Camp Counselor Program

Camp Counselors must be:

• Sufficiently proficient in the English language to supervise and interact with American youth;
• A foreign post-secondary student, youth worker, teacher or individual with specialized skills; and
• At least 18-years-old.

Benefits

Financial value: Participants receive pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to their American counterparts at the camps.

More information

Camp Counselors will occasionally have to:

• Perform non-counseling duties as part of camp life, but do not serve as “staff;” and
• For example, they cannot act as office works, cooks or menial laborers such as dishwashers or janitors.

Sponsors are required to:

• Conduct an in-person interview;
• Secure references regarding suitability;
• Ensure that participants have the required health insurance coverage;
• Provide participants, prior to departure for the United States, with information on their duties and responsibilities as a camp counselor, contractual obligations relative to accepting a camp counselor position and information on financial compensation;
• Maintain SEVIS; and
• Monitor participants throughout their stay and provide assistance as needed.

Sponsors must ensure the following:

Eligibility: Must be at least 18-years-old, proficient in spoken English and a bona fide youth worker, student, teacher or other specially qualified individual.

Financial Compensation: Camp counselors must receive pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to their American counterparts at the camps.

Employers are required to:

• Provide pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to their U.S. counterparts;
• Provide all participants with a phone number, which allows 24 hour immediate contact with the sponsor; and
• Ensure that program participants do not serve as "staff" — including (but not limited to) administrative personnel, cooks or menial laborers such as dishwashers or janitors.