November 2012

Steps to follow to become a host family and welcome a J1 exchange visitor or an au pair into your home.

It is no longer news that thousands of families, communities and schools all over the United States welcome visitors and international students into their homes, businesses and schools. This exemplifying citizen diplomacy and person-to-person interaction guarantees that the Americans as well as international visitors learn about each others way of life as well as culture.

The United States Information Agency – USIA is the body that is responsible for the administration of the exchange programs for the purpose of strengthening relations between other countries and the US. The program began by bringing scholars into the United States momentarily for a specific educational objective like conducting research as well as teaching. Host family opportunities ensued with the introduction of the exchange program by the United States as families have the options of choosing the participant to be hosted by them.

How to Apply for Host Family Opportunities

Families are always eager to host different categories of participants because of the host family opportunities involved. Nevertheless, an intended host family must file an application to be a host family. Therefore, you must follow two steps to apply for host family opportunities.

The first step to apply for host family opportunities is to make a decision regarding the applicant you would like to host as there is a list of programs and each program contained certain information that is channeled towards hosts. Therefore, as host, you must know the list of programs as contained in the information list for you to be able to decide the participants you will host. Consequently, the list of programs to choose your participants from includes the following;

The Intern, Au Pair, Government Visitor, Trainee, Summer Work Travel, Teacher, International Visitor, Alien Physician, Professor and Research Scholar, Secondary School Student, Short-Term Scholar and Summer Work Travel, Flight Training, Specialists, International Visitor and Government Visitor Programs.

The second step to applying for host family opportunities is by getting in touch with any of the chosen sponsors for the designated program. Those organizations that run the exchange program and hook up hosts with participants are the designated sponsors. Hence, notable designated sponsors of exchange programs are:

The Camp Counselors, USA/Work Experience USA, Council for Educational Travel, Council on International Educational Exchange, Cultural HomeStay International, Intrax Work/Travel, Philadelphia International Institute, American Professional Exchange among others.

A variety of employers are currently J1 visa sponsors in sectors like scientific research, education tourism, hospitality and non-profit.

The sponsors for J1 visa are numerous, you can do a search on the internet to check and choose the sponsor for J1 visa of your choice. There are many reliable current sponsors for J-1 Visa, some are listed here for you.

1. The Camp Counselors USA/Work Experience USA – This sponsor for J-1 visa is an international work adventure professional that have been dedicated to offering the highest level of service in summer camp jobs, volunteer adventures and work travel experiences since 1985. The CCUSA apart from placing more than 250,000 young adults in hundreds of summer camps and seasonal employers in the United States of America and around the world also offer more than 15 programs that enlist from more than 60 countries.

2. The Council for Educational Travel – The programs available at CETUSA has permitted many young people from dissimilar cultural backgrounds to meet, exchange ideas as well as begin international friendships. This is a sponsor for J-1 visa whose main objective is to make your dream of achieving a J-1 status come true.

3. Council on International Educational Exchange – This non-governmental, non-profit international exchange organization has being in existence for more than 60 years now and the mission of the CIEE is to assist people in acquiring knowledge, developing skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally different world as well as gaining understanding. CIEE enlarge and manage programs, build knowledge through research, conferences and publications. They also advocate for the development of international education.

4. Cultural HomeStay International (Opening Doors to the entire World since 1980) – The United States Department of States designated CHI as a sponsor for J-1 visa in order to promote goodwill and international understanding through people to people exchanges. CHI is popular for its professional staff, caring and hands-on style of management. Students all over the world have been visiting CHI from more than 100 countries to take part in its cultural and educational programs such as Academic Year High School exchange, Au Pair child-care, short-term Group Homestay, Work & travel, Internship Training and Camp Counselor experience. Also, Cultural Homestay International organizes language teaching adventures, high school study and work programs for American students seeking cultural experiences abroad.

5. Intrax Work/Travel – This sponsor for J-1 visa was established in the year 1980 by Takeshi Yokota and John Wilhelm for the purpose of providing a lifetime of exceptional quality educational, volunteer and work programs that connect people and cultures. Intrax operates in over 100 countries worldwide and provides different cultural and educational programs like international au pairs, high school exchange, language classes, leadership programs, volunteer opportunities and work and internship placements.

6. Philadelphia International Institute – This is a United States Department of State chosen sponsor for J-1 visa for the Work and Travel Program since the year 2001. You can get personalized and fast service at Philadelphia International Institute with participants from Ukraine, Ghana, Poland, Georgia, Russia, Jamaica and other countries of the world.

This is not the end of the list, as already mentioned you can find many more online.

Archives for November 2012

Host Family Opportunities

Who are the current sponsors for J-1 visa?