Gonna Study Abroad - No Jokes, Plan ahead!!
Life in an abroad country is what each and every student dreams of at some stage of their career. It may be after school, after bachelor degree or at least after joining a software company. I do not want to say it is a bad option. Getting exposure when you can is really important in our competitive lives. But this article is especially for those students planning their studies abroad. We always plan for abroad studies because of the job opportunities we get, exposure we experience, and of course friends group we enjoy with independence. But what we miss to see is the future plans.
We all feel once we get permission to enter the country with a student visa, we can make our lives and settle soon. But in the present scenario we need to think a lot. The first and the foremost are visa issues and immigration problems. With all the recession problems and employment issues, getting a job is a lot tougher than one can imagine. We always tend to look only the positive side of this issue. For instance if we find a friend who has got a job after abroad studies, we feel we can also get it. What we miss to notice is that there are ten more students who studied with him/her and are not employed.
I wished to talk about this issue because we take a lot of loan for our abroad studies and when we do not get the job we deserve, we tend to work in restaurants and stores feeling dejected to go back to India. I have seen many students who passed out from my university and are working in restaurants and pubs to earn some money to send back home, for repayment of the loan they took. And the worst is their parents don’t know what work their son or daughters are doing.
Sometimes on seeing these scenarios I feel, I had thought twice before coming here. Every single day passes with lots of tension about the day when I pass out, where I would stand, what I would do, so on and so forth.
I do not want to discourage anyone planning abroad studies, but just want to bring to their notice that they need to plan a lot before taking this huge step. For instance I would like to mention the problems in UK.
After masters course, overseas students in UK usually take a Post Study Work (PSW) visa which is quite simple if you have passed your course and maintained a balance in UK account of about £800 (~Rs. 59,200). In addition during application you need to give an application fee of £550 (~ Rs. 40,700). For this you get an extension of two years to work in UK. This visa is cancelled from April 2012, to avoid many international students planning to settle in UK.
When such rules are implemented students here feel we are never welcomed here, which gives more mental stress. I do not blame the public in UK. They are very friendly and respect international people living in UK. But the recent recession and increasing debt have left the government with no choice.
If we work here with a visa provided by the company we are employed, we can apply for High Skilled Worker (HSW) visa. This will give us options of shifting jobs within UK too. Unfortunately there too a restriction has been made, saying person applying for HSW visa should get a yearly income of 46,000 Pounds, which is really not possible in the first instance. Thus it all leaves us in the first place, what after our studies here?
The instance stated above is from the information I could obtain in London. The one thing which popped in my mind after I heard all the details is “If only I had known this before!!!”
I feel its high time students plan their career with both positive and negative issues and not concentrate on the positive issues alone. The survival of the fittest can be rephrased as “survival of the planner”. The student who does not plan and act is going to lose the cat race which is making this world move so fast.
I again would like to mention “I DO NOT INTEND TO DISCOURAGE ANYONE”. It is just an attempt to bring awareness to the students of the present scenario and the difficulties of living abroad. So plan well and come prepared.
Act well and survive.
All The Best for your future endeavors.
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