If you're planning on getting yourself a summer job, listen up! A programme by the US Department of State now gives college students the chance to land themselves a summer job in the United States!

The 'Work & Travel' programme allows undergraduate and postgraduate students currently enrolled in college and university to spend five months of the summer holidays in the States, working and vacationing.

Taurus International is partnering the Council on International Educational Exchange (USA) on the programme and plans to send close to 100 students abroad this year.

We spoke to Col Kulwinder Singh, MD of Taurus international, to find out just how you can go about cashing in on this opportunity.

About the programme
This is a programme gives regular (not correspondence) students of college/university a great opportunity. It is however open only to students who have their current course of study to continue after this summer vacation.

Students will be assigned jobs from here in areas like retail stores, fast-food restaurants, tourist resorts and amusement parks. All jobs are ordinary jobs earning about US $ 8 per hour, 40 hours a week, overtime after 40 hrs, with the scope of second job as well.

We cannot provide technical/skilled jobs for any specific field. Students can work for a maximum period of four months + have one month vacation, a maximum stay of five months in the USA and return to India after that.

Students may decide to work for less than four months but the employer needs a minimum of 10 weeks.

In case a student works for 10 to 12 weeks he can recover his/her full expenses -- travel, accommodation, food, medical and transportation in the USA from his/her earnings there.

It is an excellent opportunity for students to travel and explore the country and gain experience while also getting a valid US visa on their passport.

Qualifications required
The candidate would need to be a student before going and be a student of the same course after coming back, meaning a first or second year student would be eligible but a final year student would not.

There is not preference when it comes to stream of study, whether it's science, commerce or arts. The student must be above 18 years of age and have good English language skills.

Students doing degree courses in hospitality can also avail of this opportunity to do practical training in USA for a semester.

As for paperwork, we need copy of the candidate's passport, the mark sheet of the last exam taken and a recent photograph.

The job aspect
After a student signs up for the programme, the first thing we do is to arrange for the job. We have a list of the details of all the jobs available with us.

Financial matters
The total fee is Rs 1 lakh inclusive of taxes, visa fee etc. The student has to buy the return ticket costing about Rs 40,000. What must be noted is the fact that a student is able to recover this cost from his/her earnings there provided s/he stays works there for about 12 weeks.

Visa issues
The chances of selected candidates getting a J1 visa (work/exchange visa) are very good since this programme is sponsored by the US Department of State.

The visa will not be extendable unless someone marries a local citizen.

Students should look at this as an opportunity to visit, work, earn, holiday and experience the American way of life and not to reach the US and stay there illegally.

Application process
Interested students need to email their CV/ resume to cv@taurusin.com. Students can join their jobs between May 1 and June 30, 2008 and continue up to August to October.

Registrations are open until April 25. The processing takes about 4 to 6 weeks.

Students should check details at our website www.taurusin.com. For any queries they can send an email to cv@taurusin.com or contact Amit at 09988061867.