Work & Travel USA updates archive
our goal is to provIde transparent communication to our host employers.
concerned you missed an email? check here for an archive of recent communication and updates
winter 2024-2025DECEMBER 2024: eMAIL
Greetings from CIEE! Winter 2025 CIEE Work & Travel USA participant arrivals here! As we prepare for a busy Winter season, please review the program reminders attached in our Winter Best Practices. Topics covered in the Winter Best Practices 2025:
Participant Housing Considerations As we look forward to a successful season, we want to remind you that it is critical that all participants arrive with secured housing. If as a host employer, you do not provide housing, we require that you provide substantial assistance to participants to secure housing prior to their arrival, including providing housing leads and/or local resources. CIEE’s policy is that participants must secure housing at least two weeks prior to traveling to the U.S. and if a participant reports challenges in securing housing, participants may be delayed or canceled from the program. We thank you for helping your CIEE participants as they look to confirm housing prior to their arrival. CIEE is here to support you and we ask that you please notify us if you do not feel that you can commit to the above or your participants experience challenges with securing housing. Please let us know as soon as possible by emailing your International Recruitment Specialist or [email protected]. Alternatively, if you do provide housing and need a few additional participants this winter for your staffing, please let us know! We are still adding replacement jobs to be ready to quickly assist any canceled participants or those unable to find housing. Communicate with Participants We encourage all hosts to send a welcome email to participants! Please include specific details on transportation to your location and what to bring. Participants are the best source of information regarding visa approval updates and flight details. We encourage you to ask participants to keep you updated on steps leading up to arrival. Connect with Your Local Social Security Office Now is a good time to connect with your local Social Security Office to start planning your winter appointments if you have not already taken this step. Understanding operating procedures of your local Social Security Office will help make the process smoother this winter and help avoid any surprises! As a reminder, participants are eligible to begin working prior to applying for and receiving their Social Security number. SEVIS Registration Process All exchange visitors must register with SEVIS when they arrive in the U.S. and keep it up to date with their address and employer information. CIEE participants must log into their CIEE Beacon portal to register in SEVIS once they arrive. This can be done using a cell phone or computer. Please make sure participants have an internet connection to do this. When registering, participants will need their DS2019 Number, Host Address and Housing Address. If participants have any issues, please have them call CIEE during business hours (Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm EST) at 1-888-268-6245 for assistance. Host Employer Resource Center Check out our Host Employer Resource Center! Visit cieehost.com (password: ciee) to find information on:
We are looking forward to a successful winter with you! As always, thank you for all that you do to support global exchange. |
summer 2025March: Webinar
During this webinar, we share program, sending country, and embassy updates and answer any questions from our hosts!
FEBRUARY: WEBINAR
February 9: Updates on
JANUARY 2021: EMAIL
Greetings from CIEE! I am pleased to share that hiring is underway for Summer 2022 Work & Travel USA and you have participants placed at your business for this upcoming summer. Recruitment efforts will continue through April, and we are working hard to fill all your jobs with qualified participants. Your new staff members are very excited to work for you this summer and will likely contact you in the coming weeks. Please send a Welcome Email to your participants! They are looking forward to hearing from you and learning more about what they can expect during their program. Please see the below CIEE updates and resources: Pulling rosters to see a list of your hired participants - Please reference our Host Employer Resource Center (password: ciee) for instructions on how to pull a hire report in CIEE Host Portal or reference this video. Notifications of Visa Issuance - CIEE will send updates to host employers when new participants report a Visa Approved in our system.
Additional Resources – Please check our Host Employer Resource Center (password: ciee) for additional resources to best prepare you to welcome your participants this summer! We recommend that you explore the Participant Experience & Support tab for more information! Enhanced Host Employer Vetting Requirements in light of COVID-19 – As we continue to operate amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we ask all host employers adhere to the below set of expectations/best practices developed by CIEE. If you do not feel that you can commit to the below expectations, please let us know as soon as possible by emailing [email protected]. As all host employers and communities are different, we may also be reaching out to you directly with a few location specific questions.
Thank you again for being on this journey with us and for your continued support of the program. If your business needs change or you are unable to host participants, please make sure to contact us at [email protected] August 2021: Summer: sign up now!
