Pause on international student visas could affect Hampton Roads tourism industry

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2 days ago

VIRGINIA BEACH — The U.S. State Department this week ordered embassies to pause new student visa appointments to expand its social media screening efforts. The move applies to several visa categories, including the J-class, according to a State Department cable.
Among those groups affected will be international student workers who are applying for J-1 visas to work in Hampton Roads and Outer Banks later this year and in the future.
'The Department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants,' said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the cable, which was sent Tuesday and obtained by The Virginian-Pilot.
A visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate is generally the last step before an applicant receives a final decision on their visa application, according to the State Department.
Scheduled appointments can take place; additional ones are paused while the department conducts its review, Rubio said.
The enhanced vetting is another step by the Trump administration in its ongoing dispute over international enrollment at Harvard University, which receives federal funding. The Department of Homeland Security is seeking data about Harvard students involved in alleged criminal activity, threatening behavior, protests or other violent or disruptive acts on campus, in what the department describes as a matter of national security.
Radlyn Mendoza, a Virginia Beach immigration and citizenship attorney, said students who were waiting for that final step in the approval process are out of luck, for now.
'They're going to be waiting in limbo,' she said.
The temporary suspension could also put the tourism industry in a tough spot.
Dozens of employers in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and the Outer Banks rely on J-1 visa holders to fill integral positions during peak summer months and into the fall. Many arrived in May and are working at hotels, restaurants and amusement parks.
Under the non-immigrant J-1 visa, students can work for up to four months in the U.S. and then travel for a month before returning to their home country.
A second wave of students — most of which have already been approved for their visas, according to their employers — are scheduled to arrive later this summer.
If the application pause continues and expanded vetting leads to delays, businesses could lose some foreign applicants seeking fall, winter or spring work.
'It could definitely put a little more pressure, I'm sure, on everyone,' said Russell Lyons, corporate director of operations for Coastal Hospitality Associates, LLC., which owns and operates hotels at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and Town Center as well as in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head on the Outer Banks.
Lyons said he received an emailed update this week from a representative of Intrax, the agency that Coastal Hospitality uses to connect with student workers. Intrax is going through its roster to determine which students have not yet scheduled an interview, the email said, according to Lyons.
It remains to be seen if the State Department's new process will delay visa approvals going forward and how local businesses that rely heavily on J-1 workers will handle a potential setback, Mendoza said.
Guidance on the expanded vetting would be issued 'in the coming days,' Rubio's cable said.
'It will be interesting to see how that will impact our local economy, and also whether domestic applicants, domestic workers will step up,' Mendoza said.
Lyons is not concerned about this summer's workforce, but he's beginning to think about a back-up plan if delays in approving international student workers bleeds into next year.
'We'll have to explore some other options,' Lyons said. Coastal Hospitality may have to turn to a staffing company because recruiting for some jobs can be difficult.
'It's tough in this market to fill housekeeping positions,' Lyons said.
Gold Key|PHR, which operates The Cavalier Hotel and several other hotels in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, is expecting about 45 more international student workers this summer on top of the 42 who are already here, said Bucky Houser, director of recruiting and training.
Houser was able to confirm this week with WISE Foundation, the company Gold Key uses for the J-1 program, that those additional students have been approved and will be coming to Virginia Beach, he said.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, [e-mail]