Why not to travel illegally to the US on an ESTA

It might seem tempting to simply travel to America on an ESTA holiday visa and work illegally (especially for those who have been on a J1 before). However DO NOT work illegally in the US this summer.

Within the last 2 years U.S. Customs & Border Protection Officers have been clamping down on students attempting to enter the U.S. on a tourist visa whilst planning to work illegally [1][2]. Instead of the standard 10 year ban [3], Custom & Border Protection officers are now enforcing lifetime bans on Irish students caught committing such an offence [4].

Any type of ban placed on you by the U.S. authorities can cause several issues for you:

You will not be allowed to enter the U.S.
You will not be allowed to travel via the U.S. to Central or South America or the Caribbean any reason.
You may not be eligible for employment by Multinational companies based outside the U.S. Most companies will require that employees are eligible to travel to the US on company business.
Applications for visas to other countries like Canada, Australia, or New Zealand will be considerably affected by your ban and could lead to visa denials

The answer is Simple.

Travel Legally on the J1 Summer Work and Travel Visa. Trying to get around the legal way of working in the US can be too costly.