We have received confirmation that our international charter flight will be departing on Monday night, March 30th, from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. This AFS charter flight will include students from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
We previously informed you of our plan to arrange return flights via charter for this Friday, March 27. We have been informed that the flight departure for students from DEN, GER, NED, NOR, SWE, and SUI has been changed to Monday, March 30.
AFS-USA has received a letter intended for all placement organizations from the Department of State in which they have shared their intention to shorten the FLEX and YES programs. They have noted that the Department of State’s goal is to safely transfer all FLEX and YES students home at the earliest opportunity.
We are writing today to inform you that arrangements have been made for students from the following countries to return home this coming Friday, March 27: Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Travel is being arranged via a charter flight that will depart from Chicago O’Hare airport to bring students to their home countries.
During the first part of this week, we are focusing on returning students home who are from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Iceland. There may be additional countries able to depart this week if circumstances change and we will do our best to give you as much notice as possible.
During the last few days, over 200 currently hosted students have already returned home. Thank you to our volunteers, host families, and staff who mobilized so well for this first group of student returns.
A message from AFS-USA President and CEO Tara Boyce-Hofmann to all volunteers.
The following message was sent to AFS-USA school contacts regarding core hosted student’s shortened programs.
There are three critically important issues that warrant my addressing you directly about: Program Terminations, Visas, and the return of students to Italy.
Monday night, Tara Hofmann informed all of you about the decision to shorten the programs of currently hosted students in the US, aside from FLEX and YES Sponsored Programs students. This message is an update on our planned next steps.