After 19 hours on a plane, Sandra Ajao fought off jet lag as she faced flashing neon lights, booming music and the crash of bowling pins on a recent weekday afternoon in Harmar. Inside a mostly vacant Zone 28 family fun center, dozens of people congregated around several lanes and a counter stacked with pizzas and soft drinks.
Ms. Ajao, whose plane from Nigeria had touched down the previous day, could have been disoriented. But she was brimming with the confidence of someone who had achieved a lifelong dream: moving to the United States to work as a nurse.