The Labor Department’s Inspector General said on Oct. 8 that subpoenas have been served on nine universities over their use of J-1 exchange visas. Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced the probe at a White House Fraud Task Force meeting, WPXI reported.
Which universities and what was alleged
The nine are Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State University, MIT and the University of Pittsburgh.
The Inspector General’s office alleges that about 61% of postdoctoral workers and researchers supported by federal grants at the nine schools are foreign nationals, compared with 38% at other institutions. Investigators say they are looking for “misuse and misapplication” of the J-1 program, which draws on billions in federal research funding.
The South China Morning Post reported that officials also raised concerns about Chinese scholars and the Chinese government. No findings or charges have been announced.
How the schools responded
The University of Pittsburgh said it has received a subpoena and is reviewing it. It added that it takes part in federal visa programs, including J-1, in line with all applicable federal requirements. Responses from the other eight were not found.
What the J-1 program covers
J-1 is the exchange visitor category, which includes researchers, professors and students. Our explainer on F-1, J-1 and I visas covers how the categories differ. The probe comes as the administration also proposed a $70,000 OPT fee paid by schools, and the same day the Labor Department suspended PERM for eight tech firms.