Recent Entries

Landing a job at a summer camp or at an amusement park is a rite of passage for many young Americans. Those jobs also appeal to foreigners participating in a cultural exchange using J-1 visas. But with U.S. youth unemployment at 25 percent, Congress is now taking a close look at the J-1 visa exchange program.

This visa category was created decades ago to promote cultural exchange. Overseas applicants go through an American company that sponsors, screens and places them in jobs. Most work as camp counselors, au pairs or at amusement parks. Participants must return home afterwards.

Joe Davies, one of more than 170,000 such workers who are in the U.S. at any given time, came from the United Kingdom to learn about a new culture.

"I wanted to travel when I left education," he said. "I wasn't too sure on what I wanted to do and at the time I didn't have much money to go out and just work my way around the world. So I looked into the Camp America program."

Now, he works as a lifeguard at a performing arts camp called French Woods in upstate New York. Beth Schaefer, part-owner of French Woods, said the camp hires about half of its 400 employees from other countries. Foreign workers don't take jobs away from Americans, Schaefer said. In fact, they are helping make the camp a success, she said, and that helps preserve jobs for everyone.

Enlarge image i