Let me give you a very practical, balanced and ‘hands-on’ approach to the information for the UK.
After almost ten years, the U.K. recently announced they would provide two years post-study work permit. Additionally, they had made tier 2 (work permit) more flexible based on point calculation, making the entire Tier 2 process transparent. Please read The UK’s points-based immigration system.
As a destination, the UK proffers a ‘ladder of opportunity' in terms of education to all overseas students in the form of stay back option(Post-study work), indefinite leave to remain(ILR), and potentially green card entitlement to higher calibre students.
This ‘ladder of opportunity’ is the same for each student, and students are invited to climb the ladder in the first step. The student’s achievements are rewarded at various stages, e.g. stay back, possible green cards, PR, etc.
Naturally, some students (by their academics, experience etc.) will climb the ladder faster than other students, and indeed, some will fall off the ladder – some will blame the ladder for pushing them!
The one thing of certainty is that Opportunity will not present itself at the first step of any student’s journey. This fact is true of India, USA, Ireland, UK, Australia, Canada etc.
A student needs to carefully assess the correct path for his journey regarding his ability, expectations and willingness to engage.
PART-TIME JOBS:
The spirit of obtaining a part-time job is essentially one of cultural exchange – for students to engage with life in Ireland and to learn and in return, teach the UK about their culture and ideally earn a bit of cash along the way!
The type of jobs that any student seeks (irrespective of their nationality) are generally at the lower end and are typically customer focused – they are not looking for nuclear physicists!
The rules on part-time jobs are that part-time jobs are NOT there to finance a student’s education. That is why the Embassy requests students to show evidence that they will not rely on a part-time job when they make their visa application.
YES, there are part-time jobs, BUT students have to go looking for them correctly. Sending CV’s via email for a general customer service position will naturally be rejected by any employer.
People offering casual, part-time jobs are generally interested in doing the job; can you speak English?; Are you presentable to a customer? – Do you have a friendly manner about you? – Such attributes are never communicated in an email.
Each Institutio has a career’s office assisting students in presenting themselves correctly to permit them to succeed. They offer CV preparation, coaching, mock interviews, classes to teach a student HOW to get a job.
HOWEVER, it is advisable to a student to rely on a part-time job – the simple reason is that a student’s study becomes severely challenged. Invariably, the student forgets that the primary reason for coming is for EDUCATION leading to opportunity …not the part-time job!
HOW DOES A WORK PERMIT WORK?
To work in the U.K., you need a Tier 2 visa that means the ultimate intention is to get a Tier 2 visa only. Remember, not every company is allowed to give Tier 2(approved sponsorship). I case you want to see the list, here you go: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-of-licensed-sponsors-workers
To summarize, you need to have a job in an approved sponsorer(company) to get Tier 2. I will use the term “licensed sponsors.” for the objective of this article.
THERE ARE VARIOUS WAYS OF GETTING TIER2, INCLUDING BELOW
- You directly apply for a Job from India to a licensed sponsor, lucky if you get it, giving you access to U.K.; you can come to the U.K. and start working. So you skip the study route and save a considerable amount of money and time. There is something called Tier 2 ICT, but that’s beyond the scope of the article.
- We all know it’s challenging to get Job directly from India to the U.K. Therefore, you look at an alternative way of getting it. This is where the study route(Tier 4) comes in to picture. Please refer to step 2 mentioned earlier.
LET’S GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE PROCESS:
Step 1: You go through one year master for 12 months, and you have TIER 4 Visa, which gives you entitlement for 20 hrs work in a week. However, it is unlikely you can manage part-time Jobs, so take it as no for a part-time Job. Please refer to the part-time job section for more information.
Step 2: Post-course completion, you will get a Post-study visa(they have not announced what type of visa would be, but it would certainly not be Tier 2). they still need to introduce a visa type for it.
Let’s assume; you expect to start your course in Sep 2021 and finish in 2022. I will categorize your time here in years 1, year2, and Year 3 wherein:
Year 1 – Your student visa Tier 4
Year 2- Your post-study work permit visa for year 2
Year 3 – extension for another year to year 2
Once your course is done, you are now allowed to work in any company ( even you can work with a company that is even not a licensed sponsor) and can continue to do this for the next two years (Year3) or equal to your two years post-study work permit.
But in the end, once you have exhausted your two years work permit, now you need Tier 2 visa; please refer ‘HOW DOES WORK PERMIT WORKS’ section for more information. At this point, if you are not able to get Tier2, then you have to go back to India.
>What is the job scenario for international students in the UK?
Let’s go back a few years from now; The earlier rules say you’ve got to get a graduate-level job with a minimum threshold salary ranging from at least £20800 and £30000 subjective to the occupation that too within four months of completing your course, or go home if you fail to find such a job within that four months grace period.
>What has changed now?
The latest rules allow an international student to stay for 24 months(post-study work permit) to find a Job. Earlier, it was only for four months.
Another significant change is that the UK Government had introduced a new points-based system that made getting Tier 4 very feasible as long as you get a Job in a licensed sponsors company. For example, they had explained it like this:
Graduate employers: New visa rules will allow Graduate employers to recruit international students as they don’t need to sponsor them, which was a big hurdle earlier. Considering they even wanted to hire Internation student, They had to support Tier 2 visas for a student in the next four months from the course completion. Also, it restricted the non-licensed sponsor’s company to hire a graduate from the University as they are legally not allowed to engage international students. Isn’t it game-changing?
Recruitment events: I think you can anticipate what I would write here? So I will skip it here but let me spell out something important- don’t wait for the graduate employer to visit your University; attend recruitment events instead. It all starts in November every year, so you could start looking for that job a month after starting your Master’s course. Go and ask the University’s Career’s service directory called GET ( Graduate Employment and Training ). Watch out for Careers Service’s weekly or fortnightly bulletin of employers with vacancies, subscribe a good jobs website/search engine like www.indeed.co.uk.
I am sure you will still have questions:) that’s why I have an email and mobile with me. shout out at Jawahar@thementorscircle.com or contact at +918010008888
About Me:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jawahartomar/
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About Author:
Jawahar Tomar is the Co-founder and heads the customer service and business delivery segment at The Mentors Circle. He holds an MBA from Brunel University, London, and has 15+ years of experience in various operational roles.
In his illustrious career spanning about two decades, he has seen meteoric rise from a backend support provider to eventually climbing the corporate ladder and now being the co-founder. His deep knowledge of the industry and hands-on approach makes him a leader in his own right.
Jawahar heads the service aspect of the Business, and ensures smooth experience at every customer touch point right from lead generation to admissions to foreign universities. When required, he is also the ‘go-to’ person for student support. The seamless delivery and accurate monitoring of customer experience gives him a better sense of market than any of his contemporaries.
The growth of The Mentors Circle is fuelled by a service oriented mindset which he inculcates in his team. With a slew of foreign universities offering a wide range of courses, it has become a tedious task to separate the wheat from the chaff. Under his leadership, The Mentors Circle is doing the task of assisting students make informed decisions and paving the way for a bright future.
Jawahar brings in his vast experience and entrepreneurial abilities to drive business growth. He oversees a team of professionals who form the backbone of the company and ensures quality and uniformity of service. His past experience stands in good stead in his understanding of every aspect of the business, acting as a catalyst for business growth.