Myrtle Beach’s J-1 workers are critical for local businesses. Are they getting scammed?

At Midtown Vineyard Church, a different congregation gathered within the chapel’s nave.

Instead of a religious ceremony full of worshippers, at least a few dozen gathered within the downtown Myrtle Beach church May 22, 2024, at 10 a.m. EST to learn what working a summer on the Grand Strand would be like.

Students from across the world come to Myrtle Beach during the summer to work via a J-1 Visa, a program created by the federal government that allows international students to continue their studies or take jobs in the United States.

While there are many types of J-1 students, most Myrtle Beach attendees work summer jobs, providing inexpensive labor for local businesses during the summer vacation surge. Midtown Vineyard’s frequent meetings provide J-1 students with tips and tools to stay safe and acclimate to working in Myrtle Beach.

The gathering also included Kathy Winfree, a J-1 sponsor.

Winfree did not agree to do an interview with The Sun News for this story, but during her remarks throughout the May 22, 2024, orientation, she thanked the J-1 students for being in Myrtle Beach. She stressed J-1 students’ vital role in the Grand Strand’s summer tourism economy, working at hotels, lifeguard stands, restaurants and shops, and the dire consequences if Myrtle Beach went without them.

“Myrtle Beach could not survive,” Winfree added.

The Sun News reported in 2018 that there’s a labor shortfall after J-1 workers leave. Nearly six years later, local businesses still heavily rely on J-1 students during the summer months. Mark Lazarus is the president of Lazarus Entertainment Group, which operates Myrtle Waves Water Park and Broadway Grand Prix Family Race Park near Broadway at the Beach.

Lazarus said he had about 130 J-1 students work at both parks in 2023 and that the J-1 students are vital to his business. While Lazarus also hires local kids, he added that Horry County Schools’ summer break, which begins June 5, 2024, and ends Aug. 19, 2024, makes employing them less viable than international students in Myrtle Beach for the entire summer.

“I still have three weeks left that the northern schools are still out (of school),” Lazarus said. “We got great business then. It’s very necessary for us to hire the J-1s, and they’re great kids.”

Yet, while community organizers and businesses agree that Myrtle Beach needs J-1 students, problems persist with the program — some out of the control of local authorities. Lack of housing is a chronic problem J-1 students and businesses face in Myrtle Beach, which businesses are trying to address with new housing.

Meanwhile, a lack of information sharing from national groups and local assistance programs makes providing help for newly arrived J-1 students more challenging, which could lead to more stress for the transitory workforce visiting the Myrtle Beach area. Ultimately, the solutions are clear. J-1 students need more housing and support.

J-1 students struggle to find enough affordable housing in Myrtle Beach. Sometimes, they get scammed, too.

Speakers emphasized one critical point to J-1 students during the May 22, 2024, orientation: They must ensure their housing situation is appropriate, not overcrowded or dilapidated, and that if their living quarters are substandard, they contact someone.

Finding suitable housing for J-1 students has been a consistent problem in previous years in Myrtle Beach The Sun News has reported on previously. J-1 participants have resided in substandard conditions, including in 2021, when several international students were found living in a garage.

Furthermore, some J-1 students have seemingly acquired housing only for it to not materialize upon arrival.

Midtown Vineyard Outreach Pastor Christy Morris said that some J-1 students have previously signed up to live somewhere that either doesn’t exist or is a scam. The church responded to this problem by creating an emergency housing service. Morris added that the Red Roof Inn near the airport offers students a discounted rate for a few days while looking for housing.

“There have been some students who secured housing which they thought was online, and it was bogus, and (they) got here, and they actually didn’t even have housing,” Morris said. “Some families and people in our church or several churches that will provide housing for a few days.”

Morris said Midtown Vineyard encourages students to relay information about bad landlords to future J-1ers. She added that certain landlords in the area are known for offering subpar housing, although she declined to say who these owners were. She added that Myrtle Beach’s removal of rundown motels previously used to house J-1 students has helped, but the system could be better.

During the orientation, City of Myrtle Beach Police Lt. Allen Amick gave a presentation about how students could stay safe during their time on the Grand Strand and avoid being exploited. Amick alsoreviewed what constituted overcrowding during the May 22, 2024 orientation, laying out what was considered overcrowding. Amick added that typically, between two or three people per room was appropriate, and more than that could constitute crowding.

Once Amick gave his definition of overcrowding, one student asked if eight people per room was too many. Others nervously laughed, and Amick indicated it probably was but couldn’t say for sure without seeing it himself. The moment was indicative of the ongoing housing problem. Despite outreach from the community and local government, J-1 students are still facing overcrowded living conditions.

Francisco Rosero, 20, and Paulette Bucheli, 21, are students at San Francisco University de Quito in Ecuador and work at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton. Rosero is a cook, and Buchelli is a server and its their second year as part of the program. The pair said they live in a house near downtown Myrtle Beach.

Buchelli said 20 boys live in one part of the house and 20 girls live in the other part, adding that only some of the girls speak the same language, sometimes making communication difficult.

“It’s a lot of people for one kitchen,” Buchelli added.

Indeed, Morris said, the supply of affordable housing has reduced the number of students Myrtle Beach can bring in. Before the pandemic, around 3,000 J-1 visa recipients came to the Grand Strand to work. Still, the lack of cost-effective and affordable housing capped the number at around 1,500 even after the coronavirus subsided.

“We’re having more students come back, but we have hit a cap of 1,500,” Morris said. “That’s about all the housing that is available.”

Myrtle Beach locals need J-1 workers for the summer season. Here’s how locals are trying to provide more help and housing

Providing more quality housing for J-1ers is the solution to poor housing, which would also benefit the area’s economy and international students.

