You and your supervisor decide if the internship will be paid. We as a J1 sponsor only need to make sure you have access to $ 1500 a month. Whether the money comes from an internship remuneration or whether you have worked previously to save funds or received a scholarship or support from your parents is equally acceptable to us. If your host company pays you or provides you with a car, rent subsidy, canteen food etc. then the value must be noted in the DS-7002. It is also important that you do not accept a secondary job during the internship in the USA.