They Were Promised a Taste of America. They Got Abuse and Exploitation. NYT | Top Stories By: Amy Julia Harris 20 September 2025 at 15:00 Every year, tens of thousands of young people are sent on visas to toil as farmworkers, housekeepers and office interns, all in the name of cultural exchange. © Armend Nimani for The New York TimesBehare Mlinaku signed up for the cultural exchange program expecting to receive expert training. Instead, she said, all she did was manual labor.
4 Takeaways From the Times Investigation Into the J-1 Visa Program NYT | Top Stories By: Amy Julia Harris 20 September 2025 at 15:00 Some American companies have used the cultural exchange program as a supply of cheap, exploitable labor, records and interviews show. © Marko Risovic for The New York TimesWorkers like Dino Cekic came to the United States on J-1 visas expecting training and cultural immersion. Instead, they found abuse and exploitation.