Hosting a 15-year-old exchange student next school year
My cousin from Barcelona (Spain) is seriously considering sending next year his then-15-year-old son as an international exchange student somewhere in California.
He's looking for a family interested in hosting a 15-year-old Catalan boy who plays a more-than-reasonable soccer level. Since he learned that Berkeley High has competitive soccer, he's really interested in Berkeley, lol.
We could offer our family as hosts BUT the goal is learning English, and he'd be switching to Catalan/Spanish with us since that's how we've talked to him before.
My cousin is still learning about the student visa process, and it may take some time, but I offered to post this message. I could share his email with whoever would consider the possibility.
Any advice would be also valuable.
Thank you in advance,
Nico
Parent Replies
It's probably best if the go through an organization that arranges exchange pfrograms It's not just the visa. They will either need to attend private school (and pay tuition) or pay for attending public school as they can't just attend public school for free. It's extremely difficult to arrange that on your own.
I second the previous responder's comments. It's best to go through a program to do an exchange that would involve a visa and attending school. Established programs would offer things like medical insurance and would have more resources and potentially social meetups for him to meet other young people in similar situations.
I hosted an exchange student last year through AFS . She attended Berkeley high for free. (I live in Berkeley). I believe BHS has a limit on the number of exchange students they accept each year, but in recent years they haven't been near the limit.