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HISTORY AND OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL VISITOR AND VOLUNTARY VISITOR PROGRAMS

Each year the International Visitor Program (IVP) and the Voluntary Visitor Program (VVP) bring more than 5,000 foreign citizens to the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts in the U.S. and attend programs on a wide range of topics. Approximately 3,000 of these visitors are fully or partially funded by the U.S. Department of State, while the remaining 2,000 provide their own non-program funding. The purpose of the International and Voluntary Visitor Programs is to increase mutual understanding between the U.S. and countries around the world through communication at personal and professional levels. More than 110,000 International and Voluntary Visitors worldwide have traveled under the auspices of the program since its inception in 1948.

INTERNATIONAL VISITOR PROGRAM

International Visitors are established or potential foreign leaders in politics, media, business, education, science, the arts, and many other fields. Participation in the program is by invitation only, and the individuals are chosen by representatives of the U.S. Embassy in their country.

Participants travel to the U.S. either as individuals or as a group. Group projects bring together colleagues with similar professional interests from different countries and geographic regions to focus on issues that are important worldwide.

On average, Austria is allocated ten International Visitor Program grants per year, funded by the U.S. Government. The IV Program is administered by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna.

VOLUNTARY VISITOR PROGRAM

Through the Voluntary Visitor Program, Public Affairs in Vienna, with help from the Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau of the U.S. State Department and volunteers across America, arranges high-level professional programs for important Austrian individuals and groups who are paying their own way to the U.S. Voluntary Visitor Programs are usually generated at the request of professionals in Austria who are already planning a visit to the U.S.

FULBRIGHT PROGRAM

The academic exchange program between Austria and the United States is managed on behalf of both governments by the Austrian-American Educational Commission. In addition to administering the competitive national selection process for Fulbright grants, the commission also provides fair, objective counseling on American educational opportunities to Austrian students, whether or not they are scholarship recipients.

Fulbright Commission in Austria