Recently the weekly newspaper "Inostranets" ran an alarming publication: in Russia, the youth program Work & Travel is under threat of collapse. So what are Russian media writing about this? "For several years in a row, with the support of the US State Department, the Work & Travel program has been successfully operating for young people from Russia, the CIS and the Baltic countries, giving them the opportunity to go to America, combining vacation and travel with work for quite decent money for young people," writes Inostranets. "This spring everything started as usual: companies dealing with the program (there are actually five operating in Moscow) accepted about ten thousand applications for participation in Work & Travel (almost 20% more than last year)."
And here the program "stalled." As the author of the article "Neither Work nor Travel" Sergei Shatrov claims, "the main problem is the delay in issuing DS 2019 visa forms (work permits) by the American consulate. According to the rules of the American consulate, documents submitted for a visa are reviewed within a period of two weeks to one month. And yet, as of the end of June, only 20-30% of the nearly 10,000 applications have been reviewed by the consular service. With such rates of visa issuance (none were issued in May, and in June only 30-50 per day), according to experts, only about 60 percent of the students who applied will go to America for work and vacation."
As the author of the article rightly notes, in the event of being late for the program, the financial losses of participants will be quite significant: "Everyone who does not receive a visa loses the $100 paid in consular fees. The student will get back the $2,000 paid for participation in the program to the Russian company (if that company has insurance for a visa failure) - but even that, as you understand, is a hassle. In order to leave for America earlier and work and rest longer, students usually take their exams early - and exams are paid everywhere: another loss. We won't even mention the stress of waiting and shattered hopes..."
Against the backdrop of such bleak Russian prospects, Ukrainian participants of the Work & Travel program also became worried. To clarify the situation, the editors of "Zagranitsa" turned to representatives of companies that currently run this program in Ukraine.
"Our affairs with the Work & Travel program are going well, and Russian crises do not threaten us yet," believes Olga Tseukova, consultant on international educational programs at Domar Travel Education. "The fact is that the program in Russia has seen its heyday and gained wild popularity. Therefore, one Russian agency can receive up to 3,000 applications for participation. We are still far from such success; the Work & Travel program in Ukraine is just gaining momentum. Every year the number of participants increases, and perhaps soon the US will accept as many Ukrainian students as Russians."
And here is the opinion of Roman Rastvortsev, director of the Kolizey company: "As a rule, obtaining a visa requires several steps, each of which takes a certain number of days. First, obtaining the necessary documents (in our case, this is the DS 2019 form) - 14-60 days. Second, registering for an interview - 14-30 days. Third, going through the interview and, fourth, directly obtaining the visa - this usually takes one day if the student has not previously had problems in the US or entering the US. (In the opposite case, two options are possible. The first is that they may simply refuse. The second is that they may ask to have fingerprints taken, pay an additional $85 for the check, and within two weeks will report the result.) If you combine the first two stages, that is, wait for the form and simultaneously book an interview, the timeline will be significantly shortened.
This year, some students refused the program because of the war in Iraq, and when everything was over, they decided to participate again. Unfortunately, in such cases we do not reinstate young people for participation, since processing documents is a difficult and responsible matter.
And also, do not rely on rumors. For example, we were told that in the western regions of Ukraine a rumor spread that the American embassy has a notice saying "Residents of Western Ukraine are forbidden to submit documents." Funny, isn't it?
Serious visa problems can arise when a program participant gives false information about themselves at the embassy, presents fake documents (forged bank statements, grade books, etc.). There are other difficulties as well: it happens that an employer fires a student, provides poor housing, insurance covers only emergency first aid. We try to help the guys, but not everything is in our power, and help also depends on how, when, and to whom the guys report the problems that arise. There are also difficulties with financing participation in the program. For example, once a student was promised a loan of money for a plane ticket. But when the young man had already received his visa, they refused him the money. And refusal to participate in the program entails financial deductions - from $50 to $300, depending on the stage at which the documents were withdrawn.
And overall, the situation with the Work & Travel program in Ukraine is quite optimistic: student interest is growing, the number of places offered is increasing, and the program is gradually becoming more and more popular."
The Work & Travel program is a real chance for our students to "discover America for themselves," seeing it both as a full-fledged working member of society and as an inquisitive tourist. And readers of Zagranitsa will soon learn about the impressions our students bring back from our reports.