The State Department program that allows babysitters to come from overseas and work for little more than room and board is a working mom’s lifesaver. To most girls, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the United States through the eyes of an American family.
Now there are fears that both those benefits may be in jeopardy after an email circulated to agencies last week that the “Trump administration is planning to eliminate the Au Pair Program.”
The State Department declined to answer questions about the future of the program but said in a statement: “We continue to implement J-1 visa programs at the same levels we have for the past few years. There has been no change in our procedures for handling applications for J-1 visas.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
But businesses and families who employ foreign workers on J-1 visas are convinced something is happening, in part because of a May email J-1 sponsors received from G.K. Saba, acting deputy assistant secretary for the State Department’s Private Sector Exchange division. The email warned of “emerging Administration policies and themes” that would put certain J-1 visa programs under sharper scrutiny.
Advocates who have been informed about the situation said some categories of the visa program were being reviewed by a small working group under the White House’s “Buy American and Hire American” executive order. Areas that could be cut include the au pair program, summer workers and camp counsellors.
Critics of the J-1 visa program say it provides an easy way for employers to choose inexpensive labour instead of hiring American workers whom they would have to pay higher wages.
In 2016, 19,233 au pairs, 101,061 summer workers and 22,994 camp counsellors worked in the United States on J-1 visas, according to State Department data.
As a candidate, President Donald Trump’s immigration revision plan pledged to eliminate the J-1 visa program and replace it with what his campaign website described as a “jobs program for inner city youth.”
But advocates for the program say jobs that go to J-1 visa workers, particularly those employed at seasonal destinations such as beach towns, are ones that could not easily be filled by U.S. workers. They also say J-1 visa holders introduce American communities to foreign cultures and languages in a valuable and enriching way.
An umbrella organization for sponsors of J-1 visa programs said Congress has received 100,000 letters urging it to protect the program.
And it may already be working. On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee added an amendment to a State Department spending bill mandating that any changes to the J-1 program must be transparent.
