Background: Irish students are shying away from working holidays in the US, and a time-honoured rite of passage may be ending, writes John Downes
It is important not to overstate the importance of the figures showing that nearly 4,000 fewer students are applying for the J1 visa programme through USIT.
Many are continuing to travel to the US to work during the summer months and are willing to go through the ever-tighter controls put in place by the US authorities following the September 11th attacks and the start of the war in Iraq.
But the facts speak for themselves. With the requirement to attend an interview at the US embassy in Dublin, the refusal to allow final-year students obtain a J1 visa and the introduction of tough measures such as automatic fingerprinting at airports, many students are clearly choosing to instead stay at home. It is just not worth the hassle.
The US embassy in Dublin agrees that many of these measures have been developed as part of a wider policy relating to homeland security. Perhaps understandably, in light of the war in Iraq and the "war on terror", the authorities are seeking to ensure they can track everybody who arrives and departs from the country.
Indeed, there are other considerations in trying to assess why students are choosing not to take part in the J1 programme. For example, the strengthening of the euro against the dollar may mean students are aware that they may not be able to earn enough money to meet the significant costs associated with taking part in the scheme.
There is also a more general feeling that there are more jobs at home than has previously been the case, according to USIT.
So instead of choosing to slog it out in the US and come back in debt, many are opting to work at home for a few months. They then travel to the US on a holiday visa, bypassing many of the policies and procedures necessary to obtain a J1 visa.
Parents, too, are perhaps worried by the continual warnings coming from the US of imminent attacks and are happier for their children to go elsewhere. But, according to USIT, no single destination has clearly benefited from the changing trend.
There is undoubtedly also some degree of anti-US sentiment among students, many of whom would have participated in marches against the Iraq war.
It is too early to say what impact any fall-off in J1 participation rates might have on Irish understanding of the US in generations to come.
The irony in all this, according to USIT, is that there has seldom been a better time to go looking for summer work in the US.
Small resorts in particular have become dependent over the years on the regular influx of Irish students to cope with the increase in business which the summer brings.
Indeed, USIT's New York office has been receiving daily calls from employers wondering where the Irish students have gone, it says.
As one member of staff put it, it is the first time in years that there are jobs still available in places such as Montauk, New York.