International Students · 1 of 3
A partner nation officer arriving for an American course is not traveling on an ordinary visit. The paperwork is a single order, and it carries more weight than its length suggests. "The ITO is the controlling document provided to international students authorizing them to participate in DoD provided training" (SAMM C10.11.1).
It answers four separate questions at once. The order states the dates and location of the training and the accounting fund cite that pays for it. It also carries the guidance for working out what support the student is entitled to, and the privileges available during the course (SAMM C10.11.1). Entitlement disputes at a schoolhouse are usually settled by reading the order rather than by argument.
It is also a gate. "The ITO will only be provided to IMSs once they complete in-country security and medical screening" (SAMM C10.11.1). Screening is not a formality that runs alongside travel booking, because until it finishes there is no order and therefore no authority to attend. What screening involves is set out in screening international military students.
Preparation sits with the American security cooperation office in the partner country, which prepares, explains and issues an order for each individual student (SAMM C10.11.1.1). Two rules in that paragraph remove the usual shortcuts.
The first stops batching. "Multiple IMSs may not be entered on a single ITO" (SAMM C10.11.1.1). A course intake of twelve officers is twelve orders.
The second stops improvisation. "The only ITO document authorized is the Security Cooperation Training Management System (SC-TMS) generated ITO" (SAMM C10.11.1.1). Where the financial system is down and funded orders cannot be generated, the office contacts the implementing agency rather than producing its own version.
Certain blocks on the order matter more than others. Medical screening and healthcare financial responsibility are recorded in paragraphs eleven and twelve. Some students and dependents are covered by an alliance status of forces agreement or a reciprocal healthcare agreement. For those, block twelve carries an American point of contact, billing address and telephone number for the supplemental policy or the indemnity (SAMM C10.11.1.4). Existing medical conditions or disabilities are noted in block fifteen so that appropriate care is available, with care taken over privacy (SAMM C10.11.1.5).
Orders and visas follow screening for students and for authorized dependents alike. The identity rule is exact: "The IMS or authorized dependent name on the ITO will be the same as on the country-issued passport and visa" (SAMM C10.11.2). No change can be made to a name on the order or in the training system until the passport and visa have been changed first.
Passport validity is measured from the wrong end of the trip, which is where partners are caught out. "All IMSs are required to have a minimum of six (6) months remaining on their passport upon completion of programmed training" (SAMM C10.11.2.1.1). A document valid on departure can still fail the test.
The most common misunderstanding concerns the visa. "The U.S. visa is the authority to travel to the United States during the valid period; it has no relation to the period of stay in the United States" (SAMM C10.11.2.1.2). Length of stay is governed by the arrival record issued at the port of entry, which now takes electronic form, and that record together with the order governs the student's status (SAMM C10.11.2.1.3). Where travel to neighboring countries is expected during the course, a multiple entry visa is worth requesting.
Not every foreign visitor travels this way. Participants in joint or combined exercises, subject matter expert exchanges and other visits that do not involve instruction travel on a foreign visit request instead. Orientation tours and distinguished visitor orientation tours are the exception, and need both documents (SAMM C10.11.1.2).
Instruction is in English apart from a small set of schools in the Americas, and the standard is set at the level of usefulness rather than fluency. "International students must be able to understand, speak, read, and write English at a level of proficiency that enables them to successfully complete training" (SAMM C10.10.1).
Responsibility for meeting it sits with the sending country, not the school. "The foreign country is responsible for ensuring that students meet the Implementing Agency (IA)-determined minimum English Comprehension Level (ECL) for attendance at a particular course of instruction. Most courses require a minimum ECL of 70. Higher level Professional Military Education (PME) and management courses, or courses that are hazardous, require an 80 or higher ECL" (SAMM C10.10.3).
Testing happens in country. The American office tests candidates from non-exempt countries using materials supplied annually by the language center, and arranges oral proficiency interviews for flight training and certain other courses. The required score for each course is published in the training articles and services list (SAMM C10.10.3.1).
Countries whose students have consistently performed well can be exempted from testing, either entirely or only from in-country testing before direct entry. Both exemptions are reviewed annually, and both are withdrawn where performance slips (SAMM C10.10.3.4).
A student below the course threshold is not necessarily excluded. The route is English language training first, and there is a lower gate for that: "The minimum ECL score for entry into general ELT at DLIELC is 55, regardless of the training's funding source" (SAMM C10.10.3.3). Below fifty-five, a waiver is possible where unusual circumstances justify it, granted by the agency in consultation with the language center and with the combatant command's concurrence (SAMM C10.10.3.6).
Where the training is grant funded the provider is fixed. "All IMET-funded ELT must be conducted by DLIELC" (SAMM C10.10.3.9). Language training leading to follow-on American courses must also go through the center unless an exception is approved, including training bought on a case.
Arriving under the threshold has a price. "The MILDEP may impose a forfeiture charge in all instances when direct entry students fail to achieve the prerequisite ECL on the continental United States (CONUS) course entry ECL test" where that failure causes rescheduling or cancellation, and the rule applies even to students from countries waived from in-country testing (SAMM C10.10.3.10).
Language materials for in-country programs can be bought through the same channels, and the shipping assumption is built in: "A factor of 50 percent of the cost of the materials ordered is programmed for air shipping transportation costs" (SAMM C10.10.3.11). Surface shipment can be specified instead.
| ITO | The order authorizing a student to attend, generated only by the training management system. SAMM C10.11.1. |
|---|---|
| IMS | International military student, the term used throughout the manual. |
| ECL | English comprehension level, with 70 typical and 80 for senior or hazardous courses. |
| DLIELC | The English language center that provides or oversees language training. |
| FVR | Foreign visit request, used for visits that do not involve instruction. |
Every statement above links to the document behind it. The full source list for this piece is on the sources page.
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