Since Rotary Youth Exchange students are minors, we must make every effort to ensure their protection. In addition we must follow the U.S. State Department‘s regulations regarding foreign student exchanges ... so yes, there is some paperwork involved (but a good bit of it is digital). As a volunteer, in addition to a couple of forms, you will be spending time filing reports on the Youth Exchange Portal website and also getting yourself certified on the State Department site.
See the links below for more information.
In accordance with regulations of the US Department of State, all Rotary Youth Exchange volunteers are required to complete this webform and submit it prior to serving as a Youth Exchange Officer (YEO), counselor, or other roles at the club or district level.
The form will require that you provide contact information for two personal references; please note that these references may not be relatives or volunteers with Rotary Youth Exchange Southeast. If you begin the form but do not have all of the necessary information, or for some other reasons need to finish at a later time, there is an option on each page to save your data and continue later.
In addition to the application form, volunteers are required to submit information for a background check, and complete training and testing programs from the US Department of State and from NAYEN (North American Youth Exchange Network). Details will be provided after the application is received.
We appreciate your cooperation and your willingness to serve as a volunteer with Rotary Youth Exchange Southeast.
Annual Background Check
All volunteers must authorize a background check each year. Your district chairman will send you a link when you first sign up to become a volunteer – and then again on an annual basis. Please note that Rotary Youth Exchange Southeast is charged every time this form is filled out, so DON’T fill it out unless you have been instructed to.
Volunteer ApplicationA District Youth Exchange Committee representative should welcome the inbound student at the airport, or within a few days after arrival.
At this time the student’s $500 Emergency Fund should be collected.
The Cash Receipt Form is to be given to the student when the Emergency Fund is collected, and the other half of the form can be handed with the money to your District Chair.
(We no longer require an Arrival Form to be filled out at the airport – this information will be collected at the Inbound Orientation.)
US State Department regulations require monthly contact with all inbound students and their host families, and it is the responsibility of the Youth Exchange Officer and/or counselor in each local club or district to submit a report on that contact.
To access the Counselor Monthly Report Form, the YEO or Counselor should login to the Rotary Youth Exchange Southeast YEO Portal , call up the record for the inbound student, and click on the “Submit Monthly Counselor Report” button.
Any YEOs or Counselors who need a YEO Portal login should request one from their District Youth Exchange Chairperson.
YEO PortalUS State Department regulations require that a Rotary representative certified by the State Department conduct a home visit and interview with each potential host family as part of their application process. It is the responsibility of the Youth Exchange Officer and/or counselor in each local club or district to submit a report on that visit.
To access the Host Family Home Visit/Interview Report Form, the YEO or Counselor should login to the Rotary Youth Exchange Southeast YEO Portal, call up the record for the host family, and click on the “Submit Home Visit/Interview Report” button.
Any YEOs or Counselors who need a YEO Portal login should request one from their District Youth Exchange Chairperson.
US State Department regulations require that a Rotary representative certified by the State Department conduct a home visit and interview with each potential host family as part of their application process. It is the responsibility of the Youth Exchange Officer and/or counselor in each local club or district to submit a report on that visit.
To access the Host Family Home Visit/Interview Report Form, the YEO or Counselor should log in to the RYE-Florida YEO Portal, call up the record for the host family, and click on the “Submit Home Visit/Interview Report” button.
Any YEOs or Counselors who need a YEO Portal login should request one from their District Youth Exchange Chairperson.
Please note that your host family must have completed filling out the online application form including photos before it will show up in the YEO Portal for you to fill the visit/interview report. It’s recommended that you wait until the family has passed the background check before you make the visit.
You may NOT hand over any information about the incoming exchange student until the family is FULLY approved!
Here is the process:
New Host Family
Repeat Host Family
US State Department regulations require that a Rotary representative certified by the State Department conduct a home visit and interview with each potential host family as part of their application process. It is the responsibility of the Youth Exchange Officer and/or counselor in each local club or district to submit a report on that visit.
To access the Host Family Home Visit/Interview Report Form, the YEO or Counselor should login to the Rotary Youth Exchange Southeast YEO Portal, call up the record for the host family, and click on the “Submit Home Visit/Interview Report” button.
Any YEOs or Counselors who need a YEO Portal login should request one from their District Youth Exchange Chairperson.
YEO PortalUS State Department regulations require a follow-up visit to each host family within 60 days of the date that an exchange student moves in. It is the responsibility of the Youth Exchange Officer and/or counselor in each local club or district to submit a report on that visit, which must be conducted by someone other than the person who conducted the first home visit and interview.
