Requirements

Au Pairs Must Be:

• Proficient in spoken English.


• A secondary school graduate or equivalent.


• Between 18 and 26 years old.


• Capable of fully participating in the program as evidenced by the satisfactory completion of a physical.


• Personally interviewed, in English, by an organizational representative who shall prepare a report of the interview which shall be provided to the host family.


• Successful in passing a background investigation that includes verification of school, three, non-family related personal and employment references, a criminal background check or its recognized equivalent and a personality profile. Such personality profile will be based upon a psychometric test designed to measure differences in characteristics among applicants against those characteristics considered most important to successfully participate in the au pair program.

Sponsors Are Required To

• Screen and select both host families and au pairs as program participants according to selection criteria stated in the regulations.


• Provide au pairs with training in child development and child safety prior to their placement with a host family.


• Provide an orientation upon arrival in the United States that includes comprehensive information on life in the United States.


• Be transparent about fees, housing, representations and disclosures and provide an itemized list of all fees to be paid and a description of other costs that an au pair will likely incur while in the United States.


• Monitor au pair participation throughout the program, including the physical location, progress, and welfare of the au pair.
• File a program-specific management review to the State Department, so that the Department can regularly review internal controls and program compliance.

Sponsors Must Ensure The Following

• strong Eligibility: Must be 18-to-26-years-old, proficient in spoken English and must complete at least six hours of academic credit or its equivalent at an accredited U.S. post-secondary educational institution.


• Work hours: Childcare is limited to no more than 10 hours per day, and to a maximum of 45 hours per week.


• Childcare Experience: Provide up to 10 hours a day/45 hours a week of childcare.


• Financial Compensation: Au pairs are compensated for their work according to the Fair Labor Standards Act as interpreted and implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Host Families Are Required To

• Pay up to $500 toward the cost of the au pair’s required academic course work.


• Provide an appropriate suitable private room.


• Be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents fluent in spoken English.


• Pay a weekly minimum stipend based on the program option selected.


• Give the au pair one complete weekend off each month (Friday evening to Monday morning).


• Facilitate the care provider’s requirement to enroll in and attend an accredited post-secondary institution to fulfill her Educational Component requirement.


• Provide a minimum of two weeks paid vacation for each 12 month exchange term (prorated for extension periods of six or nine months), in addition to regular weekly/monthly time off.


• Include the au pair whenever possible in family meals, outings, holidays and other events.


• Host families and Au Pairs must sign an Agreement detailing the au pair’s obligation to provide child care prior to the Au Pair’s placement in the host family’s home. In the event of questions regarding refunds or other adjustments, host families and au pairs should refer to their agreements. The Department of State does not have jurisdiction over contractual obligations.

Benefits

• Host Family Stay: Live with a family for 12 months, with the option to extend 6, 9, or 12 more months.


• Professional Training: Receive a minimum of 32 hours of childcare training before you start.


• Childcare Experience: Provide up to 10 hours a day/45 hours a week of childcare.


• School Credit: Complete at least six hours of academic credit or equivalent in formal educational settings at an accredited U.S. post-secondary educational institution.


• Financial Value: Receive up to $500 toward the cost of required academic course work. Room and board plus compensation for childcare work.

Requirements

Camp Counselors Must Be:

• Sufficiently proficient in the English language to supervise and interact with American youth.


• A foreign post-secondary student, youth worker, teacher or individual with specialized skills.


• At least 18-years-old.

Sponsors Are Required To

• Conduct an in-person interview.


• Secure references regarding suitability.


• Ensure that participants have the required health insurance coverage.


• Provide participants, prior to departure for the United States, with information on their duties and responsibilities as a camp counselor, contractual obligations relative to accepting a camp counselor position and information on financial compensation.


• Maintain SEVIS records.


• Provide the sponsors 24/7 immediate contact telephone number.


• Monitor participants throughout their stay and provide assistance as needed.


