Temporary Guardian of Chinese student in US

[hankster]

Lily and I will be the host family to a 16 year old chinese boy for the upcoming school year.

His mother and Lily were friends in China, and she is willing to hire Lily for this service, and Lily has accepted.

The boy has already been accepted to a local non-boarding private high school and has his I-20 in hand.

 

Just wondering, if any one has gone through a similar situation in regards to having either legal guardianship,

Power of attorney, or simply a notorized letter from the mother to give us permission to make decisions for health care etc.

 

The mother and the son will be arriving in a couple of weeks and i want to have the necessary documents prepared before she returns to

China and leaves her son with us for the school year.

 

any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Hank

 

Edited for punctuation

Edited July 17, 2012 by hankster (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Hank here is some info from a quick search.

 

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/how-can-i-get-legal-guardianship-of-a-foreign-mino-432532.html

http://www.globalinsights.org/links/programrules.htm

 

I will do some more digging, sounds pretty much like being a hosting family for an foreign exchange student.

[DennisLeiqin]

Hi Hank, Fostering a Chinese student is a popular way to supplement income here in SoCal. Chinese prefer their child stay with an English speaking family.

 

Most often the school that he's attending would file for the students I20 (student visa) and once approved send to the student. Check with his school. They will have all the answers to your questions.

 

Good luck and don't let him stay up all night on QQ chatting with his friends back in China.

Edited July 18, 2012 by DennisLeiqin (see edit history)

[knloregon]

Since he will be attending a non-boarding school, I would suggest that the issue of medical insurance for him is addressed. He should be able to secure fairly cheap coverage or the state may cover him --- I think Oregon might, but it has to be set up in advance.

[Randy W]

The most pertinent answer to your question is probably the one from Tanner Woods Pittmann on this page from Dan's link: http://www.avvo.com/...cuments_title_2

 

You're not the first person to be interested in hosting an international exchange student. My advice is to look on the websites of programs that sponsor this sort of thing and find out what the ordinary procedure is. I know of no court procedure that would interest you.

 

I don't remember hearing from anyone here who has done this.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Randy W (see edit history)

[hankster]

Thanks, everybody,

 

a friend of mine, who is a local attorney, told me to have the mother bring a translated notorized document stating that she is the parent, and has custody of the boy, ( she's divorced from the father) and we could do a limited power of attorney for

 

health care and school issues.

 

Lily contacted the mom, and the attorney's fee is fine with her. I also told her to bring his immunization record and translated notorized birth certificate

 

Can you guys think of anything else I should get them to bring?

[tsap seui]

I can't think of anything else Hankster, our son is 16 also but even though most kids in his scholl thought hee was an exchange student he was permanent. Your post and questions made me think of what we needed for his school....birth certificate, shot record (this is a MUST, else they could make him take everything over again). And you've got power of attorney on his health....I'd say you got it covered. Good job.

 

tsap seui

[Doug]

Some work insurance wants there to be guardianship in place to add the child to yours or her insurance through work. I know of one lady doing this.

[hankster]

One more thing just came up. Our student is 17 and his mother has asked me if he can get his own bank account here. He has a valid F1 visa plus a current I-20. No SS # though. Anybody have an idea?

[dnoblett]

I believe a student, if allowed to work at the school can get an SSN, this is the case for college students, in this case an F-1 student would apply for EAD, and then use the EAD to apply for an SSN. EAD is only available for certain types of student programs.

 

More:

 

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-765instr.pdf

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10181.html

[hankster]

Good Info..............thanks, Dan