To access the Host Family Follow-up Visit Report, the YEO or Counselor should login to the RYE-Florida YEO Portal , call up the record for the host family, and click on the “Submit Follow-up Visit Report” button that’s located all the way down on that page.
Any YEOs or Counselors who need a YEO Portal login should request one from their District Youth Exchange Chairperson.
YEO PortalThis form should be used by YEOs of host districts and/or clubs to complete all the required information on the Guarantee Form, prior to obtaining the endorsements of the host club and school. Accuracy is essential, as this document is a key part of the process by which inbound exchange students obtain their visas.
Please list between what dates you expect the student to arrive before the start of school in your school district [Arrival Date(s)].
Please return at least two (2) originals of the completed Endorsements/Guarantee Forms to RYE-Florida.
This form is good for any year. Just change arrival dates.
Fillable Guarantee FormThe US Department of State (DOS) mandates the annual certification of all individuals “tasked with core responsibilities that require contact with exchange students (e.g. placement and/or relocation of students, orientation of students, monitoring of students, etc.).” This program is designed to increase the safety of the young people who come into our country, and while we never expect any problems in Rotary programs, we have no choice but to comply.
WHAT IS REQUIRED TO BE CERTIFIED?
The DOS requires that all of our volunteers (which they call “Users”) take their Online Training/Certification Module. Their notification states, “The Module is offered through Traincaster LMS. It is in addition to the training provided by sponsors on the Exchange Visitor Program. The Module is an open book test that should not take more than 30-45 minutes to complete. The test includes 30 questions of which 27 (90%) must be answered correctly in order to successfully complete and be ‘DOS certified’. The test can be taken multiple times to facilitate its successful completion and certification of the User. The purpose of the Module is to: (1) increase the Users’ knowledge of the Code of Federal Regulations governing the Secondary School Student Exchange Program; and (2) assist sponsors in refocusing their in-house tailored training according to the error pattern reports that will be made available.”
WHAT WILL I NEED TO LEARN?
While the DOS program itself will provide some of the information on which the test is based, you will need a broader foundation in order to pass. There are two resources that will help you greatly in this regard. Please take some time to go through these items:
(1) North American Youth Exchange Network (NAYEN) Online Training
This interactive training program was developed and funded by several of the large US-based multi-districts, including RYESE. It presents a lot of information in a very user-friendly format, and allows you to continue where you left off should you wish to take a break. There is a test at the end, and you can print your results. You will receive a direct link to this program from the NAYEN Training Administrator.
(2) US State Department Regulations Study Guide – http://bit.ly/DOSregs
This is a PDF document containing the relevant sections of the Federal Register (Part 62, Sections 62.10 through 62.25) which govern exchange programs, and upon which much of the DOS exam will be based.
HOW DO I TAKE THE TEST?
Your name and e-mail address are being provided to the State Department. As that happens, a registration notification e-mail will be sent to you automatically (this is in addition to the NAYEN message mentioned above). The email will include your UserID, Initial Password, and training link. Registration notification e-mails could be identified as spam by some computers, so if you don’t receive the notice within the next week, please advise your Rotary District Youth Exchange Chairperson.
You can take the test as many times as you like until you attain the necessary 90% passing rate. The 30 questions are drawn from a database of 100 or more, so no two tests will be the same. Note also that there is nothing to prevent you from having various resources open during the test; DOS is not trying to get people to fail, but rather to make sure they are knowledgeable. When you pass the test, you can print a certificate. The system will send RYESE a notification of all who have successfully passed the test, so you don’t have to forward your certificate or notify us of your results.
OTHER INFORMATION
As a Youth Exchange officer or counselor, your name will be registered with DOS as being the “local coordinator” for one or more exchange students. We fully expect that DOS will cross-check those records against the list of individuals who have passed the certification exam, so this is something that must be done PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF OUR EXCHANGE STUDENTS each summer.
The certification term is one year, meaning that anyone who continues on in Rotary Youth Exchange for the following year will need to re-certify through what DOS is calling an “annual refresher.” Automatic reminders are sent by DOS about a month in advance of the annual renewal date.
DOS is absorbing the cost of the development of their training and testing module, and of the record keeping. Whether that will remain the case in the future is, of course, unknown, but we don’t expect that we will ever require individuals to pay anything out of pocket to be certified for our volunteer positions.
Finally, while all of this may strike you as an unnecessary inconvenience, this type of protection policy is common with any organization dealing with young people. Some of our volunteers have experience with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., and those organizations have had formal training and testing programs for a long time. It’s appropriate for us to do the same.
All of us involved in Rotary Youth Exchange appreciate the time and energy that you devote to this program. We wish this State Department certification process could be bypassed, but we also believe that the more informed all of our officers and counselors become, the stronger our program will be.