Monday night, a German foreign exchange student at my school received a phone call from his company that sent him over. The company called Flag (or somethings like that, can't remember the exact name) informed him that his visa had been suddenly cancelled and that he had 48 hours to return home.
He was not allowed to talk about the reason why at school, but we know it was not a family issue. He said himself that his family wishes for him to stay in America. My friends and I are also pretty sure that he's not in trouble with the law.
Can anyone who has dealt with foreign exchange students give us some possible explanations?
Exchange placement agencies send back students all the time for no reason other than they already collected the foreign parents money and don't want to deal with the student for the rest of the year. This multi-million dollar industry treats these kids like property and don't care about "public diplomacy".
The bottom line is money.
The previous answers reflect little knowledge of the exchange industry and are slanted against the foreign student implying he did something wrong.
He didn't. Until this year, the exchange industry did not even bother to do criminal background checks placing kids with convicted criminals.
A California bill for fingerprint checks was opposed and derailed by the exchange industry - why would it do that if its "top priority is the safety and welfare of the children?"
The U.S. Department of State had to mandate criminal background checks on May 4, 2006 but even then the exchange industry opted for the cheapest and fastest checks not the most comprehensive.
I want to know why private citizens have control of our American visas.
That is frightening. Since the costs to foreign parents is $3000 to $16000, that is a loss that falls in the gray area to sue the company. It costs that much to hire a lawyer and foreign parents don't know how to access our legal system.
Tough enough for Americans much less being in a foreign country. The sad thing is the horrible stigma of being sent home - it is a great shame that the student must bear, particularly the Asian culture. But the exchange industry could care less.
Yes, this is an ugly side of foreign exchange that Americans don't want to read about but until we complain to the State Department about the ugly tactics of the foreign exchange placement agencies, kids like this German boy will continue to be victimized.
Check out the IRS 990s for these companies - $12 million, $8 million, salaries of $200,000 plus expense account for the top executives and almost nothing for the local "recruiting volunteers" and nothing for the host families.
The question tells me the author cared about this student - good!! It made you ask the question. Now help!! Write to your federal and state representatives.
Complain about how this boy was treated. Do something to help future students. And keep the information on the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students and become a member. If the host family had known who to contact, maybe that boy could have finished his year in America and left with positive experiences about the USA that he would remember into adulthood.
You can forward my response to him and let him know I believe him.
He needs to know it..