International Organization for Migration (IOM)

There are no surveys or data, however, on whether prospective migrants use these
information channels to learn about opportunities abroad. For low-skilled jobs, such
as childcare, farming and landscaping, it is more likely that third-country nationals
receive information on employment opportunities in the United States via social
networks or from friends or family members.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services website contains detailed information
on what employers and workers need to do to acquire non-immigrant visas for the latter.
Many of these services are now available online. The United States consulate offices in
various countries advertise many of the short-term temporary migration programmes.
They make information on visa procedures available via Youtube and some consulates
have even provided live web-chats or web-seminars on visa procedures.
One widely publicized programme is the Summer Work Travel programme under
the J-1 Visa. These visas are for four months with a provision of reapplication. Hiring
workers on the J-1 visa is highly beneficial for US employers as they do not have to
pay social security taxes, Medicare taxes or unemployment taxes for these workers
(Costa, 2011). 161 Thus, the Summer Work Travel programme provides a good source
of inexperienced workers with relatively low skills. 162 Participants in the programme
are required to be enrolled full-time at an accredited post-secondary educational
institution in their country. To ensure that they have a high stake in returning to their
country, these students are required to have completed at least one semester of postsecondary
education. Thus participants have a relatively low probability of becoming
irregulars when their visa expires, which is partly why USCIS enthusiastically
promotes this programme.
Technological and communication developments in the past few decades have made
it much easier for prospective migrants to learn about opportunities abroad. However,
access to information varies within and across countries. Regions and populations
that are better connected via the Internet have greater access. Those that are not,
depend on migrant networks. Overall, populations with established networks or
migration histories with the United States have greater access to information about
opportunities. Similarly, prospective migrants with English language proficiency are
likely to be better informed.
News reports and surveys point to the presence of a fundamental power imbalance
between workers recruited from low-income versus high-income countries, with the
former being more likely to be exploited (Pittman et al., 2012; American federation
of Teachers, 2009). There is also imbalance at the level of hiring highly skilled versus
medium- or low-skilled workers and the latter are less likely to be fully informed and
more likely to be exploited. Part of the imbalance is created by the US immigration
system that provides few visas for low-skilled workers even as the economy continues
161 According to estimates cited in Costa (2011), if an employer hired five workers for 40 hours at USD 8
an hour for four months, he/she would save USD 2,317 in taxes.
162 Workers unions have been very critical of this programme as it makes US-born low-skilled workers
less competitive compared to foreign workers on J-1 visas (Costa, 2011, Department of Professional
Employees 2009).
country studIes – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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