Exchange Visa Program Puts Participants at Risk of Exploitation

Oliver Benzon worked for six months at a call center in his native Dominican Republic to afford the $3,000 in fees to participate in a summer work and cultural exchange program in the U.S. He now says that opportunity wasn’t worth the effort.

Benzon signed up for the J-1 Summer Work Travel program, the largest of 14 cultural exchange programs run by the State Department. In 2018, there were 104,512 SWT participants spread out across all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to agency data.

The program is billed as an opportunity for college and university students ...