Work-and-travel worry - Students facing stiff penalties for cancellations
Published:Monday | March 23, 2020 | 12:26 AM
University students making preparations to travel overseas to participate in the popular work-and-travel programme are facing major losses as COVID-19 has forced the lockdown of major cities in the United States and Canada and sent their programme into limbo.
Also, schools have been closed, and there is the prospect that the semester is likely to be extended because of the current one-month suspension of classes.
More bad news came their way yesterday after one of the agencies involved in the work-and-travel programme said that those who wished to cancel and withdraw from the programme could lose up to 50 per cent of their placement fees.
Placement fees, The Gleaner gathered, range between US$1,000 and $1,300.
Despite the uncertainty across the world, EIRAS International Limited - a local placement agency – advised participants in an email that “it would not be a good idea to withdraw at this early stage” or they would be likely to be slapped with cancellation fees.
The programme usually commences in June when most universities would have been closed.
“For persons wishing to withdraw from EIRAS, it is authorised by law to deduct 25 per cent from your placement fees. However, in addition to EIRAS’ 25 per cent, CSB [International] said they will deduct the following … ,” the email read.
The deduction detailed under the heading force majeure a cancellation charge of US$295 for self-placement, US$345 for self-placement in pools, and a whopping US$595 for placement made through a ‘placer’ for any type of cancellation because of the ‘2020 medical circumstances’ and before arrival to the US people who have been issued DS-2019 forms.
The DS-2019 form is the document that allows one to apply for the J-1 Visa as an intern or trainee in the United States.
CSB International will also charge a similar fee for participants who have not yet been issued with visas but have received their DS-2019 form.
The agency also said that there would be no refund to participants in non-risk countries for voluntary deductions that have been issued with DS-2019 forms..
CSB International also said that a similar cancellation fee would come into effect “in the unlikely event of a government-mandated cancellation of the program (sic) before arrival in the United States”.
Yesterday, several students attending The University of the West Indies voiced the concerns, noting that they would be unable to attend school and would be plunged into major debt if they were unable to participate in the programme this year.
“I don’t know what I would do. First of all, I borrowed money to actually pay the fee, and now seeing they are saying if we cancel, most of money will be gone, is just crazy. I don’t even know if I am going to be able to go on it because we don’t hear anything [on whether] this semester will extend beyond May,” one student, whose identity will not be published, told The Gleaner yesterday.
Another student who has been on the programme twice before criticised the agencies, arguing that they were taking a hardball approach to the pandemic.
“In these times, you have to show care, and you cannot be so tough. The situation is international, and it’s not just us,” he said.
“We have to consider our health first before anything else in these times, so they should let us cancel without penalty.”
As the 14-day lockdown of schools continues to be in effect, the Government is expected to update the country today on what further action will be taken in relation to classes amid the COVID-19 outbreak.