U.S. investigates use of exchange visitor visas at nine top universities

Abstract:

The U.S. government has launched a new round of restrictions on overseas scholars from well-known domestic universities and has begun investigating the use of exchange visit visas by nine top universities, including Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The massive fraud investigation specifically targeted J-1 visas, whose holders are often international doctoral students or visiting scholars at universities. At a press conference on Thursday, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said that schools are using this visa to "depress the wages of American graduate students and American researchers."

“There’s something weird about these universities. They’re just overusing these visas,” Vance said.

At the same press conference, the U.S. government suspended a number of technology companies, including Microsoft, from participating in the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM), accusing them of widespread abuse of the foreign worker visa system.

Other schools investigated include Yale University, Brown University, University of Pittsburgh, California Institute of Technology, Arizona State University and University of California, Davis

Administration officials said subpoenas have been served on all nine colleges and universities and investigations are ongoing. MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen said the school was studying the "very broad subpoena."

A spokesman for Arizona State University said the school "educates more STEM majors than any other university and has one of the largest technology and science teams in the country."

A Stanford spokesman said the school complies with visa laws and will cooperate with the investigation. A spokesman for Brown University said the school had received a subpoena for visa records and would respond as soon as possible.

Representatives from other institutions have yet to respond.

Anthony D’Esposito, Inspector General of the Department of Labor, said that the presence of a large number of “foreign citizens” in doctoral programs and researcher programs poses a hidden danger to national security.