subject: DOS Proposed Rule on Exchange Visitor Program for Secondary School Students [print this page] With respect to the effectuation of sponsor responsibilities under the Exchange Visitor Programs, the Department of State is about to amend the Exchange Visitor Program regulations. In addition to the amendment, the Department will also improve the regulations by bestowing better specificity and clarity to the sponsors of the Secondary School Student program.
The U.S. Department of State has decided to rectify the existing regulations that include screening, selection, school enrollment, orientation, and monitoring of overall quality assurance on behalf of student participants along with the monitoring quality assurance of the host families.
The Exchange Visitor Program is implemented for better understanding between the people in the United States of America and the people of other countries. It is instrumented by the use of cultural and educational exchanges under the U.S. law. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of State is helped by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for exchange programs and visitors.
According to the U.S. Department of State, the exchange students are placed with badly screened host families due to lack of suitable industry standards or improper specificity in the respected regulations. All these proposed regulations may risk the well being and safety of the student visitors. Coordinators are responsible for acquiring host families and obtaining school enrollments are considered important by the Department for flourishing exchange programs. They act as representatives for the Secondary School Student sponsors.
When determining the efficiency of the host families to provide a comfortable environment for a Secondary School student, the local coordinators enjoy independent judgment. The coordinators also determine whether the host family is a good match for the exchange student and also the financial stability of the family.
With the information provided by the local coordinators, the U.S. Department of State has decided to conduct testing and certification program for local and regional coordinators once in a year. This will specify the regulatory requirements as well as sponsoring organization training.
DOS Proposed Rule on Exchange Visitor Program for Secondary School Students
