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Foreign
Exchange Students Requiring J-1 Visa Status
The attendance of foreign
exchange students in schools is accepted as an educational opportunity for
local schools and an expression of international goodwill for the school
system. A foreign exchange student shall be defined as a student whose
presence in the system has been planned and organized by an agency approved
by the State Department of the United States Government. Foreign
exchange students enter the United States on J-1 status with the U.S.
Justice Department, Immigration and Naturalization Service.
- Students accepted from
exchange programs may be involved in a full year program or a second
semester program. The student's application and academic records
must be in order for admission no later than one month prior to the date
of admission to a Fayette County high school. Foreign students
will not be admitted after the school year or semester has begun.
- Plans for placing
foreign exchange students in the system should be coordinated with the
designated staff member at least two months prior to the student's
departure from his/her native country. Such placement must be made
before the student's arrival in the United States.
- Students eligible for
participation as foreign exchange students must NOT have completed the
final year of high school as organized in their home country.
- Foreign exchange
students must complete application and present records as follows before
consideration for acceptance into a Fayette County school:
A. A transcript
translated into English unofficial permanent record form of the
system signed by the translator and approved by the sponsoring
organization.
B. A statement
of the name and address of the approved host family. The host
family must be legal residents of Fayette County.
- The age of the foreign
exchange student must not exceed seventeen (17) on September 1 of the
year that the student is to be in the system.
- Foreign exchange
students shall not be eligible for the minimum day program in high
school.
- A student cannot attend
Fayette County public secondary schools while in J-1 status for more
than one school calendar year.
- All credits accepted for
the purpose of graduation shall be on a probationary basis until through
class performance or testing, the student has proven proficiency in
accepted courses.
- Graduation of the
student must include the passing of two semesters of English.
- Graduation requirements
for foreign exchange students shall be the same as for all other system
students.
- Foreign exchange
students who do not meet the standard graduation requirements shall
receive a special certificate of attendance and be allowed to
participate in graduation exercises.
- Students are limited to
six per high school unless the high school is deemed "overcrowded," at
which point no students would be accepted.
There is no provision for a
student to attend Fayette County Schools on an F-1 Visa Status. The
Fayette County School System does not issue I-20's.
LEG REF: Pub. L. 104-208,
Sec. 625 and 346; U.S. Justice Dept. Implementing Public School Provisions
of INA § § 214 (1) and 212 (a) (6) (G).
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