To be honest? I've seen it happen three times...but the circumstances are a little different than what you are describing.
Situation #1: There was a transfer student from ABC University to XYZ. He had been in Fraternity 1 at ABC, transferred to XYZ and joined Fraternity 2. Somehow nobody picked up on this until well after he was initiated (which is mind boggling to me in the era of Facebook). Even though their nationals forbids member from other chapters going, the brotherhood liked the guy and decided to keep him around and keep it secret.
Situation #2: I was on a bus to an event once and talking with a guy who was in fraternity XYZ. He told me that fraternity ABC had folded a couple years ago, and apparently XYZ had stealth pledged a couple former members of ABC (including himself).
Situation #3: Same fraternity as in the first situation. They were seriously considering pledging a guy who had joined a different fraternity (ironically XYZ in Situation #2...oh the tangled webs we weave) and been initiated, but dropped out. They loved the guy and were already very close friends, and figured nationals wouldn't find out and they could always plead innocent even if they did. At the end of the day, the guy decided not to pledge again so it was all theoretical.
I think in general fraternities seem more comfortable operating outside of their national procedures than sororities do. But once again, you can see that the two cases where it did work were not the same as Situation #3, and in Situation #3 there were a number of guys in the chapter that were virulently opposed to his bidding/initiation no matter how much he was liked. It may have worked out that he wouldn't have had enough support to get a bid (obviously do not know the majority needed).
So if your current fraternity is still active at your school, then I doubt it is a real possibility. Even if the fraternity you want to join is allowed to bid you, it still may not work out. Especially because I see far more open rivalries in the fraternity world than the sorority world (where any chapter rivalries are hidden under the guise of Panhellenic unity), so I could easily see a fraternity saying, "Nah, he went XYZ in the first place, they are the worst, why would we take the risk and bid him?"
Lastly, I feel like he may be using the same hidden connotations as the "I just can't find my place in the chapter" girls...so to put it bluntly, if you can't hook up with hot girls in your current chapter you won't be able to even if you join the "Hot Babes R Us" chapter. In the top tier fraternities at my school there were still plenty of guys who couldn't ever get girls.
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