There is criticism that the J-1 visa program, a U.S. cultural exchange and training program, has been distorted into a so-called "modern-day slavery" system that drives students into backbreaking labor by some unscrupulous sponsor companies.
The New York Times (NYT) said on the 25th that more than 300,000 young people enter the United States each year on J-1 visas dreaming of the American dream, but they are left in a human-rights blind spot amid a lax oversight system. Voices are growing for reform of a program that has degenerated into a source of low-wage labor, with the original purpose of cultural exchange disappearing.
It also focused on cases of harm to J-1 visa entrants, including a Korean college student, a person surnamed Kang. Kang paid about $5,000 (about 725,000 won) in fees and came to the United States in 2023, but was forced to clean a septic tank at a steel mill in Indiana instead of receiving education. When Kang raised complaints, Kang was immediately fired, and the sponsor company did nothing to help during the process.
Sponsor organizations that recruit J-1 visa entrants and link them with companies recruit thousands every year and generate huge fee revenue. A representative example is the foundation for Worldwide International Student Exchange (WISE), founded in 1900, which recruited about 3,300 people annually and brought in about $4.9 million in revenue.
But the entrants themselves were found to have been exposed to harsh conditions such as 19-hour workdays, sexual harassment and severe injuries. Victimized students testified that they worked 12 hours a day on farms, could not go to the hospital even when injured, and lived like slaves, facing threats of deportation if they protested.
Last year, a German student suffered a depressed skull fracture when a truck tire exploded while working on a farm. Meanwhile, foundation operators enriched themselves by taking high salaries and purchasing luxury mansions with fee revenue.
Some sponsors focus solely on profit-making, such as setting up separate entities that mandate insurance enrollment to earn additional revenue. The NYT noted that the State Department's oversight remains largely perfunctory. Fee-ban bills pushed in Congress were repeatedly voted down under strong lobbying by sponsors.