Greetings from CIEE! We are excited and ready to plan for Summer 2022! We have been on a journey together over the last few seasons and it is time to look towards the future. Our International Representative Network is reporting high participant interest for Summer 2022. This coupled with all of the advocacy work done leading up to this point gives us the confidence that we are in the position to rebuild and reemerge stronger than ever. This is what we have all been working towards. Please join us! Next Steps:
We look forward to planning with you soon! Look out 2022… here we come! Kind Regards, CIEE Employer Relations Team MAY 2022: SUMMER UPDATES & WEBINAR
Greetings from CIEE! We hope this email finds you well! While this recruitment season continued to provide a few hurdles, we are all very excited to welcome CIEE Work & Travel USA participants hired for summer 2022 very soon. To prepare you for the summer ahead, please read below for important program updates and information. As always, thank you for being on this journey with us and for all that you do to support global exchange. Join Us for a LIVE Webinar: CIEE Work & Travel USA Summer Kick-Off Please join us Wednesday, May 11 at 3 pm EDT for a live webinar to kick-off our Summer 2022 season! In the webinar we will be sharing updates on:
If you are unable to attend, a recording of the webinar will be available on CIEE’s Host Resource Center here (password: ciee) after our live session. Communicate with Participants We encourage all hosts to send a welcome email to participants! Please include specific details on transportation to your location, what to bring, and any COVID-19 specific arrival requirements. Participants are the best source of information regarding visa approval updates and flight details. We encourage you to ask participants to keep you updated on steps leading up to arrival. Connect with Your Local Social Security Office Now is a good time to connect with your local Social Security Office to start planning your summer appointments. We have found that every office has continued to operate a little differently around pandemic levels and, in some cases, remaining restrictions have impacted normal operations. Knowing any different operating procedures early will help make the process smoother this summer and avoid any surprises! As a reminder, participants are eligible to begin working prior to applying for and receiving their Social Security number. SEVIS Registration – Upcoming Changes! All exchange visitors must register with SEVIS when they arrive in the U.S. and keep it up to date with their address and employer information. CIEE’s SEVIS registration process is changing. In the coming weeks, participants will be able to register in SEVIS directly from their CIEE Beacon Portal. We will notify you when this change has been implemented and provide you with additional instructions so that you can support participants with questions. Until further notification, participants should call CIEE at 1-888-268-6245 to register in SEVIS during business hours (9am – 5pm EDT, Monday – Friday). MAY 2022: SUMMER KICKOFF & SEVIS
May 11 webinar:
Social Security: Update Social Security Administration (SSA) recently shared a newly released online application that can now be used for first-time social security card applicants – https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/. While this is new for this summer, CIEE’s understanding is that participants will submit their documents online and then will have 45 days to visit their local SSA office with their original documentation before a card is issued. As always, we recommend that you are in contact with your local SSA office on location specific processes. The SSA asked us to stress the importance of having and entering a good address or even in care of address to receive the card, before completing and submitting the application. This will prevent visitors from having to visit the SSA multiple times for non-receipt issues. The post office cannot deliver the card if the applicant is unknown at the address.
While CIEE participants are at your workplace, we encourage you to first mediate any situations that may arise directly with participants. If your mediation steps do not resolve participant concerns or if any of the below situations arise, we ask that you please contact the Host Employer Relations Team at [email protected] or 207-553-4295.
As a reminder, our emergency line for participants is monitored 24/7 at 888-268-6245. |
general updatesdECEMBER 2021: END OF YEAR EMAIL
Greetings from CIEE! This note is a little different from my typical updates and we hope you will find the information helpful, timely, and inspiring! As always, the below includes a few action items for your attention. After facing unprecedented challenges related to the pandemic, navigating change, and weathering an unpredictable storm, we are nearing the holiday season, and we wanted to celebrate some amazing wins and share our gratitude with you. Our incredible host employer partnerships through this pandemic made the wins possible and we look forward to building the next chapter together! 5 WINS WE ARE CELEBRATING THIS YEAR!
ACTION ITEMS As we round the corner into 2022, here are your action items! Winter 2021-2022: If you are hosting winter 2021-22 participants:
Summer 2022
On behalf of the entire CIEE community and those participants you have directly impacted, thank you! Your support and partnership have kept us inspired and lifted through these challenging times and we are excited to celebrate our shared wins with you! As always, please contact us at [email protected] with any questions. September 2021: COVID-19 Vaccine requirements for travel
** Emailed 9/24/2021 ** Greetings from CIEE, I am writing today to share updates regarding this week’s announcement by the Biden Administration requiring COVID-19 vaccines for travelers to the U.S. We see this as good news as we anticipate that travel restrictions will be dropped starting in early November and all foreign nationals will be required to show that they have been fully vaccinated with a vaccine listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO). The full details of the policy have not yet been released. We will be back in touch once that happens. Based on our analysis, we believe that there is strong demand for BridgeUSA programs, including CIEE Work & Travel USA, and that most prospective participants have been, or will be, vaccinated. Ultimately, we see this as a positive indication that the U.S. is safely reopening to travel again, including to a more robust CIEE Work & Travel USA program. CIEE is also adopting a vaccination policy and all our CIEE Work & Travel USA participants must be vaccinated to participate on the program, including this upcoming Winter 2021-22 season. We are looking forward to our 2022 programs and encourage you to schedule a call with CIEE in the coming weeks to discuss and finalize your summer hiring strategy. Thank you, as always for your partnership and commitment to cultural exchange. Kind Regards, |
