Sierra has housing available for all international employees.  A security deposit is required and you can pay your rent from your paychecks.  The apartments are located close to the pools, or in some cases, employees with their country’s national and an international license might be provided with cars.  Apartments are partially furnished with table and chairs, kitchen appliances and supplies, lamps and air mattresses.  You should plan to bring linens (towels, sheets, blankets, pillow). Most apartments have coin-operated laundry facilities in the building. The apartments have 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms + living room, with 1 or 2 full bathrooms per apartment. Usually 2 to 6 people are placed in the apartment, depending on its size.
If you choose to find your own housing, you must coordinate with our office prior to your arrival.  This could limit your worksite options and schedule, and you are responsible for all transportation costs.

YES! Just let us know (or your representative) the names of the people you want to live with and we will do our best to accommodate you together. If you send your arrival details early and arrive on time, this makes it easier to fulfill your request.  Sometimes it is not possible to accommodate you with your friends immediately upon your arrival, but we will work to get you together within the weeks after your arrival.

Contact your recruiter or our office for details.

Housing costs will be deducted from your bi-weekly paychecks.

All J-1 Work and Travel and Internship/Career Training participants are required to have medical insurance as part of their program.  Your sponsor (or your agency in your home country) will provide you with this information before you arrive in the US.  Most insurance plans in the US require you to pay co-pay (up-front cost to the employee) and the insurance company will be billed for the remainder of the services.
In many cases you will receive a wallet-size card from your sponsor organization with your participant ID and insurance information.  Before you depart your home country, be sure you have information on your insurance.  Also, if you will travel beyond the date on your DS-2019 form, this time is NOT covered by your sponsor’s plan.  You should contact your agency to purchase additional insurance for this time.
If you will be using a different visa type such as H-2b, Sierra can offer medical insurance for a monthly fee.  Contact your recruiter for more details.  Having insurance in the US is important, since even a small injury or sickness can require a doctor visit, and be quite expensive.
Most insurance plans cover only medical expenses, not dental, unless the plan states otherwise.

For J-1 visas, you may work the length of time printed on your DS-2019 for, up to 4 months.  Students from most countries are permitted to travel an additional month beyond your DS date (some countries have different requirements, which your US embassy will explain to you).
You must follow your employer’s and sponsor’s rules and policies in order to keep your visa current. 

No, you cannot.  Each student must return home at the end of the program.

Contact your recruiter to see if visas are available and if you meet the requirements.

Registering for SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) MUST be done within 20 days after arrival in the US. Once you arrive in our office for checking in, you will have a chance to use a computer with Internet to register for SEVIS and email or SMS your relatives that you are OK.
Also you have to update your SEVIS by contacting your sponsor if some of the following occur:

• Change of address – within a week after the change;
• Change of employer – you need to receive permission from your sponsor organization who issued your DS-2019.
• If you are fired from work or you are leaving your employer with permission  
• If you are going home early and you are canceling your participation in the program.

You should wait 10 days after you arrive in the US to apply, so that your immigration record has been updated. You can obtain more information calling 1-888-722-1213 or in the internet on address: www.ssa.gov. Your supervisor will be able to tell you where the closest office is and how you can get there. You will need to fill out an application with the Sierra office address, which you will receive after you check in our office the first day you arrive.
You need to bring the following documents with you when you apply for social security card:

• International passport with valid visa and I-94 card (I-94 is white card received at the point of entry to U.S )
• Your DS-2019 or copy of the H2B petition
• Letter from your sponsor or job offer
• If your passport is less than 1 year old, you might be asked to provide an additional form of ID – home country ID card; driving license; translated and certified birth certificate (not necessary the translation to be older than a year).

You will receive your card by mail at the address you provide within 2 to 6 weeks.

Please write our office address:

High Sierra Pools, Inc
1012 S. Cleveland Street
Arlington VA 22204
USA

We provide work at swimming pools in Washington DC Metropolitan area. We have pools in Washington DC Virginia and Maryland.

Overtime is every hour of work after the 40th in one week. It is paid 1.5 times the regular pay rate. For example if your pay rate is $8.10/hour your overtime rate will be $12.15/hour. If you work 55 hours in one week, 15 hours of them are going to be paid at overtime rate.

Most of the pools open between 9am and 11am and stay open till 8-9 pm. The most often day offs are Mondays and Tuesdays but you will be not limited to only these days. Most of the lifeguards work 5-6 days in the week. Average Sierra lifeguards work between 52-56 hours per week.

High Sierra Pools, Inc pays to all lifeguards once every two weeks. The pay periods are as follows – you work two full weeks and you are going to get paid on the Monday one week after the pay period. Example: If the pay period starts on 1st and finish on 14th you will receive your paycheck on 21st (one week after the end of the pay period).

A J-1 Work and Travel participant can have a second job, but the WAT program requires the job not to interfere with your work for High Sierra Pools. As long as the second job enables you to be available to work for High Sierra Pools as required we do not have any objections against having it.

An H-2b participant is legally not allowed to work for anybody else but High Sierra Pools.

High Sierra Pools Inc. company fully cares about all the participants from the moment of their arrival to USA until the time of their return back home. What means that everyone, can define his term of stay in USA, and he certainly has guaranteed the job in High Sierra Pools. Depends on the visa he has the term may vary between 4 months - for J1 visa up to 10 months - for H2B visa.

High Sierra Pools Inc. Company cares about all details related to Your stay and work in USA. Regularly travel lifeguards to work on time is the one of the most important priorities, the company cares about. That's why to increase the comfort of transportation in the area the company provides the mountain bikes for the lifeguards. In the time of beginning work every new lifeguard is additionally brought to the pool by his supervisor. He is getting know much better his area of accommodation then and the place of work. Every participant receives also specially for him prepared materials and information, including area maps. The company staff cares about the smallest details, like for example distance from the place os stay to the pool. Every lifeguard can be sure, that no matter the place of stay, his distance to work is always the same - about 15 minutes.

Of course. Everything depends on Your attitude to Your work. Whenever the person assigned to work on Your schedule decides that can always count on You he/she will ask for Your help to come to the pool and get extra hours anytime when its needed. There are some situations and emergencies when people like to have day off what gives the opportunity for those who like to work more and are strong enough to do so.