The Exchange students Support Program (PAI) belongs to the Faculty of Economics, Administration, Actuarial and Accounting (FEAAC) of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) and aims to help and guide international academic mobility students in the UFC during their first Moments in Fortaleza, providing support, and encouraging the exchange of experiences between the exchange students and the regular students of UFC. This study aims to analyze the factors that configure the program in the pre-institutionalization phase, according to the model of Tolbert and Zucker (1999). The following specific criteria were established: i) to verify the evolution of the determining factors in the verification of the pre-institutionalization phase of the program over the three years; ii) to identify the obstacles to progress in the objectification phase and iii) to verify the factors that contribute to the objectification phase of the program. This research has a qualitative approach. Regarding the outcomes, it is exploratory, and in relation to means, it is descriptive, with field and document research. The data collected was analyzed using Bardinn‘s (2016) content analysis. The research contributes with a deepening of the process of institutionalization of support for foreign students at a Brazilian University, a subject with little dissemination or exploration in the national research so far. It is concluded that there was an evolution of the factors that determined the pre-institutionalization phase of the program. It was observed that one of the main factors that poses obstacles in the objectification phase of the program is the lack of a physical structure, and that one of the Factors that contribute to the objectification phase is monitoring through comparison with the support for foreign students offered by other Brazilian or foreign universities. In terms of limitations of the research, the number of interviewees was small, and future research, a suggestion would be to investigate the perceptions of teachers, civil servants and managers on the subject.