I gotta a young cousin who lives overseas, and her family want her to move to America to finish her last two years of high school. She is not sure yet how to get the visa to come and study here, and whether or not she can attend a public school while here or if she will have to fork up the money for private education since she is a foreigner. I told her I would ask, so I am wondering if anyone here knows the best way to go about this? As a background, her family have quite a bit of money saved I guess, and they say a friend of theirs living in States advised them to buy some real estate in America and that would make it easier to travel back and forth, and even take up residence here. Any truth to this? Oh and her family are thinking about New York City as a destination, as I told her the rules might differ from state to state. Any ideas as to what might be the best way for her family to go about this? I am guessing the visa will be the biggest issue, and I am not familiar if the USA issues visas for high school students as well wanting to study here, I am familiar with international college students but never heard of high school kids coming here to study. Thanks y'all!
I work for a university and the office right next to mine is the foreign student's office. Here's what I get from chatting with them. The US favors some countries more than others. They prefer students from developed countries... i.e. Japan, Western Europe etc. However, they will accept students from any country as long as they can prove they're not going to stay permanently. From any country, you need prove you or your parents have around 50K (or a year's tuition+expenses) in the bank for over one year. Here's some "unofficial" stuff the counselor told me about. DHS like students with a previous career, which indicates they're not coming here because they can't find a job back home. From poor countries, they like to know that students don't have family here where they can stay if they decide to go AWOL. The universities don't care how or what you do when you get here, but the US gov. does. To get the ball rolling, go to the American Embassy and ask for a student visa. Do this at least 6 months in advance. Some countries take as fast as 3 month, some will take as long as 3 years. Good Luck. Also, make sure you have all the paperwork they ask for in order, because they virtually start over if you get something wrong, even as simple as forgetting to sign something. edit: oops, the info is for a university student, but it may help you.
High Schools will also sponsor you for student visa, she can't go to public though, she will have to go to a private high school. I think she would just apply to the high school and have the high school start the process of acquiring the visa.
I'm guessing this varies from state to state and even school district to school district so I would check with the local school district. My guess is that most public schools will allow her to attend if she has residency in the district.
That doesn't make much sense to me. If only private highschools can have students here on student visas how do public highschools host foreign exchange students?
I know about college, but she would be coming to attend high school. Would buying property in the USA make it easier for her and her family to move here and attend local schools? Any idea?
You can probably just claim that she lives at your place, just out of curiousity what country is she from?