• Provide the Department of State’s toll-free emergency hotline telephone number to all participants.

Sponsors Must Ensure The Following

• Eligibility: Must be at least 18-years-old, proficient in spoken English and a bona fide youth worker, student, teacher or other specially qualified individual.


• Financial Compensation: Camp counselors must receive pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to their American counterparts at the camps.

Employers Are Required To

• Provide pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to their U.S. counterparts


• Ensure that program participants do not serve as “staff” — including (but not limited to) administrative personnel, cooks or menial laborers such as dishwashers or janitors.

Benefits

• Financial value: Participants receive pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to their American counterparts at the camps.

Requirements

College And University Students Must Be:

• Be financed directly or indirectly by the U.S. government, the government of their home country, an international organization of which the United States is a member by treaty or statute, or supported substantially by funding from any source other than personal or family funds.


• Be carried out according to an agreement between the U.S. government and a foreign government, or according to a written agreement between American and foreign educational institutions, an American educational institution and a foreign government or a state or local government in the United States and a foreign government; or Student is participating in a student internship program that will fulfill the educational objectives for the student’s degree program in his or her home country.


• Pursue a non-degree program must be enrolled full-time in a prescribed course of study. The maximum duration of a non-degree program is 24 months inclusive of academic training.

Opportunity For Academic Training Extensions In STEM Fields

The Directorate of Private Sector Exchange (Private Sector) is pleased to announce an initiative for College and University Student-category exchange visitors participating in academic training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We introduce this opportunity in response to the recent Joint Statement of Principles in Support of International Education.

Early Career STEM Research Initiative

This research initiative seeks to support an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students, professionals, and exchange visitors on educational and cultural exchange programs in the United States.

Each year, thousands of communities across the United States welcome international visitors into their homes, schools, and businesses. That person-to-person interaction, exemplifying citizen diplomacy, ensures that Americans and international visitors learn about each other’s culture and way of life. Hosting an exchange visitor builds your institution’s international credibility, stature, and brand, positively affecting the lives of future professionals across borders, creating and strengthening your overseas network to partner organizations, and setting your institution apart from the competition with innovative ideas and perspectives.

Steps

• Interested host sites/STEM businesses should reach out to BridgeUSA Sponsors (ECA’s implementing partners for exchanges) to determine the best fit.


• Sponsors and hosts will follow their own internal procedures and applicable regulations to operationalize an exchange.


• Host organizations may enter into agreements with their selected sponsors to identify the appropriate J-1 category and eligible candidates. J-1 categories include: College/University Student, Intern, Professor, Research Scholar, Short-Term Scholar, Specialist, and Trainee.


• STEM host organizations identify suitable positions, relevant educational and cultural exchange experiences, and resources, e.e., fully funding an exchange or offering a hybrid approach where the exchange visitor pays for some of the programming costs.


• Sponsors recruit, screen, and offer STEM host candidates to review for suitability e.g., interviews and resume reviews.


• Once STEM host identifies the best match for their opportunity, the partnering sponsor will issue the necessary documents for the exchange visitor to apply for their J-1 visa.


• Upon arrival, the partnering sponsor will continue to monitor the exchange visitor’s time with the STEM host organization.

Benefits

• School Credit: University/college students may engage in degree-granting programs until completion or non-degree granting programs for no more than 24 months.


• Employment: Students may engage in part-time employment under certain conditions, including good academic standing at their host institution.


• Students may participate in academic training with or without wages or other remuneration during their studies with the approval of the academic dean or adviser and the responsible officer at their sponsor organization.

Requirements

Government Visitors Must Be:

• Selected by a U.S. federal, state or local government agency.


• Engaged in observation tours, discussions, consultations, professional meetings, conferences, workshops and travel.


• An influential or distinguished person.

Sponsors Are U.S. Federal, State And Local Government Agencies. They Must Ensure That Participants:

• Are appropriately screened and selected.


