USA denies more visas

[mendeleyev]

From the Moscow Times:

Without warning or explanation, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has rejected an unprecedented percentage of Russian university students applying for visas to take part in the State Department's popular Summer Work and Travel program this year, dashing hopes and placing the program's future in doubt.

About 80-90 percent of the estimated 1,000 applicants who have applied for visas in Moscow since mid-March have received a green rejection slip, according to five Russian agencies that arrange the interviews. Last year, the number was 35-40 percent, they said, and more than 6,300 in all were approved.

The embassy refused to directly comment on the allegations, but agencies say the reasons sometimes provided by consular officers to individual students — that the applicant's employer is "unreliable," or that the applicant's English is not good enough — are bogus.
 
An unprecedented 80-90 percent of recent applicants to the work and travel program have been rejected, agencies say.  "We don't know what's going on. Maybe it's a result of the Magnitsky list, maybe it's a bad consular official. They're simply mocking Russian students. We don't know what to do," said Boris Samaryanov, general director of STAR Travel, one of 28 local agencies approved by the embassy.

Rejected applicants, who have spent months gathering documents and paying as much as $2,500 on various fees, feel like a door has been slammed in their face. "My opinion about the United States has changed. I've had this negative feeling ever since I left the embassy," said Maria Silayeva, 20.

News of the refusals has also left sponsors that oversee the U.S. side of the program scratching their heads and waiting for an official explanation, according to a source close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
 
A Moscow Times reporter contacted the U.S. Embassy for comment regarding the allegations on March 28. An embassy representative initially said a meeting with consular officials could be set up for April 3 to discuss the Summer Work and Travel program, then later said that the meeting could not take place until April 9 and that consular officers would only be made available to provide information on the history of the program and its internal regulations.

After being told on Wednesday that the reporter's deadline was Thursday, the representative said consular officers would not be available to comment this week. Asked repeatedly for comment Thursday, the representative said: “The Embassy’s priority is first and foremost the health, safety and welfare of our participants of the J-1 visa program,” referring to the type of visa students on the program receive.
 
Russia has historically sent more students on the Summer Work and Travel program than any other country. But in recent years, the economic downturn and new regulations aimed at reducing fraud and abuse appear to have hit Russia particularly hard, outweighing official exhortations to boost exchanges.

At the program's peak in 2008, Russia sent a record 27,517 students to the United States, where they spend three or four months working low-skilled jobs at resorts and restaurants, as well as soaking up American culture.

Read the full article here: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/us-embassy-slams-door-on-student-workers/478125.html#ixzz2PbRRrsDu
The Moscow Times

[Vaughn]

Too bad. The bulk of these students enjoy the experience. In 2007, our young visitor, Dasha, found work locally, helping to open up a clothing outlet called Rue 21. A nearby amusement park, Carowinds, regularly employs European students during its peak summer season. Mendy, I'm wondering if the "downturn" in the J-1 approval rate is affecting Russia more than other European nations.

[Vaughn]

From the article:
 
"Yekaterina Mitrofanova, 20, said her interviewer probed her interest  in American history, but then rejected her on the grounds that her  employer, Rachel's Waterside Grill in Freeport, New York, 'couldn't be  identified.'

An Internet search revealed that the restaurant has been  in operation for 16 years and was recently voted best seafood  joint on Long Island in an online poll conducted by a local  newspaper."
 
Couldn't be identified? The place has a stellar reputation. Further reading reveals the "problem" lies only within the Embassy in Moscow, and not other Russian cities.

[GQBlues]

Last November 2012, a bill was passed to try and abolish the diversity visa and was sent to the Senate to get their approval. Other pograms are also under heavy scrutiny and are going through re-assessments.
 
There's been a lot of attention being given to the US' overall immigration programs and policies as a result of the recent political posturing regarding various immigration problems.
 
It isn't a surprise to anyone that one of the biggest problem we have is illegal immigration, nor is it a surprise that Russians had been increasingly adding to this number. Illegal immigration, either by way of F/J-1 visas, work/travel had been the main vessel to many of these violations.

[GQBlues]

....
Couldn't be identified? The place has a stellar reputation. Further reading reveals the "problem" lies only within the Embassy in Moscow, and not other Russian cities....

Vaughn-
 
It isn't a matter of if the establishment exists. It's a question of wherther or not the establishment is a current registered/certified sponsoring employer in the program's database. If the cited establishment doesn't match (they have a code systems for each individual certified sponsor now) their database - then the application simply gets tossed out the window.
 
The system had been plague by bogus 'sponsors' in the recent past.
 
For example, apparently, and this is by way of 'street' info...a lot of companies applied for sponsor certification when they were in fact a 'front business' for strip joint establishments, etc...
 
The system is likely just re-booting itself so it can start over and to better regulate and provide a system to properly oversee these 'sponsors' legitimacy.

[Vaughn]

Your legitimacy point is well-taken. Our young visitor had a "job offer" from a fellow named Igor down in Florida who listed his business simply as "housekeeping services" in scrawl on a poorly generated form. We were alarmed when she arrived. Olga's husband and Jet were so helpful in trying to track the guy down. In essence, he existed, but was so far under the radar that I called the girl's father and explained she'd be safer staying with us and finding employment here, which she did.
 
You are correct that the establishment must be properly registered. I am surprised, though, as every time I've dined there in the summer, greeters, waitstaff and busboys are with heavy Euro-accents.

[GQBlues]

Yeah, I can't tell you what happened with that particular sponsor. It may be that they didn't update their status in the system, or maybe just bailed out altogether and is no longer in the registry. That's sheer speculation on my part.

[Vaughn]

It could be that they were never registered in the first place, and that lax habit came back to bite them.

[mendeleyev]

Mendy, I'm wondering if the "downturn" in the J-1 approval rate is affecting Russia more than other European nations.

Vaughn, I believe that you and GQ have more personal experience with this program than myself but in just reading the media releases it would indeed seem that Russian applicants, and more specifically Moscow region applications, were being targeted. Nonetheless, it seems that across the board the numbers have fallen.

 

[Belvis]

Imposed restrictions for J-1 applicants are seemed reasonable for me. As I understand this type of visa is used usually to get part-time job rather than for education. At least folks I knew used it in this way. And employment situation in US does not encourage the competition at labor market.

[lordtiberius]

Vaughn, I believe that you and GQ have more personal experience with this program than myself but in just reading the media releases it would indeed seem that Russian applicants, and more specifically Moscow region applications, were being targeted. Nonetheless, it seems that across the board the numbers have fallen.

so much for the reset

[GoodOlBoy]

Hey...... if the GoodOl' USA isn't good enough for Russian babies, then I guess Russian teenagers are just SOL. 
 
GOB