An estimated 4,700 or more foreign-born students have been affected since the Trump administration began revoking their visas and terminating their legal status in March.
Even though some federal judges imposed injunctions, the State Department announced last week it is “aggressively” targeting a group of Chinese scholars amid national security concerns.
But the administration’s plan to pause new student visa interviews at U.S. embassies and consulates to tighten vetting processes is affecting American families who rely on au pairs coming to the U.S., Newsweek reported Monday.
Although much of the administration’s actions regarding the pause have focused on F-1 student visas, the J-1 visa encompasses a range of programs allowing workers to come to the country temporarily, including camp counselors, medical staff, and au pairs, Newsweek reported. About 5,600 au pairs were expected to enter the U.S. in the next four months.
Mark Overmann, executive director of the Alliance of International Exchange, told Newsweek that many potential visa holders had begun making travel plans and were matched with host families before the pause.
“All that, every day that the pause continues, will start to get thrown into disarray,” Overmann said. “That will disrupt potential au pairs’ travel plans, and experience plans, for the next year, but also really put American families, working families, who are counting on having this au pair in their home to care for their children, that will really disrupt their lives in meaningful and difficult ways.”
InterExchange, which also advocates for and helps with the J-1 program, estimated that au pairs spend an average of $143.8 million per year in the U.S., and that 87% of families that rely on au pairs would not be able to find sufficient childcare if they did not have access to the program, according to Newsweek.
In 2023, the last full year of data available, more than 21,400 au pairs participated in the J-1 program, Newsweek reported. In total, roughly 348,000 people obtained J-1 visas.
Newsweek reported it asked the State Department about its decision and the potential impact on American families. A spokesperson did not address the second part of the question but stated that getting a U.S. visa was “a privilege, not a right.”
The spokesperson also said that au pairs and other potential J-1 recipients were welcome to continue to submit applications and wait for new slots to become available at U.S. embassies and consulates, adding that “they need to be fully truthful in their applications when they do so.”
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