J1 summers could be a thing of the past thanks to new visa changes

Oct 7, 2015

A J1 summer is considered a rite of passage for many Irish students, but new changes could mean far fewer people will be granted a visa.

The J1 programme currently allows full-time third-level students studying in Ireland to travel to the US, where they can legally work for a period of four months.

This year alone, more than 8,000 Irish students applied for the visa, with California, Boston, Chicago and New York among the popular destinations.

Now though, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he fears an "abrupt end" to the system could be ahead, thanks to a new requirement for pre-employment which has been proposed.

If implemented, students would only be granted the visa if they had already had a job lined up in the US.

Though no official reason has been given for this dramatic proposal, it's thought a number of high-profile incidents involving property damage by J1 students to rental accommodation could be the cause.

"Because of a series of issues that have arisen, the authorities that issue J1 visas seem to be bent on introducing a requirement for pre-employment for young people before they go," the Taoiseach said yesterday in the Dáil.

By his estimation, the new pre-employment requirement would mean a 60-80 percent drop in the number of Irish J1 students.

This is not the first threat to the future of the J1 programme, however.

Back in August, US Presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged to scrap the system entirely if he was elected, replacing it with a programme giving jobs to inner city youths in the US.

Following the death of five J1 students and one US citizen after a balcony collapse in Berkeley back in June, the New York Times was roundly criticised for "victim-blaming" in an opinion piece about the accident.

The paper, who later issued an apology, appeared to make links between the deaths and tales of Irish students damaging US property.