Accommodation:
One of the important items of this program is accommodation.
Questions are asked: Do I have accommodation provided? Where will I live? Who will I live with? How much will I pay for accommodation?
Accommodation is tailored to program participants and their needs in this program. It is mostly student accommodation in which students will be able to rest, take a shower and put their things away after a hard day.
All candidates must be aware that they do not expect luxury in accommodation that will be assigned to them by the employer or organized in some other way.
In rare cases, there are better equipped apartments with a kitchen, terrace, some with a yard (if you are staying in the house), but it depends solely on the employer.
Important items related to accommodation:
- Before leaving, you must know whether the employer provides you with accommodation or you have to take care of the same yourself – guided by the experience of previous seasons, our agency employs candidates for jobs where the employer has included accommodation in the job offer. If you do not have accommodation provided, we will be happy to assist when booking accommodation in the place where you will work. Students usually go to work in tourist places with a high frequency of people during the season. Therefore, accommodation must be requested on time, ie. immediately upon receipt of a job offer.
- Candidates who opt for the Self option of the program are obliged to independently provide accommodation and to inform us about the information related to it, otherwise their job offer would not be approved by the sponsoring agencies. Sponsorship agencies have criteria for approving accommodation for J1 students, so not every registered accommodation needs to be approved.
- If the conditions of accommodation do not suit you during the program, you have the right to change it at any time, but you must first inform the sponsoring agency and report a new address where you will stay during the program. All information regarding the new accommodation must be sent to the sponsoring agency – via the SEVIS program. Accommodation prices depend on the place you go to (prices vary from $ 50- $ 140 per week, and for larger cities such as Boston, prices can be several times above the average accommodation price) and the employer. In some cases, accommodation may be free.
- It is very important that you are familiar with the location of accommodation – use Google search, explore the place where you got the job, view photos, experiences of previous participants, map of places, nearest airports, shops, laundries, banks, hospitals, police station, SSN branches, attractions …. In some cases, it is necessary to rent a bicycle or use public transport to get to work. It is important to know this in advance.
- You maintain hygiene in the space where you live – each candidate is obliged to comply with the conditions of renting, ie renting accommodation. Any non-compliance can lead to the landlord keeping the deposit (in most cases a certain amount is paid up to the amount of one annuity, before entering the accommodation or deducted from the first payment at work) in order to repair the damage caused to the accommodation, home appliances, or hired cleaning staff in case of poor hygiene in the area. If you have complied with the Lease Agreement, the deposit is refunded upon expiration of the Agreement.
- Behave in the assigned accommodation as well as towards your property and your living space, so as not to put yourself in awkward situations due to non-compliance with the rules.
- Tolerance towards family members – be aware that you are going to a cultural exchange program, where you will meet a large number of new people, colleagues, associates, friends who, just like you, came to this program from different parts of the world.
- You will share the accommodation with your colleagues, who have different life habits than you, who are of different cultures, religions, thoughts and for that reason each participant must respect their roommates in every way. Take advantage of this situation to get better acquainted with the customs and culture of other nations and make new friends!
Read the Contracts you sign for rent well – when you sign the Contract it is valid and therefore you and the employer can refer to the Contract at any time if there is a problem. For this reason, read the terms of the Rental Agreement carefully.
An agreement exists to protect both the student and the person renting the accommodation. You need to know what your monthly rent is, what date the rent is paid, what the deposit is, under what conditions it is returned, how you can leave the accommodation before the deadline, whether you have certain consequences, ie penalties for early departure, whether your monthly the amount of rent depends on the number of household members, who you can contact in case something in the accommodation does not work, whether cigarettes are allowed to be consumed in the accommodation….
Useful websites for finding accommodation in USA:
- http://www.studentrent.com/
- http://www.apartmentguide.com/
- http://www.campusrent.com/
- http://www.sublet.com/
- http://www.rent.com/
- https://housing.ucla.edu/
- http://www.roommates.com/
- https://web.allfriends.co/
- https://craigslist.org