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We just got back from a whirlwind tour of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Â The kids had a blast. Â Amany and I had fun but could definitley use a "vacation from our vacation." Â The boys loved Disney Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Â Four and a half year old Noor went on every ride for people taller than 44 inches, including the Tower of Terror twice. Â The one thing that did scare her was lunch in Cindarella's Castle. Â She almost backed out at the last minute! Â We took the safari in Animal Kingdom and walked all over the Earth in Epcot. Â It was a trip of a lifetime!
If you have not been to Epcot, it is a unique experience. Â While it has several fun rides for the kids, the centerpiece of Epcot is the World Showcase. Â In the far end of the park, surrounded by a beautiful lake, stands Disney's tribute to countries around the world. Â As you make your way through the World Showcase, you visit lands from across the globe:Â Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada.
And this is where the immigration attorney inside me became curious. Â The people working at each of these country stops had nametags that displayed not only their name, but their hometowns as well. Â I was struck by how everyone working in Morocco was from Morocco and all of the workers in Germany hailed from the Rheinland. Â I decided to research the immigration aspects of Disney upon my return to St. Louis.
Before beginning my research, I figured that most of the foreign workers at Disney came on a J-1 cultural exchange visa. Â I was incorrect in my assumption. Â It turns out that back in the early 1980s, when Disney began development of Epcot, executives worried that Disney would be unable to obtain the requisite number of J-1 exchange student visas to staff the park. Â Disney retained world famous immigration attorney Ira Kurzban to help draft a special visa for Disney. Â Thus, a brand new visa - the Q visa - was born and it is actually referred to as the Disney visa.
According to law professor Kit Johnson, the Q visa differs from the J visa in several important respects. Â First, the Q visa is a work based visa as opposed to a study based visa. Â Second, the employer must show that the exchange program has a cultural component that is an essential and integral part of the employment or training." Â The program must also be accessible to the American public and has to allow the alien to share their home culture. Â A Q visa last for 15 months, but someone can obtain multiple Q visas if they return home for 1 year in between each visa. Â Last, but perhaps most importantly, Congress placed no limits on the number of Q visas which is unprecedented in the employment immigration context.
It is estimated that Disney has nearly 2,000 workers at the parks under the Q visa. Â We will leave it to our readers to determine for themselves as to whether Disney is exploiting these young people for corporate gain. Â But keep this in mind, as of 2009, Disney's yearly revenues topped $36 billion, with 30% of those revenues coming from the theme parks.