Privacy Policy

Last modified June 9th, 2025

Privacy Policy

Cultural Exchange Network (“Cenet”) is a non-profit organization designated by the United States Department of State as a J-1 Exchange Visitor Program sponsor. We also operate the Magellan Exchange, a consortium of universities worldwide offering student and faculty exchanges. We are headquartered in Cape Girardeau, Missouri USA.

In order to communicate with you and provide services, Cenet will handle your personal data. If you have any questions or would like to exercise your provided data rights, such as data access, rectification and erasure, please contact Cenet via the contact information in this policy.

If you apply for a Cenet program, we will ask for a range of personal data, sometimes including sensitive information. To keep this information safe, we regularly train our employees on data security and privacy. Our technology systems are protected through strong authentication methods and employees can only access data that is necessary to carry out their job role. Our host organizations and relevant stakeholders or entities use data strictly for the purposes we define, and they operate under strong contractual obligations regarding privacy-focused data handling.

Your rights regarding personal data

You can contact us to ask if we store or process any of your personal data; if so, you have a right to access, rectification and erasure. You can also object to the processing of your personal data and ask for a copy in electronic form.

For any inquiries regarding Cenet’s personal data policies and procedures, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@cenet.org.

If necessary, you can lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. You can also initiate a legal process at your local Regional Court or at the Regional Court in the location of the Data Controller.

EU representative for data protection cases

Cultural Exchange Network (Cenet)’s EU representative for contact with authorities and other data protection-related requests is:

Tori Patterson: eurep@cenet.org

Data processing when you contact us

When you contact us - via email, live chat, phone, social media, in person, or any other form - we may process the following personal data: your name, email address, gender, date of birth, phone number and social media identifier. Furthermore, we process all the personal information you share with us during communication.

We use this data to contact you, answer any questions or requests, and provide you with further information. This data processing is in our legitimate interest regarding contact handling.

When you contact us on social media or via third party platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), we process your data jointly with these platforms.

If you contact us via email or via the contact forms on our website, the data resides in the systems of our technical service providers (e.g.,website, email), who may have access to your data. Our host organizations and other relevant parties might actively process the data you send when they handle your request.

We use third party service providers for communication and technical applications. These providers may occasionally access the data in certain situations, such as troubleshooting. They store information regarding the given communication, such as email address, phone number, social media IDs, and the actual messages.

If you apply for a Cenet program

If you register on our website for any of our programs (Intern, Trainee, Camp Counselor, Summer Work Travel, etc.), Cenet is your Data Controller, who is responsible for the privacy of your data. When we refer to ourselves as “Cenet”, we mean the company behind this cultural exchange program:

Cultural Exchange Network (Cenet)
338 Broadway St, Suite 620
Cape Girardeau, Missouri USA

Please note that if you apply for a program provided by an agency, Cenet is not the Data Controller but rather only a contributor to the program. We provide some privacy-related information in the next section that applies to these cases, but we are not governing the details of the data processing of such programs. You must approach these organizations with all of your privacy-related questions or requests.

If you participate in a Cenet program, we need to share some of your personal data with third party organizations (e.g., camps, resorts, universities, other host organizations). We also use this data for billing purposes. The following information is either handled because we have a legal obligation to do so (e.g.,invoicing) or we have to process the data to provide you with the contracted services.  Below is a list of data we may require in order to provide the contracted services and/or to meet our legal obligation.

• The fact that you have applied to our program
• Cenet ID
• Your name
• Date and place of birth
• Country of citizenship
• Country of origin
• Phone number
• Home country address
• Destination address, living address during the program
• Place of employment/training
• Proof of student status
• Resume
• Employment verification/reference letters
• Details about completed and/or ongoing College or University studies
• A copy of your degree
• Personal photo
• Pocket money details
• Financial verification documents, such as a bank statement
• Method of payment, amount and payment details
• Orientation/interview report
• Motivation details
• Gender
• Shirt size
• Contract data
• References
• Passport data
• Emergency contact name, relationship, contact details
• Permission to leave the U.S. for a special reason and the corresponding details
• Religious affiliation
• Dietary preference
• Health history
• Current medical information
• Data regarding your criminal records
• Visa data, DS-2019 Number
• Personal interests, skills, hobbies, etc.
• Your signature in case of paper or digital documents or agreements
• Your status (arrived, working at destination, etc.), which we may need to report to SEVIS (government database)
• Other personal data you have shared with usduring the interview, online orientation, or in writing

We handle the everyday or common data based on the contract between us, but some other data we process is classed as sensitive data, such as your medical history and criminal background. Before providing us with this data, we will ask for your consent to process, store and share it with host organizations. Please note that our partner host organizations require this information, and in the absence of consent, we will not be able to arrange your travel and participation in the program.

When and how we share information

Except as outlined in this policy, Cenet will not share your personal data with unaffiliated third parties.

Certain entities perform functions on our behalf, including website development, hosting, and content management, and they may have access to personal data. Accordingly, they are subject to confidentiality and security obligations relating to such data.

Service Providers: We may supply your information to third parties for services such as payment processing, website hosting, email communication, web conference tools, etc.

Host Organizations: We may supply your information to host organizations in order to enable and monitor your program.

Agencies: We may supply information about you to our trusted agents in order to provide information and services that you have requested. Additionally, we may share information in the application process or during your program to best assist with any programmatic needs.

Legal & Protection: We reserve the right to share your personal data as reasonably necessary for legal claims in court proceedings or administrative procedures, to comply with requests from law enforcement, or to protect the rights and property of Cenet, you, or third parties. Additionally, we may supply your personal data to parties necessary for the assurance and protection of your health, safety, and welfare.

