable under guidelines of the J-1 Trainee Visa, please visit the US Department of State website. Certain exceptions may exist in fields such as Hospitality, where training of an “unskilled” nature is part of any standard training program in that field; however, in these cases, training in any unskilled area must be limited in duration and part of a logical, structured program of progression. For more specific information, please contact a CIEE representative.

Additionally, CIEE cannot sponsor Trainees in the following specialty occupations:

• Au pairs, maids or any other domestic work such as baby-sitting or housekeeping
• Camp Counselors
• Medical Trainees or anything involving hands-on therapy, counseling, administering treatment or making diagnoses of medical, psychiatric or psychological conditions
• Pharmacy positions directly related to dispensing medication to patients
• Veterinary Trainees involved in hands-on care of animals
• Pilots or crewmembers on ships or airplanes
• Teachers or educational instructors
• Temporary or staffing agency employees