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J-1 Visas Bring More Cheap Labor Than Cultural Exchange ([link removed])

Washington, D.C. (August 12, 2026) – As millions of Americans encounter foreign workers serving ice cream, staffing hotels, guarding pools, and working at summer camps, a new Center for Immigration Studies report ([link removed]) finds that the State Department's J-1 "exchange visitor" program has strayed far from its cultural exchange mission, as the majority of exchange visitors are actually low-wage seasonal workers.

Today, roughly three out of every four J-1 visas go to workers, adding up to more than 200,000 new temporary foreign workers each year, with none of the wage or working condition regulations of other guest worker programs. The report notes that exchange visitors have one of the highest visa overstay rates of any admission category, which undermines the integrity of our immigration system and could pose a risk to national security.

"The J-1 visa program was created to offer opportunities for professional, educational, and cultural exchange, not to provide employers with inexpensive seasonal labor, nor to create an industry of lucrative sponsor organizations claiming to promote world peace." said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies and the report's author. "It has become a cheap labor program that diminishes opportunities for young Americans, leaves many foreign workers vulnerable to exploitation, and gets remarkably little oversight from the State Department, which is not equipped to run a labor program."

The report recommends significant reforms, including:
* Eliminating or sharply reducing low-skilled work categories such as Summer Work Travel, camp counselors, and au pairs.
* Increasing direct State Department oversight rather than outsourcing this responsibility to the non-government sponsors who profit from the visa program.
* Conducting unannounced inspections of exchange sites.
* Holding sponsors accountable for worker abuse, misleading recruiting, and participant overstays.
* Strengthening enforcement of the requirement that J-1 participants return home before seeking long-term immigration benefits.

"The State Department has the authority to refocus the J-1 program on genuine educational and cultural exchange," Vaughan said. "Doing so would better protect American workers, reduce abuse, and restore the program's original purpose."

The report includes detailed data on J-1 participation by program, country of origin, and state.
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