New Immigration Policy Threatens to Delay J-1 Applicants' Approval to Work At Camp

To tighten national security, the Social Security Administration announced a new policy in June that will require the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to conduct immigration reviews of individuals applying for a social security number, including J-1 exchange visitors at camps.

This new policy will delay employment for possibly as long as twelve weeks for J-1 exchange visitors at camps, disrupting, if not canceling work by J-1 visitors.

Under the new system, the Immigration agency, which initially decides whether to authorize a foreign person to work in the United States, would have to verify an individual’s immigration paperwork before the Social Security Administration could process his or her application and issue a social security number. Foreign employees need social security numbers before they can be paid by employers. Federal law does not require that people have a social security number before they start working, but individuals do need social security numbers to file tax forms related to wages that they earn. Many employers cannot issue a paycheck without the appropriate tax information.

Although, J-1 individuals are not considered employees, the Internal Revenue Service mandated in January of 1997 that all international exchange students obtain a social security card. For an international summer camp counselor, who typically works at camp for two months, an additional delay in getting a social security number may result in the camp program ending before they receive a Social Security card. This could mean that many J-1 students would be unable to work at our camps.

Thousands of international exchange students work at ACA camps each year. A significant disruption in the J-1 exchange visitor program could seriously impact camps.

What Can You Do?
 
Visit the ACA’s Public Policy Web site [1] for information regarding the steps to follow when making requests of the local SSA office.

What Is ACA Doing?

1. Presently, we are working with:
   
   1. the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange Coalition;
   2. the international placement agencies; and
   3. APCO, ACA’s D.C.-based government affairs consultant.
2. Efforts include:
   
   1. communications with key federal agency leaders; and
   2. strategic planning with APCO and the international placement agencies.

Originally published in the 2002 Fall issue of The CampLine.