• Are selected by a U.S. federal, state or local government agency.


• Are engaged in consultation, observation, training or demonstrating special skills.


• Are an influential or distinguished person.


• Ensure participants have health insurance in place for the duration of the exchange program for themselves and their spouse or dependents, if any.


• Ensure participants have health insurance in place for the duration of the exchange program for themselves and their spouse or dependents, if any.


• Ensure participants have health insurance in place for the duration of the exchange program for themselves and their spouse or dependents, if any.

Before The Program Begins, The Sponsor Needs To Provide:

• Information on the length and location(s) of the participant’s exchange visitor program.


• A summary of the significant components of the program.


• A written statement clearly stating the stipend, if any, to be paid to the government visitor.

More Information

Government Visitors cannot participate in the program beyond 18 months.

Benefits

• Professional training: Participants consult, observe, train and demonstrate special skills on matters of shared interest.

Requirements

International Visitors Must Be:

• Selected by the United States Department of State.


• Engaged in consultation, observation, research, training or demonstration of special skills.


• A recognized or potential leader in a field of specialized knowledge or skill.

Sponsors Are Required To Provide International Visitors With:

• A summary of the significant components of the program.

More Information

The international visitor shall be authorized to participate in the Exchange Visitor Program for the length of time necessary to complete the program, which shall not exceed one year;

International Visitors are selected by the U.S. Department of State.

Benefits

• Cultural understanding: Recognized or potential foreign leaders participate in observation tours, discussions, consultations, professional meetings, conferences, workshops and travel as a way to better understand U.S. culture and society and contribute to a better knowledge of foreign cultures in the United States.

Requirements

Alien Physicians Must Be:

• Have adequate prior education and training to participate satisfactorily in the program for which they are coming to the United States.


• Be able to adapt to the educational and cultural environment in which they will be receiving their education and training.


• Have the background, needs and experiences suitable to the program.


• Have competency in oral and written English.


• Have passed either Parts I and II of the National Board of Medical Examiners Examination, the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, Step I and Step II, or the Visa Qualifying Examination (VQE) prepared by the National Board of Medical Examiners, administered by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.


• Provide a statement of need from the government of the country of their nationality or last legal permanent residence. Providing written assurance to the Secretary of Health and Human Services that there is a need in that country for persons with the skills the alien physician seeks to acquire and the alien physician has filed a written assurance with the government of this country that he/she will return upon completion of the training.


• An agreement or contract from a U.S. accredited medical school, an affiliated hospital or a scientific institution to provide the accredited graduate medical education, signed by the alien physician and the official responsible for the training.

More Information

Non-clinical exchange participants must have:

• A designated United States university or academic medical center may issue an alien physician a Form DS-2019 to enable them to come to the United States for the purpose of observation, consultation, teaching or research if the sponsor signs and appends to the Form DS-2019 a certification which states, “this certifies that the program in which…is to be engaged is solely for the purpose of observation, consultation, teaching or research and that no element of patient care is involved;” or


• The dean of the involved accredited U.S. medical school or his designee must certify the following five points.


• The program is predominantly observation, consultation, teaching or research.


• Any incidental patient contact will be under the direct supervision of a U.S. citizen or resident alien who is licensed to practice medicine in the State in which the activity is taking placeh.


• The foreign national physician will not be given final responsibility for the diagnosis and treatment of patients.


• Any activities will conform fully with the State licensing requirements and regulations for medical and health care professionals in the State in which the program is being pursued.


• Any experience gained will not be creditable towards any clinical requirements for medical specialty board certification.

Educational Commission For Foreign Medical Graduates

The Department of State has designated the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) as the only sponsor for all alien physicians who wish to pursue a program of graduate medical education or training.

ECFMG Is Required To

• Verify that the foreign national physicians meet J-1 eligibility requirements.


• Upon establishing an applicant’s eligibility, ECFMG issues Form DS-2019, Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1) Status. The physician may also request Form DS-2019 to enable dependents (spouse and unmarried, minor children) to apply for J-2 dependent status.

