I'm aware of the Trainee program but little short on details as nobody I know has done it. Do you know if the requirements differ much or if there's any restrictions? Happy to update the article, I'm also adding a mention about Two Year Rule (212e) as it can affect future visas.
I did the J-1 trainee program for 18 months and went into an H1B from that. It was ideal for me because I came right out of school without work experience and it made the process very easy.
One downside was that I had to stay in the US between filing for H1B status and receiving it (you file in the spring, but get the status on October 1st) because the H1B is a dual intent visa (meaning you can state that you want to stay in the US permanently and it is not just a temporary visa) in case they questioned me at the border about the conflicting status of my J-1 and H1B petition.
The J1 trainee program sounds really interesting (as I'm currently out of education for > 12 months and therefore ineligible for the J1 intern program).
According to the j1visa.state.gov site one of the requirements for the J1 trainee program is:
"Has five years of work experience outside the United States in the occupational field in which they are seeking training"
Did you meet this criteria or manage to circumvent it?
Two Year Rule actually applies to all applicants if they are getting money from their government (e.g. a grant from school) but it seems pretty random who gets it or not. I got hit by it but at least my home country (Finland) gives waivers for it in case I ever need to apply for a H1b.
