Student Visa the other way---> to USA

[laterthanyou]

My sister in law wants to send her son, our nephew to American School for 1st grade. He is a Japanese national. He's be attending school our son who is bilingual. Looking at travel.state.gov it states that they won't issue visas to elementary school kids. Does anyone have any experience doing this? I'm thinking of either asking my congressman for help or getting him an extended visa somehow and just signing him up for school. Any ideas or pointers would be appreciated.

[FG Lurker]

I suppose you could adopt him but that would be rather extreme.

What if you had legal guardianship over him and got him a visa as your dependent?

I have absolutely no clue wtf I am talking about though, just throwing out random ideas. Your need to contact a lawyer who specialized in immigration and visas and see what the lawyer suggests. I doubt your congressman will take any interest in this unless there is some sort of very special circumstance (ie the kid has been orphaned or something similar.)

[GomiGirl]

What about a local international school. They are pretty much the same - US curriculum, all lessons in English and with a high price tag.

[Christoff]

the only way I an see this work is via boarding school.
here is a list: http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_overview.php

[IparryU]

What you should do is call up the "international daycares" that are Japanese ran as some of them send their kids overseas to get that "experience".

IMHO, sending a kid overseas to learn a language and loose their native language is not a good idea. Most profitable action would be to take GG's advice and do the International School system. Most of the hafu at international schools learn both languages fluently, whilst most of the non-hafu kids i see just learn their tongue.

Price tag is high, but not as high as paying for the kid's caretakers, room and board, school supplies, and various ppwk/regulatory fees you will eat in the process.

From what I hear, California, Washington, and I believe Massachusetts have the easiest exchange programs to get into, but they cost a buck.

[wuchan]

If mom sends the kid to the states for schooling she may not like the result. He/she will become an american. The child WILL fall behind their peers in japanese language studies. They will never be able to be japanese, they will be gaijin.

International school is expensive but so is supporting a kid in the states. The biggest problem with international school is that the child will fall behind their japanese peers in written japanese. The kid will still be in japan and will have japanese friends so they will learn to be japanese.

there is no easy answer.

[Mulboyne]

The OP hasn't said anything about why his sister-in-law wants her son to school with his son so any advice about the wisdom of that course of action might be wide of the mark albeit well-meaning.

[Greji]

If mom sends the kid to the states for schooling she may not like the result. He/she will become an american. The child WILL fall behind their peers in japanese language studies. They will never be able to be japanese, they will be gaijin.

International school is expensive but so is supporting a kid in the states. The biggest problem with international school is that the child will fall behind their japanese peers in written japanese. The kid will still be in japan and will have japanese friends so they will learn to be japanese.

there is no easy answer.

Actually, with overseas schooling, the kikokushijo system will return a J-rug rat to peer level in a relatively short period of time. It is actually harder for the ones who attend international school in Japan to stay abreast of the Japanese system; however, the better of the J-International Schools have Japanese programs that are sufficient enough to keep their students competitive. The problem is that they will have to study, which is a trait not normally allow in higher levels of J-learning. After all school entrance tests have been crammed for and taken, J-students are barred for studying again for the rest of their lives.....

[FG Lurker]

Most of the hafu at international schools learn both languages fluently, whilst most of the non-hafu kids i see just learn their tongue.

Actually I have seen a lot of hafu kids who have graduated from International Schools who aren't as good as their native peers in either language. I'm not sure if the exposure to both languages is worth the tradeoff of not being quite perfect in either.

[Bucky]

If the child ends of living in a major metropolitan area, he could attend American school during the week and then attend a Japanese Saturday school to keep up his native language.

Bucky Jr. attended the "hoshuko" in Seattle from K - 12 and is totally bilingual. He is working in Tokyo now and when clients he has spoken to only over the phone are quite surprised to meet a hafu who grew up in America as they assume he is 100% Nihonjin.

Saturday school does tie up Saturdays and you need to be someplace larger like Seattle, Portland, SF or Los Angeles if you are on the Left Coast.

[laterthanyou]

I see I wasn't giving enough information. My nephew will be living with us for about 10 months and than returning back to Japan. My son who is half and has dual citizenship went over to Japan last year to attend 1 year of public school where he grew his japanese language ability and learned kanji as well. It was rather painless b/c he has dual citizenship.. My nephew does not have dual citizenship. America will not issue an F1 visa to elementary school children so I was looking for other avenues....

Thanks

[IparryU]

I see I wasn't giving enough information. My nephew will be living with us for about 10 months and than returning back to Japan. My son who is half and has dual citizenship went over to Japan last year to attend 1 year of public school where he grew his japanese language ability and learned kanji as well. It was rather painless b/c he has dual citizenship.. My nephew does not have dual citizenship. America will not issue an F1 visa to elementary school children so I was looking for other avenues....

Thanks

makes more sense, but knowing what state you are going to would help. contact the Saturday j-schools and see if they have any support for visas, they should have loads of information.

[maraboutslim]

He doesn't need a visa to go to school in the USA. Schools do not verify immigration status. And it's not like anyone is going to ask him for his "papers" while he's at the playground. The only issue will be when he goes back to Japan, they might notice in the passport that he overstayed his tourist visa stamp. But will they "punish" a kid by banning him for 10 years or something? I think unlikely... but who knows?

Here in San Francisco, my daughter also attends the Saturday "Hoshuko" school system run by the Japanese government mentioned by Bucky and it's been good for her. When younger she was able to return to Japan for a while and go to normal elementary school and do fine. But I'm sure now she's more behind her Japanese peers. But hey, it's better than nothing. They also get all the Japanese kid experiences like undoukai and whatnot.

[Greji]

The only issue will be when he goes back to Japan, they might notice in the passport that he overstayed his tourist visa stamp. But will they "punish" a kid by banning him for 10 years or something? I think unlikely... but who knows?.

The other issue with an overstay is that he will never be able to return to the US under the visa waiver program. He will have to obtain a visa for any trip. This has happened since 9/11. They will sometimes not stop you until you arrive in the US and you will be refused entrance and have to return to Japan or any other country to obtain a visa.

Had this happen to a couple of businessmen I deal with. One had about three overstays when he went to college in the states. It was never an issue until the changes brought on by 911 and when he made his first trip after that, they turned him around at LAX.

[Samurai_Jerk]

He doesn't need a visa to go to school in the USA. Schools do not verify immigration status. And it's not like anyone is going to ask him for his "papers" while he's at the playground. The only issue will be when he goes back to Japan, they might notice in the passport that he overstayed his tourist visa stamp. But will they "punish" a kid by banning him for 10 years or something? I think unlikely... but who knows?

They may not punish a little kid but they may punish whoever was responsible for him in the States and/or make it tough for his parents to travel to the US in the future.

[maraboutslim]

Hey, live dangerously. Just kidding. I know several student age people who overstayed without issue in the past - but I guess it's worse these days than it used to be. Like most things.