Visa information
From AFSWiki
Overview
Generally, once updated, AFS's Visa Instructions for each program will be posted in PDF form on the AFS website at www.afsusa.org. We say "generally," because in a few cases, visa instruction documents and forms are emailed directly to participants or sent by mail without being posted on the website. This can occur when we are experiencing difficulties with the website, or if the forms are such that they cannot be published online for privacy or liability reasons. This depends on the type of form involved, but is the exception to the rule. Be aware that not all updated instructions will be available at one time and visa instruction documents will not be accessible year-round.
Once they are available, you may access posted visa instruction documents on the AFS-USA website here.
The instructions are posted on a staggered schedule, as each is updated during the current cycle, in an effort to provide the most current information available. Depending on the departure date of the program, the complexity of the visa requirements, average length of processing time, and whether or not there are many changes to immigration law in a given cycle, visa information can be posted anywhere from 3 to 1.5 months before departure. In a few exceptional cases, instructions may not be posted online. In these cases hard copies are sent by mail or electronic copies of the instructions are sent as an email attachment.
In some cases, AFS-USA will apply for the students' visas on their behalf. This is usually coordinated from the New York office. In other cases, students will have to work with the Consulate that has jurisdiction over their state in order to apply for a visa individually, after we have instructed them on how to do so. In a few cases, students will apply for a visa or residence permit after arrival in their host country. In ALL cases, students are responsible for compiling the required documents and either applying at their Consulate, sending documents to AFS, or bringing documents to their host country, depending on what requirements and instructions dictate.
Visa-related expenses are the responsibility of the participant and are not included in the cost of tuition, though some visa fees may occasionally be charged by AFS invoice (in the few cases when processing fees are due to AFS). There are a few Faces of America and Sponsored Program Scholarships that cover visa fees. See the "Types of Programs and Visa Costs" section below for more detail on advising students about budgeting for visas.
Passport
All participants must have a US passport that is valid for up to 6 months after their intended return from the AFS program. They should make sure that they have signed the signature page and that all their AFS and visa forms bear their full, legal name, exactly as it appears on the passport. This is required for booking airline tickets and is necessary to avoid confusion and delays in the visa process. Students can apply for or renew US passports at the main US post office branch in their home communities, or they may use the US State Department website: http://travel.state.gov/passport/. More information on passports is providing in the Passport section under Sending in the AFS Wiki.
Note that it is generally recommended for parents who are sending their children abroad to also have a valid US passport. Currently, it is a requirement for parents of students applying for the India visa to have passports. Other countries do not require parents to have a passport in order for their children to apply for a student visa but, again, it is advisable to have updated international travel documents.
Legal Guardian Issues
Students with estranged legal guardians or legal guardians living in different states or countries can often run into additional challenges with the visa process. Many student and tourist visas require minors to submit notarized Parental Authorization to travel. This is a different form from the one that is part of the AFS application. Usually, all legal guardians with rights over the child must sign this type of form. Participants who run into challenges with the AFS Parental Consent Form should be aware that they may have to go through a similar process when applying for the visa.
Non-US Citizens
Non-US citizens may have a different process from US Citizens. They are often eligible to participate but we must be aware of their status in advance as we will need to consider them on a case by case basis, depending on their citizenship and the visa requirements involved. In order to be considered for participation, non-US citizens must have a valid passport from their nation of citizenship and a valid US Visa or Residence Permit document that will not expire for at least 6 months after the end of their program. Those who are in the US on Political Asylum or Refugee status may hold a US Travel Document instead of a national passport. Note that the US Travel Document has a long and expensive application procedure and is only valid for 1 year. Non US Citizens are responsible for ensuring that their US residence status allows them to leave for the duration of their program and to re-enter the US without problems.
Visa Support Documents from AFS and Host Country
Some visa processes will require visa support letters or other special documents from the host country partner office. Supporting documentation may include host family information, school enrollment forms, official acceptance letters, and insurance information, among other possible requirements.
Depending on the partner office and the host country's regulations, supporting documentation may be scanned/electronic or it may need to be an original, with live stamps and signatures. The timing of these documents can be unpredictable and, usually, students cannot apply for visas without them. It is common for these documents to arrive very close to departure time, though usually with just enough time for students to apply for the visa.
