Go Overseas Community News

Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that individuals are using our logo and company name to scam people into paying money for Au Pair opportunities in the United States. The scams are variations of au pair job opportunities with "Go Overseas Corporate Travel." As part of this scam these individuals are asking for money transfers to pay for "visa" and "program" fees. Do not pay them!

Things to watch out for:

• Emails from gooverseas@protonmail.com or any non @gooverseas.com emails.
• Mr. Philip Taylor or Mr. Kevin Anthony with WhatsApp number +1 416-907-4179 or +1 (415) 887-2398
• Mentions of company “Go Overseas Corporate Travel”
• Andrew Dunkle as "Host specialist"
• Au Pair job opportunities in the Facebook group Daily Jobs in "Gulf"

We encourage our users to be wary of internet scammers and please reach out to info@gooverseas.com if you are questioning the validity of any emails or correspondence from Go Overseas.

We are saddened to learn that our users have been affected by this scam and its predatory practices. We are working with the appropriate authorities to try and shut this down as soon as possible, this is proving difficult as we believe these individuals are operating out of South Asia, outside of our legal jurisdictions here in the United States. We want to make this information as public as possible to help people avoid this scam. We are genuinely upset that people are preying upon the good intentions of our users for personal gain, and we will do everything we can to help prevent it.

InterExchange has also put together an excellent article on How To Protect Yourself From Au Pair Fraud that's worth a read.

At Go Overseas, every day at work is a pretty great day. We work hard, we love what we do, and we're committed to our mission. We get to help educate interested readers about traveling the world, connect people with program alumni and companies to help find the right opportunity for them, and every once in a while -- we get to change someone's life.

It might not seem like it, but the scholarship campaigns we run each year -- to encourage studying abroad in New Zealand and Ireland, as well as through our own scholarship program -- are a big project. Several members of the team work hard for weeks before, during, and after the campaign, putting in long hours to make it all possible.

There's one moment that makes all that hard work worth it. Once we've received the applications, reviewed all the finalists, and chosen the winner, two Go Overseas team members get to fly to that student's school and surprise them. This year, our winner was Hailey Suina, who attends the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hailey is a creative writing and indigenous studies major at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). She was selected from 3,368 applicants to receive the $15,000 (USD) scholarship. The scholarship will provide her with the unique opportunity to experience New Zealand, a place she’s wanted to visit since childhood.

Traveling to New Zealand and immersing herself in Maori culture has been a dream of Hailey’s since childhood; she explains this in her application essay, “As a child, I remember my mother and I running our fingers across a world map, tracing the paths that our ancestors journeyed to their homelands. My mother ran her finger across the great blue of the ocean down towards the bottom of the world where she stopped at two islands. “Here,” she said, “is where the Old Ones traveled the farthest.” I learned later that this was New Zealand, Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud."

Hailey will be attending Auckland University of Technology (AUT). While at AUT, Hailey plans to take courses within the indigenous studies program, complementing both her studies at home and her community involvement as a Native American woman of the Cochiti Pueblo Indian Reservation.

We followed up with Hailey in the few weeks since she won her scholarship and the reality has started to set in.

"I still can't believe that I have won! It feels like a dream," she said. "I had pretty much convinced myself that I had no chance of winning since I was competing against thousands of other students who all share the same dream of having an adventure in New Zealand. I'm so incredibly thankful to have been chosen to receive this scholarship. It means so much to me that I was selected by a group of people who support my lifelong dream of traveling to New Zealand."

We also asked Hailey what she was most looking forward to in New Zealand. Her response was two-fold. One part, we expected: "I'm definitely looking forward to experiencing the beautiful culture of the Maori people and being immersed in their world. As a young Native American woman, it is always a blessing to be able to meet with other Indigenous people and be apart of their community," Hailey said.

She continued, "I'm also looking forward to a change of scenery! Coming from a desert landscape, it will be amazing to see all the lush greenery and to be so close to the ocean!"

Hailey's strong application and creative photo (pictured above) helped her stand above the thousands of students who applied this year, and her mission -- as evidenced in her essay -- helped our team and the team at Education New Zealand feel confident she will be a great ambassador for New Zealand for years to come:

“Only in New Zealand is there formal education that is centered around the teachings of traditional cultural values and beliefs. I want to develop my personal vision of strengthening and revitalizing my tribe’s language, traditional governance, and values by applying the Maori people’s cultural perseverance and leadership. Upon returning to Cochiti, I plan to share the knowledge I acquire overseas with my tribal elders of the council to show them how to bring effective change to our community and maintain our cultural ways of life.”

Congratulations, Hailey!

You can check out the video we made from our team flying down to surprise Hailey in person:

You can check out our scholarship resource page to learn more about other scholarships we offer. We have a resource on study abroad scholarships and grants that you might find helpful too.

Thanks to all the applicants who applied, and our partners: Education New Zealand and STA travel.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

The words above were written by Mark Twain in 1869. It has been nearly 150 years since the book in which they were written Innocents Abroad was published, yet they ring as true as ever.

When my colleague Mallory shared her thoughts about new immigration policies in January 2017, we hoped that would be the last time we were forced to cite Twain to advocate the power of travel. In our office, we generally try to remain hopeful that the world is moving in a positive direction and that we can increase empathy and open-mindedness in the world -- through travel and connecting with others.

Unfortunately, today the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an executive order that has been hotly debated and repeatedly overturned in lower courts since it was first proposed in September 2017. This order bars travel to the U.S. from seven countries: Iran, Libya, North Korea, Oman, Somalia, Venezuela, and Yemen. The order is rooted in foundations of national security, suggesting that a blanket ban on individuals from these countries is the only way to ensure national security in the U.S.

...prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness...

In short, it makes the assumption that each of the nearly 90 million people who call these seven countries home should not be permitted the freedom to travel in the United States because we can't be sure they mean us no harm.

Care Intensely (A Go Overseas Value)

At Go Overseas, we remain strong on the assertion that, as Twain says, "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." We believe that travel bans do more harm than good, if only because they encourage the prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness that we know travel is capable of erasing.

...many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

It's unfortunate that this travel ban has been upheld in the Supreme Court; this makes it much harder for future lawmakers or members of the judicial branch to change the policy. It means that whereas last time, our voices could be passed through petition to our representatives in Congress, we must now conduct ourselves to a higher level than the law requires. We cannot let a travel ban stop us from traveling to these countries -- or let it discourage travelers from visiting us in our home country.

We must believe that the power of travel to connect travelers, change our minds, and transform the world will win out.

Take Action (Another Go Overseas Value)

If you believe that, as we do, join us in taking your stand. Starting today, you can sign up to receive a postcard written by a member of the Go Overseas team. These postcards, which read "I Believe in the Power of Travel," are perfect to hang in your home, on your desk, on your mirror, or in a special place where you can be inspired to support travel through your actions and by encouraging others.

There's no special gimmick or catch. We won't ask you to do anything in return -- but if you want to share a picture of you and your postcard with the hashtag #GoOverseas, we'd love to see it.

We just want to share a reminder of the power of travel that you can use to inspire your own travels -- or share with someone who is passionate about travel too (share the link or ask them first before signing them up!). Thank you for being part of our community.