Doubts remain as US student visa changes set to take effect

The revised rules aim to shift more responsibility onto the 53 entities the department designates official sponsors in the J-1 Summer Work Travel Program. Historically, many sponsors have farmed out those duties to third-party contractors, making the sponsors “mere purveyors of J-1 visas,” according to the State Department's proposed new rules published this spring in the Federal Register.

Federal auditors have criticized the department for years for depending on sponsors, some of whom make millions of dollars off J-1 students, to oversee the program and investigate complaints. Yet the new regulations would require little or no direct oversight by U.S. State Department employees, leaving sponsors free to continue policing themselves and their partners.

The changes are to take effect July 15, too late for thousands of students already in the country for another season of cleaning hotel rooms, waiting tables and working checkout counters.

Students visiting under J-1 visas make ideal victims since they are here temporarily and may not know how to seek help. An Associated Press investigation published six months ago found that many participants paid thousands of dollars to come to the U.S., only to learn the jobs they were promised didn't exist. Some had to share beds in crowded houses or apartments, charged so much for lodging and transportation that they took home no pay. Others turned to the sex industry, while some sought help from homeless shelters.

In posting the proposed new rules, U.S. State Department officials detailed problems that largely mirrored the AP's findings, then blamed lack of oversight by the sponsors, and expressed confidence the changes will help clean up the program.

A review of the new regulations shows they have few teeth, however. While the changes spell out how sponsors are to vet third-party brokers and how often they are to touch base with visiting students, the rules are vague on how vigorously the State Department will check to verify those duties are done. The department will conduct a spot check of the biggest sponsors — but the agency has a little more than a dozen employees who keep track of this and other foreign exchange programs, which handle more than 300,000 participants, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that plans to publish a report on the program.

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