Reddit as Early Signal for Visa Fraud

u/thelexuslawyer posted a NYTimes deep dive yesterday (Merry Christmas I guess?) in r/immigration on the J-1 Visa program in the US and the different ways agencies were abusing it for profit.

Reminded me of another article about Canada rejecting Indian study permits en masse this year due to concerns about fraud.

What's crazy is both of these issues were in various immigration threads years before the stories broke. You can search for diploma mills and see dozens of comments/posts complaining about these services in Canada, like this AMA from 2 years ago.

Here's a thread from 3 years ago on J1 Visa Abuse, specifically

"But we're finding out that these guys are seriously overworked and underpaid. Moreover, they have to pay for their own J1 Visas and are consistently asked to do ridiculous amounts of low-level work. Like passing out fliers or picking up other coaches from airports at weird hours. They are also required to travel by car for hundreds of miles per week and are simply not paid for gas. We, as hosts, are supposed to be paid as well but we haven't been paid and the communication is horrible."

If I were a journalist with an immigration focus looking for my next scoop...