US announces changes to visa programme

Updated on: Monday, May 07, 2012

The US State Department announced major changes to its premier student-exchange programme following an investigation that found widespread abuses.

The agency issued new rules for the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Programme, which brings more than 100,000 foreign college students to the United States each year.
 
It was meant to foster cultural understanding, but it has become a multimillion-dollar international business.
 
The changes are the latest in a series of steps the State Department has taken to fix the programme since an AP investigation in 2010 revealed widespread abuses.
 
The investigation found some participants working in strip clubs, and not always willingly, while others were put in living and working conditions they compared to indentured servitude.
 
In one of the worst cases of abuse, a woman told the AP she was beaten, raped and forced to work as a stripper in Detroit after being promised a job as a waitress in Virginia.
 
More common than sex trade problems were shabby housing, hefty work hours and paltry pay. In August of 2011, dozens of workers protested conditions at a candy factory that packs Hershey chocolates in Pennsylvania, complaining of hard physical labour and pay deductions for rent that often left them with little money.

More Education news

• Students heading to US for studies shows a declining trend
• USIEF to organise a Fair on November 3 for students interested in pursuing higher studies in America.
• More Indian students getting attracted to Germany
• Narsee Monjee Educational Trust will offer guidance to student seeking admission into over 150 US colleges
• Indian students in LMU to find alternative courses at other varsities through a clearing system
• Indian students coming to Britain for new academic year shows significant decline
• UK to introduce screening for tuberculosis for grant of Visa above six months
• Australia witnesses drop in Indian students enrollment
• Change in Visa policy witnesses drop in Indian Students to UK
• New UK Visa policy for student applicants from India and other non-EU countries to prevent abuse
• Overseas education event in Chennai
• Australia still a favoured destination for Indian students
• Econ Solutions sending students abroad to study medicine
• Change in UK Visa rule witness drop in Indian student application
• Education in Ireland
• Education UK expo attracts hundreds
• US denies change in visa policy towards Indian students
• Online Choices
• Closure of post-study visa may witness drop in Indian applications