We always recommend that students who must wait for AFS Support Documents to apply make sure they have prepared all their other required visa paperwork diligently so they can submit their visa applications as soon as they receive their Visa Support Documents from AFS. AFS will keep students informed of expectations for the timing of those documents as much as possible, though participants will often need to be flexible and ready to act quickly.The unpredictable timing of visa support documents is just one of the reasons that personal travel outside of the US during the 6 weeks before departure is strongly discouraged.
How Students are Notified of Visa Instructions
After students are accepted by AFS-USA, their online AFS Student Account will give them access to the "Applicants" section of the AFS website. This is where visa summaries are available for each program, along with a "Travel and Visa FAQ" in the right side navigation bar. This is also the section of the AFS-USA website where visa instructions will be posted once they are updated. The link provided in the "Overview" section above takes you to the "Applicants," section of our website.
Once Visa Information is posted at the AFS-USA website, the Visa Department emails the relevant group of students to let them know that information is posted and to provide the link for accessing it online. This notification email will be backed up by either a snail-mail notification or a phone call. Note that visa requirements are not under the jurisdiction of AFS and are subject to change at any time, even after we have posted instructions. To find out approximately when students should expect to receive their instructions, see the section below regarding the general time line for sending visa instructions.
General Time Line for Posting Visa Instructions
- Winter/Spring programs depart January through April. We will begin posting AFS Visa Instructions in mid-to-late October through January. Instructions will be posted in order according to earliest departures and longest visa process.
- Summer/Fall programs depart May through September. We will begin posting AFS Visa Instructions in mid-to-late April through July. Instructions will be posted in order according to earliest departures and longest visa process.
Types of Programs and Visa Costs
SHORT / INTENSIVE SUMMER PROGRAMS
Most summer program visas, when required, are not especially complicated, but they can involve some fees, a little bit of legwork and, in some cases, immunizations. See summer program visa guidelines to learn which countries require visas for short programs and which do not.
SEMESTER AND YEAR PROGRAMS
Semester and Year programs require visas or residence permits, however, the type of visa and application process can vary significantly from one country to the other. Some visas or residence permits are applied for after arrival in the host country; many are applied for in the U.S. before departure time. In some cases students must apply for their visas individually and in others they must send their documents to AFS so that AFS can apply for the visa on their behalf. This depends on the immigration regulations and consular rules of the host country. As stated above, our Visa Comparison Chartwill provide a preliminary snapshot of the relative complexity and expense of Year and Semester visa process for our hosting countries.
VISA COSTS
Visa fees are not included in tuition and must be covered by the participant. Costs throughout the visa process add up, and it will help for students to consider setting aside at least $300 US for the visa process. This is an average estimate of visa expenses. Some processes are more expensive than this and others are much less expensive. Participants can use the Visa Comparison chart posted on the AFS-USA website to get a sense of the relative expense of their visa process. If more detail is needed before visa instructions are posted and distributed, the Applicants section of the AFS-USA website contains general summaries of each visa process under each country heading.
Visa Coordinator Division
The Visa case load is divided according to country. Currently, there are 2 Visa Coordinators available for the Summer/Fall cycle, one in the Portland Office and one in the New York office. Please see the current sending visa coordinator country division, valid until further notice for Fall 2011.
Best Practices for Preparing Prospective Participants
- Since updated visa instructions for each program are not always available early in the AFS application process, we recommend that students refer to our Visa Comparison Chart to get a preliminary idea of the visa process for the Year and Semester programs they might be considering. Note, this chart refers ONLY to Year and Semester programs. A key for the color-coding and rating is provided at the bottom of the chart.
- For an overview of intensive summer programs, please refer to the Short / Intensive Summer Programs section, under Types of Programs and Visa Costson this page.
- The Visa Comparison chart is available to students in the "Applicants" section of the website, which they will be able to access after their AFS application is complete and has been accepted by AFS-USA. A link to the most up to date chart resides in the "Travel and Visa FAQ" in the right navigation bar menu, under the question, "Are visas hard to obtain?"
