Supplemental Guideline: Criminal Background Checks in the United States Criminal background checks must be based on Social Security # and include a search of the
Department of Justice’s National Sex Offender Public Registry.
Supplemental Guideline: J-1 and F-1 Distinction
The CSIET Board of Directors has provided additional guidelines regarding the definition of the term direct placement:
J-1: A Direct Placement is one in which either the student or the sending organization in the foreign country is party to an arrangement with any other party, including school personnel, for the student to attend a particular school or live with a particular host family; however,
F-1: The term Direct Placement, in the context of the original J-1 definition, does not apply because federal regulation requires all international students to “apply and be accepted by an SEVP approved school” prior to applying for the F-1 visa. Therefore, in its continuing effort to facilitate the needs of its partners at state associations, CSIET asks that programs provide transparency and report to the NFHS any F-1 student for whom participation in interscholastic varsity athletics was a known motivating factor at the time of application.
The intent of the Board in requiring these placement reports to be sent to the National Federation is to provide each state athletic association with additional information to assist in the determination of athletic eligibility of each international exchange student.
Report Format
Reports should be sorted by U.S. state and include the following information:
U.S. State:
Name of Student:
Country of Origin:
Local Rep Name/Number:
Name/City of U.S. Host School:
Nature of the Direct Placement:
Visa Type (J or F):
Reports should be emailed to: CSIETREPORT@NFHS.ORG
C. For programs that include accommodations other than a homestay, the organization shall:
1. arrange accommodations on the basis of criteria appropriate to the program
2. ensure the adequacy of the accommodations with respect to location, cleanliness, safety, nutrition and supervision
3. confirm the accommodations sufficiently in advance of the student’s departure from home.
D. For programs that include enrollment in U.S. high schools, the organization shall:
1. secure written, student-specific acceptance from the school principal or other designated responsibility school administrator prior to the international exchange student’s departure from his or her home country.
2. provide the school with the following information about the student:
a. academic history, including
i. academic records, translated into English or other language as appropriate
ii. number of years of school completed prior to arrival and number of years
required in home country for the completion of secondary school
b. level of English language proficiency
c. appropriate background information
e. expectations regarding school experience.