Host institutions are required to provide the J-1 physician with the approved clinical training. Each host institution designates a Training Program Liaison (TPL) who serves as the official representative to communicate with ECFMG.

Benefits

• School credit: Graduate medical education or training in a specialty or subspecialty occupation.

Requirements

Professor Must:

• Not be a candidate for a tenure track position.


• Not have participated in and completed a professor program within the last 24 months preceding the beginning date of their new program’s commencement.


• Not have participated in a J-Visa program for all or part of the 12-month period immediately preceding the start date of a professor program unless he or she meet one of the following exceptions.


• The participant is currently in a professor program and is transferring to another institution in the United States to continue his or her current J-1 program.


• The participant’s prior physical presence in the U.S. on a J-visa program was less than six months in duration.


• The prior participation was as a short-term scholar.

Early Career STEM Research Initiative

This research initiative seeks to support an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students, professionals, and exchange visitors on educational and cultural exchange programs in the United State.

Sponsors Are Required To

• Screen and select qualified foreign nationals to further education, research and exchange initiatives.


• Monitor the visitor’s stay in the United States, ensure that they are progressing in the work being performed or the research being conducted.


• Ensure that they are involved in cross-cultural programs where they can learn about the United States and its people.

Sponsors Must Ensure The Following For Participants

• Language Proficiency: Verify that participants have the education and credentials necessary to carry out the activity for which they are entering the United States and that they have sufficient proficiency in the English language to function in an English-speaking environment.

Benefits

• Educational enrichment: Professors facilitate the exchange of ideas and research in a variety of fields between people of the United States and people of other countries.

Requirements

Research Scholars Must:

• Not be a candidate for a tenure track position.


• Not have participated in and completed a professor program within the last 24 months preceding the beginning date of their new program’s commencement.


• Not have participated in a J-Visa program for all or part of the 12-month period immediately preceding the start date of a professor program unless he or she meet one of the following exceptions.


• The participant is currently in a professor program and is transferring to another institution in the United States to continue his or her current J-1 program.


• The participant’s prior physical presence in the U.S. on a J-visa program was less than six months in duration.


• The prior participation was as a short-term scholar.

Early Career STEM Research Initiative

This research initiative seeks to support an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students, professionals, and exchange visitors on educational and cultural exchange programs in the United States.

Each year, thousands of communities across the United States welcome international visitors into their homes, schools, and businesses. That person-to-person interaction, exemplifying citizen diplomacy, ensures that Americans and international visitors learn about each other’s culture and way of life. Hosting an exchange visitor builds your institution’s international credibility, stature, and brand, positively affecting the lives of future professionals across borders, creating and strengthening your overseas network to partner organizations, and setting your institution apart from the competition with innovative ideas and perspectives.

Steps

• Interested host sites/STEM businesses should reach out to BridgeUSA Sponsors (ECA’s implementing partners for exchanges) to determine the best fit.


• Sponsors and hosts will follow their own internal procedures and applicable regulations to operationalize an exchange.


• Host organizations may enter into agreements with their selected sponsors to identify the appropriate J-1 category and eligible candidates. J-1 categories include: College/University Student, Intern, Professor, Research Scholar, Short-Term Scholar, Specialist, and Trainee.


• STEM host organizations identify suitable positions, relevant educational and cultural exchange experiences, and resources, e.e., fully funding an exchange or offering a hybrid approach where the exchange visitor pays for some of the programming costs.


• Sponsors recruit, screen, and offer STEM host candidates to review for suitability e.g., interviews and resume reviews.


• Once STEM host identifies the best match for their opportunity, the partnering sponsor will issue the necessary documents for the exchange visitor to apply for their J-1 visa.


• Upon arrival, the partnering sponsor will continue to monitor the exchange visitor’s time with the STEM host organization.

