WYSE Travel Confederation calls upon its members, US Sponsors and their agents and the industry as a whole, to lobby their US ambassadors to revoke Presidential Proclamation 10052.

The BridgeUSA J-1 Visa Program is uniquely different from the other non-immigrant visa programs contained in President Trump’s Proclamation 10052 in that it is, first and foremost, a cultural exchange program with significant cultural exchange requirements for both participants and hosts. While it has a work component, the work alone is not the goal; rather it is the means by which the international participants can travel to the United States and learn about American culture and values.

Most of the students cannot afford to spend significant time in the US without this program, as the costs of a semester at a U.S. university is far out of reach. These students represent the best and brightest: they study engineering, medicine, economics, and law, and living on their own in a foreign country allows them to develop the independence and fortitude that will serve them well throughout their careers.

Not only do these students return to their home countries with greatly improved language skills and new professional talents, but they also leave behind a financial contribution to the U.S. economy. WYSE Travel Confederation research has consistently shown that students on these programs spend more money in destination than they earn.

Failing to revoke Presidential Proclamation 10052 immediately places these soft diplomacy programs at existential risk because both participants and hosts cannot properly plan for the surge resort season, summer camp, and childcare timelines these programs support. Further, failing to prioritize the processing of these J-1 visas has the same effect as the delays incurred so far and cannot be overcome without immediate prioritization. Many of the programs by regulation take place between May and September. Further delays will also cause additional economic hardship to the sector which has already been hard hit by the pandemic.

Please download and send this template letter to your Ambassador as soon as possible, imploring them to push for the immediate revocation of Presidential Proclamation 10052, and if you are a US Sponsor, send this on to your agents and ask them to lobby their ambassadors too.

For further details, please contact desiree.peters@wysetc.org.

Regards,