Skip to main content

Arrival Orientation

  • Updated

Orientation Planning

When planning Arrival Orientation, Teams should note that even though COVID testing requirements have been lifted for entry into the U.S. the following should still be considered:

Taking the above into consideration, we recognize that circumstances will vary among individuals and across Teams, therefore, Teams have the option to hold their Arrival Orientation in-person or in a virtual format with one week of the student’s arrival. A virtual or in-person option must be provided within 7 days of arrival for any students not able to attend the scheduled in-person event. Please consult Best Practices for Organizing In-Person Orientations and Events if planning to hold an in-person event or orientation. 

In addition, given recent changes related to participant travel, we expect more teams will choose to run the Host Family Pickup model of Arrival Orientation, virtually and/or in-person the weekend immediately following the student’s arrival, instead of the conducting the Arrival Orientation immediately upon arrival. In either case, the Arrival Orientation must be within 7 days of arrival.

Important Note: If volunteers are planning to have a hosted student stay overnight with them for an orientation or other team event, or for any other reason, it is important that the volunteer be screened as an Event Family or Host Family. Such an overnight stay cannot be considered a prudent parent stay.  If a team will be using Event Families for a particular event, please start the process of completing Event Family screening well in advance of the event so AFS has time to complete the screening process before the event. Please refer to the Event Family Stays page in Help & Learning for more information.

Please review the below pages which contain important information regarding content for hosted student arrivals and Arrival Orientation.

  • NH22 Arrival Orientation Slides (download and save to your computer to be able to edit the slides and add team specific information)
  • Optional Supplement - Is This an Emergency? (These slides can be added to either a, hosted student, Arrival or Post Arrival Orientation to help with expectation setting in the host family home).

Additional Resources:

Arrival Orientation Optional Materials

Past Arrival Orientation Materials

 

 

 

 

Related articles