Benefits

• Educational enrichment: Scholars facilitate the exchange of ideas and research in a variety of fields between people of the United States and people of other countries.

Requirements

Secondary Students Must:

• Be at least 15 years of age, but not more than 18 years and six months of age as of the program start date, or


• Not have finished more than 11 years of primary and secondary school, not including kindergarten.


• Not have previously participated in a secondary school student academic year or semester exchange program or attended school in the United States in either F-1 or J-1 status.

When Screening Potential Host Families, Sponsors Will

• Provide potential host families with a detailed summary of the exchange visitor program and the duties and obligations of a host family’s participation.


• Request a detailed summary and profile of the host family, the physical home environment, family’s composition and community environment.


• Conduct in-person interviews with all family members residing in the home.


• Request two personal references for the host family from the school or community to attest to the host family’s good reputation and character.


• Ensure that the host family has adequate financial resources to host the student.


• Verify that each member of the host family who is 18 and older has undergone a criminal background check.

Sponsors Must Ensure The Following For Participants

• Local coordinators are assigned to participants to monitor their program and assist with any issues during their stay in the United States.


• No more than two foreign secondary school students may be placed in a host family home, and can only be placed if all regulatory requirements are met: Students are not from the same countries or have the same native language. Written approval from the students, written approval from the student’s natural parents, written acceptance of two students by the host family, etc.


• Exchange students are not permitted to reside with relatives.

Host Families Are Required To

• Provide a bed, adequate storage space for clothes and personal belongings, reasonable access to bathroom facilities and study space if not otherwise available in the home.


• Three quality meals a day.


• Transportation to and from school activities.

Benefits

• Extracurricular Experiences: Students may take part in school-sanctioned and sponsored extra-curricular activities, including after-school sports programs.


• Accommodations: Students live with an American host family or at a U.S. boarding school.

Requirements

Short-Term Scholars Must:

• Be a professor or research scholar or someone with similar education and or experience

Sponsors Are Required To

• Screen and select qualified foreign nationals to carry out exchange initiatives.


• Monitor the visitor’s stay while in the United States and assist with any issues that may occur.


• Ensure that the foreign national is successfully carrying out the responsibilities for which entry to the United States was granted.


• Ensure that exchange visitors are involved in cross-cultural programs where they can learn about the United States and its people.


• Maintain SEVIS records.


• Ensure that the exchange participants and his/her dependents, if any, are covered by health insurance.


• Ensure that exchange visitors have sufficient finances to participate in the program and to support their spouse and dependents, if any.

Benefits

• Educational enrichment: Participants collaborate on special research projects, teach a semester at a college or university, or lecture, consult or observe in a variety of settings in education and research in the United States

Requirements

Sponsors Are Required To

• Evaluate the qualifications of foreign nationals to determine whether they meet the definition of specialist as set forth in 22 CFR 62.4(g)


• Provide the participant with the information on the length and locations of his or her exchange visitor program, summary of the significant components of the program and a written statement clearly stating the stipend, if any, to be paid to the specialist

Benefits

• Educational enrichment: Participants experience an interchange of knowledge and skills among foreign and American specialists who are defined as experts in a field of specialized knowledge.

Requirements

Summer Work Travel Students Must Be

• Sufficiently proficient in English to successfully interact in an English speaking environment.


• Post-secondary school students enrolled in and actively pursuing a degree or other full-time course of study at an accredited classroom based, post-secondary educational institution outside the United States.


• Have successfully completed at least one semester or equivalent of post-secondary academic study.


• Pre-placed in a job prior to entry unless from a visa waiver country.

Sponsors Are Required To

• Provide pre-arranged and fully-vetted employment to all participants who are not from a visa waiver country. Provide all participants, prior to entry.


• A copy of the Department of State Summer Work Travel Program Brochure.


• The Department of State’s toll-free emergency hotline telephone number.


• The sponsor’s 24/7 immediate contact telephone number.


