Minor on F1 VISA

[ffoxis]

Hello,
I'd like to ask some questions about minors on F1 VISAS.
Is it legal for such a minor to live alone in the US?

Also if such a minor is already living with a host family provided by school what is their authority over the student if the contract signed with school basically just states that student has to follow their rules.
("We agree that the program participant will try to adjust, will obey the disciplinary rules of the host family and school, will give respect and
obedience to the host family and school officials, and will keep communications open at all times.")

Also the contract says that :"We understand and agree that the program participant will be subject to all of the laws of the host country. In the case of serious infraction of the
rules and requirements governing the conduct of the program participant, or in the case of extreme homesickness, or poor adjustment to the host
family or school the participant may be returned home immediately at the discretion of .school name. and at the expense of our family."

Does it give the school the power to just "return" someone home if he does not get along with a host family?
What if someone is not going to willingly be returned?
I assume the only thing the school can do in such case is to kick someone out of school for breaching those terms which will cause the student to live because of his I-20 expiry.

Does anyone have any experience which such cases?

[knowledgeable]

I don't think ...

.... there's any such or even F1 available for minors. Since basic schooling is free in United States and the costs borne by the tax payers, they won't give you any such visa.

[ffoxis]

Of course you can when attending a private school. There's a lot of minors attending private high schools on F1 visa. You can even go to a public one but it's limited to 12months and I guess some rules might differ when attending a public high school.
My questions suppose that such a minor is attending a private high school.

[knowledgeable]

Good point ...

... I missed that one. Yes, you're correct, a minor can attend a fully paid private school.

Now the question arises about the guardianship of the child. It also depends on the home country rules as well, as United States honors most such rules, lest there be any conflicts and issues.

Unfortunately, I know something about adoption but not a special case like this one. If someone else here has the information, well and good.

I'd advice you to speak with an attorney and also a counselor working with the Division of Youth and Family Services of your state.

Of course you will need to provide a reason for this move, have financial support for the child and the host family to show required "qualifications" of which I do not have the details.

Good luck.

[ffoxis]

Well it's not really a special case. Going to USA to high school as a minor is something popular and getting the thing with a host family to work is not a problem at all.
I am actually right now in a situation like that. It didn't take any special effort to get that VISA for myself, the school just sent me the I-20, I went to the embassy and said I'd live with a host family arranged by school (but it still wasn't arranged so I couldn't give them my future adress in the US but it wasn't a problem) and got the VISA without a problem.

And what I'm trying to find out is what is such a host families' legal authority over the child they are hosting.
The only document that seems to grant them any authority is the contract the student and his parent signed with the school.

So I suppose that such a host family is not the student's legal guardian in any way.

That's why I'm very interested if living alone as a minor on F1 visa is possible, because in my logic (which might be and probably is wrong ) students living with a host family are living without any legal guardian anyways so they should be allowed to live alone as well.

And also it's worth to mention that the contract with school actually releases the host family from any liability for what happens or what the student does, so it does mean to me that the host family can't be a legal guardian.

[knowledgeable]

Nope ...

... the host family is not the student's "guardian" in true sense. However, they do have some rights on control of the child's schooling and behavior.

Again, this is not only an untrodden path for me, but unfortunately, not something where I would do any research.

Please do contact an attorney in any case for your own safety and protection.

My apologies.

Good luck.