The small print on a Fulbright Scholarship may surprise some people:
“An exchange visitor (EV) may be subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement [if]… the EV’s participation in an exchange program was funded by the United States Government, EV’s own government, or an international organization… If you are subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement, you may not change your status to that of H, L, or K [professional employment visas] or to immigrant or legal permanent status until you have fulfilled the two-year foreign residence requirement by going back to your home country or receiving a waiver of this requirement.”
Yes, it’s true. The federal government funds two-year residencies for foreign exchange students and then … kicks them out of the country, and won’t let them back in for two years.
And there’s another advantage. In order to qualify for the Fulbright Foreign Students Program, applicants must speak English. I haven’t done the math, but I’m guessing that two years of tuition would end up being less that the next 30 years of taxpayer benefits.
