Parlamentarisches-Patenschafts-Programm

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX) began in 1983 as part of the President's International Youth Exchange Initiative in cooperation with the German Bundestag. In celebration of 300 years of German immigration to the United States, this program was established as a symbol fo the long-standing friendship between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. Through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, our respective governments have provided more than 20,000 young Germans and Americans with an opportunity to make transatlantic friendships of their own. 

The Young Professionals program, which has participants in technical, business, agricultural, and vocational fields, is part of the CBYX program. In 2017 - 2018, 75 German participants will travel to the United States on the Young Professional program and 75 Americans will go to Germany. Participants will spend nearly a year in their respective host countries, during which time they will live with a host, study, and work. 

With a one-year stay in the USA that combines college attendance with a vocationally oriented internship, the CBYX will enable 275 German scholars – and also 75 young German professionals – to experience the ‘American way of life’ at first hand. As young ambassadors for their country, they will help promote better relations between the two nations.

The objective of this program, which is organized jointly by the parliaments of each country, is to enable young people to get to know their host country from a historical, social and economic perspective, while at the same time strengthening US-German relations.