I may or may not know what I'm doing.
2023-01-02
Note: J-1 exchange visa, intern, IRS, taxes
This is a footnote for the series on the upper year experience at the University of Waterloo.
Today’s topic will be preparing for a co-op in the United States of America (USA) after accepting an offer.
In order to be employed in the USA, you have to have authorization from the USA government in the form of a visa. For students, this would be the Exchange Visitor (J) non-immigrant visa (J-1 visa). The NAFTA USMCA non-immigrant visa (TN visa) is intended for full-time employment, and should not be used.
In order to get a J-1 visa, both you and the employer separately submit paperwork to a visa sponsor, typically Cultural Vistas or Intrax. Your employer will inform you which sponsor they are using, and if they haven’t, you can ask.
The most important paperwork to submit to the visa sponsor is form DS-7002, which is the training plan that your employer fills and signs, and that you verify and sign. Once all the paperwork is done, the visa sponsor will mail you form DS-2019, form DS-7002, and a I-901 receipt, which is part of the paperwork you submit to the USA government to apply for a J-1 visa. You sign form DS-2019 as well (unfortunately, it cannot be electronic).
You should get a message in WaterlooWorksn’t with instructions on what to submit to the visa sponsor. This message may not show up in your UW email, so make sure you check WaterlooWorksn’t (I found this out the hard way :’)).
To obtain the J-1 visa, Canadian citizens (which excludes Canadian permanent residents) go through USA Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Non-Canadians are required to interview with a Consular Officer at a USA consulate or embassy. Depending on wait times, it may be worth going to a different consulate or embassy than Toronto.
You should have the following ready, with paper copy backups if applicable:
Non-Canadians should bring the additional required documents (e.g. form DS-160) for the interview.
Remember to say that you are training/interning at the company! You are NOT working! You are an intern! Don’t call yourself a trainee though, that’s something different.
I am an intern going to the United States to train on a J-1 visa.
In addition to the regular logistics of having to move for a co-op, there are additional details specific to the USA.
Health insurance is required in the USA. OHIP coverage is not enough, so you will need either StudentCare, insurance provided by your employer, insurance provided by the visa sponsor, or some other method.
If you have not opted out of StudentCare, then the Travel Coverage should suffice. If your co-op is in the fall term, then you may need to visit Health Services to get a Conditional Proof of Travel Coverage letter, and you will pay for StudentCare in your next academic term (winter or spring).
For a J-1 visa, you have a 30-day grace period each before and after the dates on your form DS-2019. When you leave after the end date, you cannot re-enter on the J-1 since it has expired.
The USA government no longer stamps passports, and instead issues an electronic form I-94 which you can check on the CBP website. When you’re past CBP, make sure your I-94 has the following:
and that everything else is correct. Otherwise, you will have to get it fixed.
At some airports such as Toronto Pearson (YYZ), you will go through CBP before the flight, so make sure to allocate enough time. Then when you land, you can leave the airport immediately.
There is a mandatory LEARN course called USA Co-op Work Term Readiness that you need to complete before you start your co-op term. It also contains useful information.
Taxes are handled by the USA Interal Revenue Service (IRS). As usual, I am not a tax expert, so make sure you do your taxes correctly.
If you are a nonresident alien on a J-1 visa (most UW students), then you do not pay social security and medicare taxes, and these taxes should not be witheld from your pay. If they are, then tell HR and they should take care of it. If they can’t (e.g. pay is handled externally), you might need to file form 8843 to whoever handles your pay.
Additionally, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will tax whatever is left, so at the end you will be taxed as though you were always in Canada.
If you’re remote, no visa is required. You may be an independent contractor, which means you will owe taxes at tax time.
The important information to take away is information about the J-1 visa and paying USA taxes.
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