Once a year, JAOS holds a study seminar concerning changes in U.S. visa policy and procedure in cooperation with the Public Affairs Section (PAS), of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

The U.S. Embassy stated that, despite rumors of tightening visa restrictions in the wake of

September 11, they would continue to welcome those students who, as in the past, qualified for U.S. entry visas.

Furthermore, the U.S. Embassy reported that out of a total of 100, 000 visas that were issued last year, 21,000 or approximately 1/5 were student visas. However, after the events of September 11, the visa issuance numbers decreased by 30% between October - November 2001, and decreased by 40% in December 2001, in comparison to the previous year. In February of 2002, the visa issuance numbers decreased by 10% in comparison to the same period last year.
In addition, we received an advance announcement concerning the ISEAS (Interim Student and Exchange Authentication System), which will be introduced by the U.S. Embassy by January 2003 at the latest. As part of this announcement, the U.S. Embassy confirmed that from now on they will be prepared to work more closely with JAOS in order make the visa process run more smoothly. This will be benefit both JAOS as well as the U.S. Embassy.

The 2002 Annual Spring General Meeting was attended by 24 participants from 22 member organizations, among which, 7 organizations participated via absentee vote. The new membership of 1 agency was approved at the meeting.
The ‘Four Task Teams’ (1. JAOS Standardized Agreement, 2. New Membership Recruitment, 3. ERA, 4. Member Support) organized during the last General Meeting presented their activity reports, in which the contents were discussed.
In addition, FELCA reported that they plan to open a new office in Bangkok, Thailand. FELCA also plans to launch its website from the autumn of 2002.
Special attention was paid to the work of the ‘JAOS Standardized Agreement Task Team’. Though a number of difficulties are expected, it was agreed upon that the team would be focusing on the ‘cancellation policies’ of ‘individual language programs’. As these types of programs make up a large share of the overseas study market, any improvements that can be made will have a major positive consequence for both consumers as well as for the study abroad industry as a whole.
The following are major policies that were discussed and agreed upon at the General Meeting.

・	Self-imposed restrictions among study abroad organizations under JAOS, (where there are currently no existing codes of practice) will contribute to fair and trustworthy business development within the industry.
・	Through the above actions, JAOS members and non-members will de differentiated, members acquiring ‘trust’ from general society for being part of a dependable group. This will result in JAOS membership growth.
・	Although the ‘Guidelines’ have already been established, the ‘Task Team’ will take concrete actions in order to better establish the ‘JAOS Standardized Agreement’ (also referred to as ‘Model Terms and Conditions’) as a means of gaining the public’s confidence.
・	As an initial step towards forming the ‘JAOS Standardized Agreement’, the Task Team will first work towards establishing a ‘Partially Standardized Agreement’ by reaching a consensus with JAOS members regarding ‘Cancellation Policy
・	All of the above actions shall not conflict with ‘Anti-Monopoly Law’

The 2002 Autumn General Meeting was attended by 21 participants from 26 member organizations, among which, 8 absentee vote organizations were included. 2 new organizational memberships and one supporting membership were approved at the meeting.
Activity reports were presented from each Task Team of which special attention was placed on the work of the ‘JAOS Standardized Agreement’ Task Team.
The above-mentioned Task Team reported its research findings concerning the following topics; internal JAOS questionnaires; member organization literature, definitions of important terminologies, booking fees, counseling and further consultation fees, and the length of time it took for contracting to be completed. Furthermore, it was confirmed that further research on things such as ‘Travel Agency Law’ and consultation with legal experts would need to take place before finalizing the ‘JAOS Standardized Agreement’.

It was also reported that FELCA (The Federation of English and Language Consulting) announced the tentative completion of its website (www.felca.org) as well as information regarding its London General-Meeting held in August of 2002. FELCA also reported on its Joint Conference with GAELA (Global Alliance of Education and Language Associations).

ERA (Educational Representatives Association of Embassies) consists of educational attaches from the Japan situated embassies of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, USA and France.
Once a year, JAOS holds a meeting with these ERA members mainly to share information and to maintain close mutual communication.
The 6th meeting was held at the USA Embassy in Tokyo
The meeting provided a forum for participants to actively discuss and exchange information concerning the aftereffects of the September 11th attacks on not only the Japanese market, but throughout the international community.