Trump shuts door on work and travel students
Published:Wednesday | July 8, 2020 | 12:08 AMNadine Wilson-Harris/Staff Reporter
Thousands of tertiary students hanging on to a thin thread of hope of travelling to the United States in the summer to earn funds to cover tuition and other costs for the upcoming academic year have had those dreams dashed with the Donald Trump administration placing a hold on student work visas.
The news has deflated many students, who forked out more than $200,000 to secure jobs overseas. It has also left many recruitment agencies in a bind as they are required by law to refund 75 per cent of the funds paid by the students, although they had incurred expenses while fulfilling their pledges to secure these jobs.
For 23-year-old Daniel Maxam, the reality that he will not be able to go on the programme has been a huge blow.
“It is very disappointing,” said the University of Technology student, who is currently pursuing a diploma in mechanical engineering.
He will now join the long list of Jamaicans trying to pivot and find a job opening locally in an economy hard hit by the pandemic.
“I have just been praying about it and trying to see what’s next, because where one door shuts, two more open,” he said optimistically.
Owner of Career Services International, Otego Thompson, said more than 400 students who applied through his company have been affected. The recruitment company has been helping university students to secure overseas employment for the past 11 years.
“We were like 95 per cent complete in the processing areas; the only thing left was for them to go and get their visas. We already had our employer come in [and] do interviews, we already had our international sponsors come in, do orientation. The students already signed their job offer, contracts. Their housing and everything was already confirmed,” he said.
The US government issued the proclamation on June 22, suspending the entry of non-nationals who present a risk to the US labour market in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proclamation, which came into effect on June 24, will last until the end of the year.
Thompson said that more than half of this year’s applicants had been on the programme before.
“With the help of this programme, they are able to help with their school expenses and so forth going forward,” he said.
Some of the students are upset about the fact that they will lose 25 per cent of their investment, but Mark Foster, who operates Students’ Work and Travel Programme, said this deduction has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Labour under the Employment Agencies Regulations Act.
“Most of the students, they understand, they have processed their refunds. We have started the process and they accept that they can’t do the programme this year,” he said.
“The issue really comes from them taking loans. The majority of them, they took out loans to do the programme, so they have additional stress, because they are losing this 25 per cent, and they need the 100 per cent to go back to the loan agencies, plus they might have incurred interests and they don’t have anywhere to get it from,” he said.