G'day guys.
I was wondering if anyone could help me understand a way for me to be able to travel to the United States and gain employment without either being spondered by an employer due to the fact that I do not hold a degree or have techincal training.

It would more like being a backpacker traveling around the United States for a few months and being able to take part in paid employment to fund further expenses while traveling.

As far as I can tell, there are only two ways to legally be employed in the United States.
#1 Is by sponcership from a United States based company that requires you to have a degree as a minimum for the job and they must prove that there are no locals able to fill that employment role
And
#2 By having a Green Card and thus become a legal permanent resident of the United States.

For normal traveling I do not need any Visa to enter the U.S. and run around as I am an Australian National and I do qualify for the Visa Waiver Program.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Regards
Doug

If you do find such a job, let me know, it sounds like fun.

As I understand it, you can easily enter the country as a tourist, and you could backpack around, but I don't think you could legally work while here.

There are several organizations that offer Work & Travel programs.

Take a look here:

http://www.intraxinc.com/work-travel.php

Thank you for your reply, but isn't that only valid for International University Students?

It seems a bit harsh to require someone to permanently move to the United States just to work and travel. (IE: Citizenship)

You might want to do some more research on Work and Travel programs offered by other organizations...or contact the above mentioned organization and ask if you qualify. Good luck!

I have heard of the H-2B Visa being avialable for someone such as myself wanting to work in the U.S. without the need of Citizenship for qualifying for the H-1 Visa.

Does anyone here have anymore information of how this can be granted?
Also of note was this little piece of information
"If the prospective worker is already in the US and is changing from one nonimmigrant status to another, a visa is not required."

Would that include the Visa Waiver Program? If so then this might just be what this little Aussie is looking for.

H-2B is a sponsored status as well--typical for the ski industry or other seasonal work. You would probably be better off looking into BUNAC or one of the other normal J visa sponsors. There just isn't a casual work/visitor visa for the US like there is for Australia.

You may not change status off the VWP; you can read the restrictions of the VWP at www.cbp.gov