Every summer, Jersey Shore businesses face the same problem — how to staff temporary job positions when there simply aren’t enough residents to fill them. One solution is the J-1 visa program — a work permit program that allows foreign students to work in the U.S.
Over the last two summers, Morey’s Piers and Beachfront Water Parks in Wildwood struggled to keep everything open with access to far fewer J-1 workers than in other years. Now they’re back to pre-pandemic levels of staffing, with a third of their seasonal jobs going to international students. Miglė Žiūraitytė, who is from Lithuania and is one of about 550 international students working at Morey’s on a J-1 visa, said, “I’ve been here for two weeks, but I already love this country, and I love this park.”
New Jersey is expecting about 4,600 international students to work this summer, according to the U.S. Department of State’s latest numbers.