- Before students have completed their full application, of course, volunteers and staff may feel free to share information from the chart with participants who are trying to select the most appropriate program, if needed. However, make sure that you are referring back to the chart posted online, either via the Wiki or the Applicants section of the website, as it is subject to change.
- Things to consider when assessing the visa process with a student include: if a student lives in a very remote area and their visa process will require them to appear in person at a Consulate, this may or may not warrant considering another country choice. It could depend on a participant's interests, motivation, budget, and other resources (like parents' availability and work schedules and/or availability of local support). Or, if a student has a very restrictive budget and is set on a program whose visa is costlier than most, perhaps he or she will need to do some extra fundraising to handle visa costs or consider a country with a slightly more economical visa.
- For a few more details regarding each visa process, students who have been accepted to the program can access the "Applicants" section of the AFS website (link provided in the "Overview" section of this page)check the visa summaries for any country listed. The summaries appear under the "Visa Information" section under each country listed on the Applicants page. Again, this section is also where the updated instructions will eventually be posted.
- Note that these are not the full, specific visa instructions. These summaries are meant to provide preliminary expectations of what may be required so students can make informed decisions, but all requirements are subject to change at any time and the summaries do NOT provide comprehensive lists of all of the visa requirements.
- As you will see, in some cases students and/or their parents must go to the Consulate of their host country in-person in order to pick up or drop off their visa. In cases where this is required, exceptions to the rule are at the Consulate's discretion and not necessarily granted. Sometimes travel to the Consulate can involve a flight or a very long drive and overnight stay near the Consulate.
- 1. ALL participants, regardless of program, must have a valid passport in order to travel. If you do not have a passport, apply for a one now! Information on renewing or applying for passports is available at the US State Department's Passport website: http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
- 2. If your passport will expire sooner than 6 months after your exchange, renew now! If passport applications or renewals are delayed, they may need to be expedited at an additional cost. If postponed too long, this may interfere with timely departure.
- 3. Once your receive your visa instructions (they will be issued at different times for different programs) read them carefully (dry as they may be) at least twice and then call or email AFS with any questions if you need clarification. The AFS Visa Instructions will list deadlines and/or the address where students will need to send any required documents. If you have to work with a Consulate, the AFS Visa Instructions will provide Consulate contact information.
- 4. Since our initial mode of contact will be email, it is important for students/families to provide valid email addresses that someone will be checking regularly throughout the cycle prior to departure. Students should promptly share emails with their parents. Parents who know their children may not be in the habit of sharing information promptly should provide their email address as the main contact email. Visa notifications will often be time sensitive. While we always attempt to provide enough time for students to prepare required documents, some notifications may require fast action.
- 5. It is common and understandable for families to be anxious and frustrated surrounding the visa process. These talking points may help ease the concerns of participants and parents who will need to apply for a visa:
- Despite how difficult the process can seem, the visas generally are ready on time for departure and it is extremely rare for a visa to be rejected. It is more common for a process to be delayed because of a missing form, but even that does not happen in the majority of cases. Attention to detail is important to minimize this, of course.
- They are not alone in having to tackle all the steps involved with the visa application. Many students will be going through the same steps. You might offer the perspective that all of our hosted students also have to jump through many hoops, some quite costly, in order to study in the U.S.
- It is helpful for students and parents to read the instruction completely, break them down step-by-step,and take them on bit by bit. If students have to collect unusual certifications, the procedure and advice on doing that will be included in the Visa Instructions. Checklists and calendar notes will help, too. All visa-related documents should be kept together in a safe place to avoid getting lost and delayed.
- Because of the many parties involved, there are usually variables in the visa process that neither participants nor AFS-USA can directly control. We all have to be prepared with our respective parts and be ready to act quickly. They should expect that visas can be issued very close to departure time, sometimes the day before departure, but this does not mean that they should procrastinate on their piece of the process.
- If there is a delay with a visa, we will work on arranging a delayed departure, but we try to avoid this as much as possible. Excepting any major last-minute change to visa regulations, usually a very small minority of students end up traveling late due to visas each cycle, usually less than 5% of the total number of students we send in a given cycle - and occasionally, no students travel late!
- 5. It is common and understandable for families to be anxious and frustrated surrounding the visa process. These talking points may help ease the concerns of participants and parents who will need to apply for a visa:
