Continuing study abroad during COVID-19

AFS offers a large number of destinations for study abroad around the world. AFS exchange programs are currently running or planned to begin in all AFS destinations.

Please contact AFS in the country where you live and they will help you find the program and the country that is right for you. You can find AFS in your country here.

Vaccination regulations are determined by national governments, other local health care authorities and school authorities. AFS is finding that vaccination regulations and requirements are changing and are likely to do so before and during your program. AFS has no control over this, and AFS participants must comply with local regulations in their host communities. It is possible that you may be required to get a vaccine or a booster during your program. Please contact AFS in the country where you live to learn more, and make sure you are familiar with the vaccination regulations in the countries where you would like to go on your exchange program. If you have not had access to the vaccine in your home country, it may be possible to be vaccinated in your host country. AFS is finding that more and more families and schools are requiring vaccines – if you are unwilling to be vaccinated, this may make placement and school enrollment very difficult.

The availability of the vaccine and the eligibility for the vaccine varies from country to country. AFS can help provide information about this for your host country, but it will be up to you to arrange to get the vaccine and to pay for it if there are any associated costs.

AFS is constantly assessing if and when we are able to safely host students in different countries. We are closely monitoring health and travel recommendations from authorities as well as our robust, on-the-ground volunteer network. Please contact AFS in the country where you live to find out the planned start date for your program.

Participant safety and well-being remain our number one priority. As an international network of organizations, AFS is actively re-assessing the conditions on a country-by-country basis. Our global risk management team has established a robust checklist of criteria to clear a country to host and/or send students again. No AFS partner in any country will be able to host students, or send students abroad, unless they meet 100% of the criteria. The criteria include country-specific information related to the current state of the outbreak in each country, government and medical capabilities for dealing with it, immigration and airline restrictions, schools, social/daily life implications, host family capacity, and partner support capabilities among others. 

Participant safety and well-being remain our number one priority. As a global network of organizations, AFS is actively re-assessing the conditions on a country-by-country basis, and will continue to do so throughout the duration of the program. We will determine how well AFS can continue to support participants on the program in case of another outbreak, and assess if the program can continue in the best interest of the participants’ safety.

If you feel any symptoms of Covid-19 or any other illness, you should let your host family know immediately. Together with them, you should see a doctor and follow all the health recommendations they give you. You should also keep AFS in the country where you are hosted informed, so they can provide support to you and your family.

Please follow all the medical and safety advice and regulations that apply in your host country. This may include taking precautions related to your own health or remaining in quarantine with your host family. Please notify your AFS contact person and the AFS office in your host country so they can provide support.

Your concerns are completely valid. Please know that AFS has more than 70 years of experience worldwide in operating study abroad programs, as well as a network of experienced professionals in risk management who have successfully guided our participants through various challenges (including evacuating participants from Japan following the 2011 earthquake, from Venezuela and Egypt during political crises, and managing epidemics like H1N1 and SARS, to name a few examples). At the start of the current pandemic in 2020, we safely and rapidly evacuated almost 7,000 AFSers from 90+ countries. We cannot guarantee your safety at any time, but we take your safety as our top priority and have a robust system to monitor and support our participants.

Every young person who goes abroad with AFS has access to a robust support network, able to help young people, including:

• Carefully screened host families who take care of our participants as if they were their own children;
• A network of volunteers in destination countries who provide local support during the stay of AFS participants;
• A global team of trained and prepared risk management professionals who constantly monitors student well-being and safety.

Please contact AFS in the country where you live. You can find their contact information here.