Consent: We may share your information in any other manner to which you consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing our Data Protection Officer at dpo@cenet.org.

About the risks regarding international data sharing

You should be aware that data protection and privacy regulations of some countries often operate differently. Our partners handle your data with utmost care and confidentiality, but the hosting country might inspect and survey the visitors and their data based on their own right.

Crime prevention, anti-immigration or anti-terrorism practices are different at each destination, and the average person might have limited information about the details. These practices often differ from the norms you experience in your home location. For example, host countries may check your social media account, ask for access to your electronic devices when you enter the country or carry out other privacy-invasive actions.

If you have any particular concerns regarding the privacy practices of the hosting country, please research the relevant information before applying for a Cenet program. This information can usually be found on official government websites.

When you call the Cenet office or speak with Cenet’s after-hours answering service

If you apply for or participate in one of our programs, you might call the Cenet office or speak with our after-hours answering service. In that case, the following information might be processed:

• Your name
• DS-2019 Number
• Date and time of the call
• Date and place of birth
• E-mail address
• Phone number
• The details of next of kin/emergency contact person
• The facts and subject of the call
• Health data
• Crime-related data

We handle this information based on our contractual services. The call may be recorded by the answering service for quality assurance purposes only; the recording is not shared.  The information you share is captured in written form, which we use to resolve any issues and provide support.

We may need to share the details of the incident with third parties involved but only to resolve the issue or as legal obligations dictate.

If you apply for a program through an agency

If you apply for a program provided by an agency, Cenet is not the Data Controller but rather only a contributor to the program. We are not governing the data processing details of such programs. You must approach these agencies with all of your privacy-related questions or requests.

In these cases, the agents share your information with us, or they ask you to share your information with us via direct contact or via registration on our website.

In either case, Cenet acts as a contributor or assistant to your program. We follow all of the security and privacy regulations defined by our agents, and in general, we do the data processing in compliance with data protection regulations. The processing details are similar to what you can read in the “If you apply for a Cenet program” section of this document.

Please note that if you would like to exercise any of your privacy-related rights (access, erasure, restriction), we cannot serve you directly. You must contact your contracting organization, who will facilitate the request.

If you provide a reference for our participants

We may ask our participants to obtain academic or professional references. In such cases, we will store some information about you, as a referee. References might be required to participate in the chosen program, and it is in our legitimate interest to handle the following data:

• Your name
• Phone number
• Relationship to the applicant
• Time of the relationship
• Your opinion about the applicant

In order to facilitate travel and placement for our participants, we share your data with potential host organizations.

If you are an emergency contact

The participant of a Cenet program may name you as a person to contact in case of an emergency. The participant will provide us with your full name, email address, relationship and contact details. This process is in the legitimate interest of a participant regarding their personal safety.

In order to facilitate travel for our participants, we share your data with potential host organizations.

Information for website visitors

When you visit our website, our servers record your IP address and browser fingerprint. This is needed for cybersecurity reasons and is in the legitimate interest of the company. We delete log files after one month.

We store your IP address for a longer time period when you log in to your account. This also happens for cybersecurity reasons. Your last login IP address and the current login IP address are stored while you have an active account. This is in our legitimate interest due to cybersecurity.

Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of information in the form of a tiny text file that is placed on the device of a website or app user. Cookies make using a website or app faster and easier by storing data in the background (e.g., adding items to a shopping cart or remembering login details for future visits). Cookies can also be used to monitor how a website is used (e.g., what pages are visited, where the visitors come from, what they click on).

We use three different kinds of cookies.

Essential Cookies
Essential cookies contain your preferences regarding our website, such as the website language. We do not ask consent for this.

Marketing Cookies
Marketing cookies help us deliver more effective advertising on our website and apps.  For example, we might use a cookie to prevent you from seeing the same advert too many times or to deliver an advertisement relevant to your participation in one of our programs.  Marketing cookies can also tell us how many times you have clicked on a certain advert or how many times it is viewed.

Analytics Cookies
We have analytics cookies provided by Google Analytics. If you accept our analytics cookies, then the information about your visit is shared with Google LLC. Analytics cookies help us track how well our websites, apps and services are performing, such as the speed of loading or how often the website or app may crash.

They can also track visitor data, such as how many visitors we receive, which pages a reviewed and how many times they are viewed. We ask your consent to place this cookie on your first visit; you can change your preferences anytime.

If you participate in a Cenet presentation or event

We may organize webinars and in-person events to inform potential applicants about our programs or provide additional information to our contracted participants. During these events we might record the list of attending participants and at registration we may ask you to give us your:

• Name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Date and place of birth
• Name of your university or collage
• Date of event attended
• Name of event attended
• Name of your agency

We may learn your:

• Username in conference tool
• Gender
• Signature

The processing of this data is in our legitimate interest in promoting our services.

We might ask for your consent to reach out through your correspondences, to involve you in our program or to provide further information.

If you change your mind, you can ask us to erase your data during the event or you can request this later. If you ask us later, we will delete your data within one month of the request.

Email newsletter

You may be able to subscribe to a newsletter via the Cenet website, at different Cenet events or through our partners. If you subscribe, we ask you to provide your name and email address. We use this data to send email newsletters containing updates, news, offers and general travel content. We do this with your consent, which you provide at the subscription.

You can withdraw your consent in the emails via the unsubscribe link or you can inform us in email.

Your digital signature

When you sign a document digitally, we might store the timestamp of the signature, your IP address, browser and machine fingerprint in the signature data or other technical identifier in order to be able to create and verify the digital signature. This is in our legitimate interest.