• Information advising participants of their obligation to notify their sponsor when they arrive in the United States and to provide information of any change in jobs or residence.


• Information concerning any contractual obligations related to participants’ acceptance of paid employment in the United States, if pre-arranged.

Sponsors Of Participants Who Are Nationals Of Visa Waiver Program Countries Must

• Ensure that participants entering the United States without prearranged employment have sufficient financial resources to support themselves during their search for employment.


• Provide such participants with information on how to seek employment and secure lodging in the United States before they depart their home countries.


• Provide participants with a job directory that includes at least as many job listings as the number of participants in their program who are entering the United States without prearranged employment.


• Sponsors must undertake reasonable efforts to secure suitable employment for participants unable to find jobs on their own after one week.


• Sponsors must inform program participants of Federal Minimum Wage requirements and ensure that, at a minimum, participants are compensated at the prevailing local wage, which must meet the higher of either the applicable state or the Federal minimum wage requirement, including payment for overtime in accordance with state-specific employment.


• Sponsors must maintain, at a minimum, a monthly schedule of personal contact with the program participants (in-person, by telephone or via-electronic mail), document such contact, and ensure that issues affecting the health, safety and welfare of participants are addressed immediately.

Host Employers Are Required To

• Provide participants the number of hours of paid employment per week as identified on the job offer and agreed to when the sponsor vetted the jobs.


• Pay those participants eligible for overtime worked in accordance with applicable state or federal law.


• Notify sponsors promptly when participants arrive at the work site and begins their programs; when there are any changes or deviations in the job placements during the participants’ programs; when participants are not meeting the requirements of job placements; or when participants leave their position ahead of their planned departure.


• Contact sponsors immediately in the event of any emergency involving participants or any situation that impacts the health, safety or welfare of participants.

Benefits

• The Summer Work Travel program provides foreign students with an opportunity to live and work in the United States during their summer vacation from college or university to experience and to be exposed to the people and way of life in the United States.

Requirements

Teachers Must Be

• Meet the qualifications for teaching in primary or secondary schools in their country of nationality or last legal residence.


• Be working as a teacher in the home country or country of legal residence at the time of application, or, if not working as a teacher, otherwise meet the eligibility qualifications and
  
  (a) have recently (within 12 months of application) completed an advanced degree and
  
  (b) have two years of full-time teaching experience within the past eight years.


• Have a degree-equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree in either education or the academic subject field in which they intend to teach.


• Have a minimum of two years (24 months) of teaching or related professional experience.


• Satisfy the standards of the U.S. state in which they will teach.


• Be of good reputation and character.


• Be seeking to enter the United States for the purpose of full-time teaching as a teacher of record at a primary (including pre-kindergarten) or secondary accredited educational institution in the United States (pre-kindergarten teachers must teach full-time, and at the pre-kindergarten level, may teach only language immersion at an accredited host school).


• Possess sufficient proficiency in the English language.

Repeat Participation

• Teachers are eligible to repeat the program provided that they have resided outside the United .

Sponsors Are Required To

• Screen and select qualified foreign teachers based on qualifications and also based on who can make a contribution to the education of students in the United States and who want to learn U.S. teaching methods.


• Verify each teacher applicant’s English language proficiency through recognized language tests or interviews.


• Monitor the exchange teachers’ stay in the United States to ensure that they are satisfactorily performing their teaching responsibilities.


• Ensure each exchange teacher completes a cultural activity component annually, which includes two requirements
  
  (a) First, each exchange teacher must complete, within the United States and during each year of program participation, an activity for the teacher’s classroom, larger host school or host school district population, or the community at large that gives an overview of a cultural aspect of the teacher’s home country.
  
  (b) Second, an activity that involves U.S. student dialogue with schools or students in another country, preferably the teacher’s home country.

Sponsors Must Provide Participants With The Following Information

• The duration and location(s) of the participants’ program.


