Leaving for a year in the United States to live a second rhetoric: a dream that always seduces more young Belgians. The election of Donald Trump and his restrictive policies have not slowed down this craze, quite the contrary. According to specialized agencies, interest in this type of academic immersion jumped 15% compared to last year.
Louise is about to fly to Alaska. Between excitement and apprehension, his parents do not hide their concerns about the current political climate. Because if the school immersions remain authorized, they are now accompanied by new rules: extended deadlines for the granting of visas, obligation to provide its pseudonyms on social networks, more extensive verification of profiles …
Lucie, already installed in Virginia-Western, experienced this stress closely. His visa only reached the last minute, after a passage tense by the embassy.
Despite these obstacles, the United States remains the most popular destination for Belgian Rhetos. In some agencies, registrations for 2026 have even tripled. Report by Marco Saccomanno and Anne Pollard.