USA

Work

If you are a foreigner in the USA with a standard nonimmigrant visitor’s visa, you are expressly forbidden to take paid work in the USA and will be deported if you’re caught working illegally. In addition, employers are required to establish the bona fides of their employees or face fines, making it much tougher for a foreigner to get work than it once was.

To work legally, foreigners need to apply for a work visa before leaving home. A J1 visa, for exchange visitors, is issued to young people (age limits vary) for study, student vacation employment, work in summer camps, and short-term traineeships with a specific employer. The following organizations will help arrange student exchanges, placements and J1 visas:

American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS;866-906-2437; www.aifs.com; River Plaza, 9 West Broad St, Stamford, CT 06902)

BUNAC (020-7251-3472; www.bunac.org; 16 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0QH)

Camp America (020-7581-7373; www.campamerica.co.uk; 37A Queens Gate, London SW7 5HR)

Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE; 800-407-8839; www.ciee.org; 7 Custom House St, 3rd fl, Portland, ME 04101)

InterExchange (212-924-0446; www.interexchange.org; 161 Sixth Ave, NY, NY 10013) Camp and au pair programs.

International Exchange Programs (IEP) Australia (1300-300-912; www.iep.org.au; Level 3, 362 La Trobe St, Melbourne, VIC 3000; Level 3, 333 George St, Sydney, NSW 2000); New Zealand (0800-443-769; www.iep.co.nz; Level 10, 220 Queen St, Auckland 1010)

For nonstudent jobs, temporary or permanent, you need to be sponsored by a US employer who will have to arrange one of the various H-category visas. These are not easy to obtain, since the employer has to prove that no US citizen or permanent resident is available to do the job. Seasonal work is possible in national parks, tourist sites and especially ski areas. Contact park concessionaires, local chambers of commerce and ski-resort management. Lonely Planet’s Gap Year Book is another good resource for ideas on how to combine work and travel.

Business hours

Unless otherwise noted, standard business hours in this guide are as follows. Businesses are open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. Banks are open 8:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Thursday, until 5:30pm Friday. Some post offices and banks are also open from 9am to noon or 1pm on Saturday.

Stores are open 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, noon to 5pm Sunday. In malls and downtown shopping areas, hours may be extended to 8pm or 9pm. Supermarkets are generally open from 8am to 8pm, and most cities have a few 24-hour supermarkets. Note that in some parts of the country, all businesses except a few restaurants may close on Sunday.

Restaurant hours vary so widely that they are impossible to generalize; they can fluctuate with seasonal demand and owner whim. We provide high-season restaurant hours for every listing, but if it’s winter, and your heart’s set, and/or you’re making a special trip, call ahead to confirm.

Bars and pubs are usually open from 5pm to midnight daily, extending to 2am on Friday and Saturday. Nightclubs and dance clubs generally open at 9pm and close at 2am Wednesday to Saturday. Hours may be longer in larger cities.