Study in United States – IELTS Test Centers

Trainee stay

If you have a vocational education, you can go on a trainee stay, ie. a combined further education and work stay for 6-18 months. To be considered for a trainee stay you must:

be a Danish citizen between the ages of 21 and 30.
be completed in a given subject, e.g. carpenter, shipping or agriculture.
have 2 years of work experience in your subject after graduation.
could speak English well enough to handle your trainee job.
have funds to pay for travel, health and accident insurance in connection with the trainee stay.

Trainees most often receive a salary to cover the cost of living. You are paid backwards, and you must therefore bring approx. $ 1,500 (approximately $ 9,000) to cover expenses in the first month. If the position is unpaid, you must be able to document that you have sufficient funds to cover the cost of living during the entire trainee stay.

Visa for an internship in the USA

Internships in the USA give young Danes the opportunity to improve their skills in their subjects in the USA and at the same time become more acquainted with American society and culture. But you must have a visa for an internship. Fulbright Denmarkhas a page on how to apply for a visa as an intern / internship. Alternatively, you can contact IBA Kolding, Sanne Nielsen, snn@iba.dk, 72241811, or MyEducation, who can also help with visas for internships. You must be prepared for the fact that this type of visa, J-1, costs around DKK 7,000 for half a year. Read more about J-1 visas here

Summer courses

Many universities in the United States create short courses in the summer for both U.S. and foreign students. Courses are offered in e.g. language, culture, social conditions and also in university subjects, which can form part of a study. The US State Department has a website with information for foreign students, where you can find a list of educational institutions in the US.

There is also a summer course in American society, which is aimed specifically at Scandinavian teachers in all kinds of subjects. The course takes place every summer and lasts 3 weeks. It costs approx. DKK 8,000 plus travel costs.

The course is organized by The Thanks to Scandinavia Institute in American Studies for Scandinavian Educators at Luther College in Iowa

DK-USA program

Denmark and the USA have made an agreement on the exchange of pupils, students and teachers in the vocational educations and the short higher educations.

Through the DK-USA program, students from the vocational educations and students in the short higher educations can get an internship in American companies. Students from the computer science program and the multimedia designer program can also apply for scholarships for study stays at American community colleges.

Internship supervisors at educational institutions and in companies can also apply for grants to find internships in the United States.

The program is administered and coordinated by the Danish Agency for Research and Education, where you can get more information about the program.

High school

If you are under 18, you have the opportunity to come on an exchange stay at an American high school. In the USA, you go to school up to and including the 12th grade, and high school makes up the 9th – 12th grade. A high school stay typically lasts a year, where you live with a host family and attend the local school.

There are a number of organizations that arrange exchange stays in the United States. You also have the option of receiving a grant for the exchange stay if the stay lasts more than 10 months and if you travel with an approved exchange organization. See more on the page How to get advice

High level athletes

There is a website specifically for athletes who would like to combine their sport with studies in the United States, see International student athletes

Housing

There are dormitory rooms adjacent to most educational institutions. The whole area with university and housing is called campus, and here are also student canteens and shops. Most first-year students choose to live on campus, and at several universities this is a requirement.

When you receive information material from the institutions, you usually also receive information about the housing conditions on campus. Prices vary widely. Board and lodging on campus is a minimum of 5,000 US dollars (approx. 30,000 kroner) per year. One should be aware that housing contracts on campus are often binding year-round contracts.

At most institutions, there is a housing office with a Housing Officer who helps students find housing.

Insurance

Many universities have compulsory health insurance. However, these insurances do not cover everything, and you must therefore take out private health insurance with extended coverage.

Most companies in the United States have insurance policies for their staff.

Work Visa

It is almost impossible to get a work visa to the United States, which is a shame if you walk around with the dream of working in the United States for a longer or shorter period of time. However, there are still options:

One of the options is to take on a so-called Work / Travel program (reminiscent of Working Holiday, as you may know from Australia). Here, students who want to experience the United States during their summer vacation, but may not have enough money for the trip, can work in an unskilled job (hotel, summer park, shop…) on a J-1 visa. Then there will be the opportunity to travel around the United States. Some of the most important characteristics of taking on such a stay are that one must be enrolled in a higher education and that it includes more work than actual travel.

To get a J-1 visa, you MUST go through a so-called visa sponsor. A visa sponsor is an organization that is approved to issue the official visa documents. They investigate and are responsible for whether the applicant meets the requirements issued by the State Department in the United States. There are many different visa sponsors you can use and they come in many different variations. In addition, they can concentrate on a particular industry, country or US state. There is a difference in prices and service. You can see a list of all visa sponsors approved to administer the Work / Travel program here

The visa sponsor provides insurance and assistance while the student is in the United States. It all costs some money, of course, but it’s different what they charge for it. It is not always easy to find pricing information unless you contact them. A price example is My Education in Denmark, which works together with ASSE International – here it costs between 5,000 and 6,000 DKK plus visa fees.

One must be aware that the vast majority of these visa sponsors make a living from these programs. Ie. they have to make some money on the students they send off and one has to be aware of hidden fees. At the same time, one must also keep in mind that these sponsors work for the US state and must live up to a whole lot of quality requirements, so they are legal if they come from the official list.

There is also another program called H-2B Visa program. This gives permission to work with seasonal jobs in the United States for up to ten months. You do not have to be a student here. The problem is that you can only apply for this program if you are from the countries approved by the State Department. Denmark is not yet on the list, but it is updated every year, so we may show up next year.

Other things

You can find a lot of good information for foreigners on the US State Department’s International Information Programs (IIP) website . At the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, you can read more about visiting the United States temporarily (as a student, tourist, or worker) or applying for permanent residency. You can also read more about this at the US Embassy in Denmark. Just Landedis a good all around website that provides advice on work, visas, housing search and finances.