• A summary of the significant components of the program, including fees and costs of the program, a written statement of the teaching requirements and related professional obligations.


• A written statement that clearly indicates the compensation package to be provided to the exchange visitor teacher and any other financial arrangements relevant to the program

Host Employers Are Required To

• Involve exchange teachers in school and community cultural activities.


• Monitor the performance of exchange teachers in the classroom and in carrying out official responsibilities.

Extensions

• The base period for a teacher exchange is three years. However, host schools may apply to the sponsor for a one or two year extension of the exchange (the extension must be for whole years, not fractions of years). Extension requests are not automatic, but there is no limit on the number of extensions that the State Department can grant.


• Sponsors must submit extension requests they approve and any supporting documentation to support the extension to the State Department no later than three months prior to the beginning of the desired extension period for the teacher.

Benefits

• Educational and cultural enrichment: Exchange teachers sharpen their professional skills and participate in cross-cultural activities in schools and communities, and they return to their home school after the exchange to share their experiences and increased knowledge of the United States and the U.S. educational system.

Further, sponsors must not place trainees in positions that require more than 20 percent clerical or office support work. Use of the Exchange Visitor Program for ordinary employment or work purposes is strictly prohibited. Sponsors are not to place trainee participants in positions, which are filled or would be filled by full-time or part-time employees. Also, the training cannot duplicate a trainee participant’s prior work experience or training. Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing, Arts and Culture, Construction and Building Trades, Education, Social Sciences, Library Science, Counseling and Social Services, Health Related Occupations, Hospitality and Tourism, Information Media and Communications, Management, Business, Commerce and Finance, Public Administration and Law, The Sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics and Industrial Occupations.

Requirements

A Trainee Must Be A Foreign National Who

• Has a degree or professional certificate from a foreign post-secondary academic institution and at least one year of prior related work experience in his or her occupational field outside the United States; or


• Has five years of work experience outside the United States in the occupational field in which they are seeking training.

Sponsors Are Required To

• Conduct site visits of host organizations that.


• Verify each teacher applicant’s English language proficiency through recognized language tests or interviews.


• Have fewer than 25 employees.


• Have less than $3 million in annual revenue.


• Collect the following information from all host organizations.


• Employer Identification Number (EIN).


• Verification of telephone number, address, brochures, website, etc.


• Proof of worker’s compensation insurance policy or equivalent.

Sponsors Must Ensure The Following For Participants

• Participants in programs that exceed six months must be evaluated at mid-point and at the conclusion of the program.


• For programs with durations of less than six months, the participant must be evaluated at the conclusion of the program. All evaluations must be received by the sponsoring organization prior to the end of the participant’s exchange program and must be signed by both the participant and his or her immediate supervisor.


• Ensure that trainees are appropriately selected, oriented, supervised and evaluated.


• Be available to trainees to assist as facilitators and information resources.


• Ensure that the training program is full-time (at least 32 hours a week).

Host Organizations Are Required To

• Sign a completed Form DS–7002 to verify that all placements are appropriate and consistent with the objectives of the trainees or interns as outlined in their program applications and as set forth in their T/IPPs.


• Notify sponsors promptly of any concerns about, changes in or deviations from T/IPPs during training and internship programs.


• Contact sponsors immediately in the event of any emergency involving trainees or interns.


• Abide by all federal, state and local occupational health and safety laws.


• Abide by all program rules and regulations set forth by the sponsors, including the completion of all mandatory program evaluations.


• Have sufficient resources, plant, equipment and trained personnel available.


• Provide continuous on-site supervision and mentoring by experienced and knowledgeable staff.


• Ensure that trainees obtain skills, knowledge, and competencies through structured and guided activities such as classroom training, seminars, rotation through several departments, on-the-job training, attendance at conferences and similar learning activities, as appropriate in specific circumstances.

Benefits

• Practical Experience: Enhance the skills and expertise of exchange visitors in their academic or occupational fields through participation in a structure and guided training-based program.