Subpar housing also represents a real danger to the continual viability of Myrtle Beach’s program, as students could stop signing up to come if the Grand Strand develops a poor enough reputation. This issue has led some local business owners to take matters into their own hands.

Frank Boulineau owns and operates the Boulineau’s chain of businesses in North Myrtle Beach. The grocery store and ice cream shop, among other ventures, are some of Grand Strand’s historic landmarks. Boulineau said his company has utilized the J-1 program for 15 years and will bring in 20 students this year.

Boulineau’s company previously rented out homes for their students but noted they usually were poor quality.

“We had problems,” he added.

Four years ago, Boulineau built an apartment complex near The Shack restaurant in the Cherry Grove area to address the issue.

Lazarus also decided to get more involved in the housing process. He said his company finds housing for the J-1 students and works with them to ensure proper housing facilities. He also spends an extra $100,000 helping them find housing and addressing any other problems they encounter.

“It puts us more in control, and we’re sure of what’s going on with the kids,” Lazarus said. “There’s always going to be in any community you go to, obviously, people that don’t do the right things, but we try to do the right things the right way, and we want the kids to come back.”

Indeed, more housing could be on the way. The City of Myrtle Beach has already approved a plan to build dormitory-style housing for J-1 students. The project is expected to cost $50 million and open in 2025. Lazarus is involved with the project and said the dormitory could house between 850 and 1,000 students.

However, the J-1 housing project is controversial. The dormitory-style facility will be located in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Harlem in Myrtle Beach. The Sun News reported in April 2023 that residents voiced concerns about the walled building, saying it hurts properties nearby the facility, disrupts the community, replaces a natural green space, and benefits businesses that utilize J-1 students, not the Harlem neighborhood residents.

While the project is controversial, providing help and resources for J-1 students is not. Midtown Vineyard’s J-1 orientations, which run once a week at the church, and others like it give international students resources when they arrive in the Myrtle Beach area.

Morris said the church started doing the orientation 12 years ago to inform students about getting around Myrtle Beach. The church also created the All Nations Cafe to provide a free, safe space for J-1 students to mingle.

For Morris, the critical point is safety, particularly regarding bikes, the typical mode of transportation for J-1 students. The thorough orientation May 22, 2024, emphasized best practices for students living in Myrtle Beach.

Students were shown how to apply for a Social Security card and provided with emergency contact information. A representative for T-Mobile set up a booth for students to sign up for a phone program. The Myrtle Beach PNC Bank branch provided J-1s paperwork to sign up for a free student bank account that lasts six years, Branch Banker Brett Calhoun said. Calhoun added that J-1 workers need a bank account because most jobs require them to have some form of direct deposit.

Employees from CoastRTA, the area’s bus service, reviewed the rules regarding buses and provided J-1s with a route pamphlet. A bike was raffled off. Amick reviewed how students can protect themselves and avoid getting in trouble while having fun and experiencing America. Affable and with a booming voice that could be heard from the back of the nave, his most notable tips were:

• Never let your employer keep your documents.

• Don’t put all of your money in a shoe box.

• Don’t go to the beach in your birthday suit.

Michael Winfree, Kathy’s husband, even demonstrated the proper way to put a lock on your bike to avoid losing it to theft, recommending which lock was best and how students could get a refund if it didn’t prevent someone from stealing their bike.

Housing is a concern that can be addressed within the Grand Strand; however, there are problems that local organizers cannot compensate for, specifically organizations at the national level.

Myrtle Beach organizers want to help J-1 students once they arrive. How do national sponsors impact the local program?

Morris said that police used to call because J-1 students would arrive in Myrtle Beach without someone to greet them, not knowing where their housing was or where to go. To deal with the issue, the church began sending representatives to meet the students at the airport. Typically, the church doesn’t know who they’re looking for, although if a recent arrival’s suitcase is covered with plastic, that’s a good sign.

“We’re not necessarily into transportation, but we’re there to help them know where they’re going,” Morris said.

The smoothness of a student’s transition into Myrtle Beach depends on the sponsor, who organizes their J-1 experience. Sponsors, which include universities, non-profits, for-profit companies, and government organizations, facilitate J-1’s approval to come to Myrtle Beach, sometimes charging students a fee, according to the J-1 visa sponsor firm J1 Visa Exchanges.

The U.S. State Department’s J-1 website currently lists more than 4,200 designated sponsor organizations allowed to oversee the visa’s 16 different programs it provides. The massive amount of sponsors makes organizing or identifying J-1 students difficult and creates a void of information about the arrivals that local organizers like Morris are trying to assist. While some are better than others, Morris added that of the many sponsors that send J-1 students, four live in Myrtle Beach that Midtown Vineyards work with.

“We’ve tried with even the sponsor here if we can know when they’re when they’re coming (and) if they if we could have the itineraries,” Morris said. “That would be super helpful.”

The lack of information sharing regarding students’ arrival is surprising, considering some spend thousands of dollars just to be here. According to USponsorMe Exchange, a firm that offers J-1 placement and visa services, students may pay a fee for the visa itself, the company or entity sponsoring their visa, the mandatory health insurance, the U.S. government and other fees. Furthermore, J-1 students also incur expenses related to their visit, such as paying for an appointment with an American Embassy closest to their home country to receive their J-1 visa, preparing paperwork, and buying plane tickets to get to the United States and go home.

Morris added that creating a database or centralized service to better administrate the J-1 program locally is probably impossible, given the many different sponsor groups. However, she added that such a tool would be helpful.

“That’s probably almost impossible, but we still would ask for that,” she said. “We’ve tried with sponsors. The four sponsors here we have great communication with them, but beyond that, when they’re out of state, it’s just been impossible.”