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Work With & After Study...
A major attraction of UK education, as far as Indian students
are concerned, is the possibility of working in the UK during and after education.
Unfortunately, not much guidance material is available on this crucial area.
I have seen several Indian students in many parts of England and Wales in the
last few years who have been struggling to cope up financially. Most of them
had arrived in the UK with the hope of making money working part-time, along
with studies. They normally drag the course a few years and work part-time all
along, to meet the cost of their stay and studies. This strategy works fine
if your point is to raise funds, but the flipside is that you end up harming
your career prospects. You will have prolonged the studies unnecessarily, and
at the same time, you would still be looking out for a stable job.
Successful completion of a course does not assure you of a job in the UK as
you need to satisfy certain other criteria as well. Two eminently practical
options for getting a permanent job in the UK are arranging a work permit or
switching to the HSMP scheme. For qualifying any of these, you will have to
convince the immigration officers about your skills. For getting a work permit
you must be qualified with any of the skills that are listed in ‘scarce
skill list’ by the British authorities. For HSMP you need to achieve 75
points based on your age, education and earnings. More details on work permit,
along with ‘scarce skills list’ and HSMP point calculator, are available
in this website. Please click on work permit or HSMP for details.
Still I Advise: Go to UK
Given the above mentioned pitfalls, I should not have advised you to go to Britain
for studies. But, instead, I do advise you to go to the UK. I would not have
advised you, if I had launched this website before May this year. In May 2007,
a significant change was incorporated into the student visa rules. Under the
Science and Engineering Scheme international students who successfully completed
a science and engineering course in the UK were allowed to stay on for one year
after the completion of the course. They were allowed to work during this period
without work permit. This law has now been reformulated as International Graduates
Scheme (IGS) under which any student who successfully completes a graduate,
postgraduate or postgraduate diploma after 2007 May, regardless of subjects,
is eligible to stay on and work one year without work permit. You can do any
legal work, or take up self employment, or even start a business! Sounds good,
isn’t it? After the completion of this period you are free to switch to
HSMP or apply for work permit if you are qualified for it. Remember, switching
at this point would be easier than doing so just after the studies.
Simple Mathematics
I will present a simple arithmetic that helps you decide whether it is good
to join a British University at the moment. You need to spend around £8000
pounds (Rs, 6,40,000) for a normal post graduate course. (The course fee varies
depending on the reputation of universities; an MBA from London School of Economics
costs you around £40,000). All other living expenses come to a total of
£5000 (Rs.4,00,000) a year. When you are applying for a course you will
normally get a visa valid for 18 months. With the additional one year offered
as part of the new scheme you will be staying a total of two and half years
in the UK. If you are not too much concerned about better facilities, you may
be able to manage your basic UK life with £400 a month. For 30 months
you need £12000. Including the fees the total expenditure comes to £20,000
or Rs.16 lakh.
But how much can you earn in this period? The minimum wages in the UK
since October 2007 has been fixed at £5.52. You can legally work 20 hours
a week during term times and full time during holidays. That means you can work
20 hours for 10 months (44 weeks) and at least 60 hours (12 hour per day, Monday
to Friday) for 20 months (88 weeks). Therefore you can work a total of 6360
hours during this 30 month period. Even if you get only minimum wages you will
earn £35,000. As you earn this money in the course of three financial
years you need not pay tax for at least £13000. For another £6000
you pay only 10% tax in three financial years. You pay 22% tax for only 16,000
pounds. That means after tax and NI contribution you can earn at least £30,000
in the course of three financial years. Given things pan out as above, you could
take home £10,000 after your studies.
What I have discussed here is the ideal situation. In reality, you may not be
able to work 12 hours per day for 5 days or you may not be able to find a job
regularly or you may not be able to work 18 months continually. Remember if
you work in a company regularly you are entitled for certain holidays. Even
if you are working for an agency that sends you to different companies you are
entitled for the same. According to the UK rules, for working more than 48 hours
a week you need to give written consent to the employer. But I know several
Indians who are working 72 hours a week, especially during Christmas time. What
I am trying to say is that this is only possible for a hard working bloke. But
as you are here mainly for studies I would say it is highly unlikely. However,
you would still be able to manage your course fee and living expenses, though
you may not be able to send money home. Keep in mind that you can extend your
course for at least one more year, in compliance with the immigration rules,
if you are really struggling to cope with your studies and work.
What if rules change?
I don’t know when rules will change next, as authorities have seemed to
be changing rules and regulations quiet often. But for now, clear rules are
in place, and you can take advantage of it. If you join the course hoping to
work a year after studies, but in case rules change before the completion of
the course, what could you do? It is a complicated situation, indeed. But as
a democratic country, I think, UK will give you a chance to use the advantages
of the old rule, though they might enforce a work ban on anyone who joins the
course after the amendments are made. I don’t think there is anything
to worry, as it is a genuine situation, and since you have the right to appeal
against the decision. There are several consumer organizations that support
your appeal free of cost.
Working in the UK after your studies
Please click
here for the details of working in the UK, when you complete you course
successfully.
Working in the UK while you study
Please click here for the official details of
working in the UK, while you studies:
.
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