Thursday, October 5, 2017

The U.S. Visa System Is Needlessly Complex


Letter to the editor, Wall Street Journal

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One of the hardest slogs within the issue of comprehensive immigration reform is managing the complexity that is our visa system



Michael Polt and Kim Davis’s “The U.S. Makes Ambassadors of Visitors” (op-ed, Sept. 28) inadvertently exposes one of the hardest slogs within the issue of comprehensive immigration reform: managing the complexity that is our visa system. The J-1 program is not a tiny niche effort; rather, for 2016, over 300,000 individuals received such visas. Moreover, there is a companion J-2 program that permits spouses and dependents to join the J-1 visa recipient and work or study. The J-1 program isn’t simple and straightforward; it has 13 separate sub-programs. At least six of the categories—camp worker, intern, specialist, summer work and travel, trainee and teacher—appear to offer opportunities to work, and the question rightly raised is: Are these foreigners replacing native workers at lower pay?
I am aware of foreigners (who readily admit they are J-1 visa holders) waiting tables, managing hotel reception desks and performing housekeeping and custodial tasks at seasonal resorts. Are there no native kids looking for work experience to fill these positions? The J-1 program is a small part of the visa system but emblematic of its complexity and an inviting target. My concern is that Congress does not have the discipline to address the system line by line and is more likely to take a cleaver to it and discard deserving provisions along with the problematic ones.
Herb Segal, Col., USA (ret.)
Raleigh, N.C.

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