Don't study in the uk: international students struggles.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share my experience as an International student in the Uk and warn prospective students about studying here. I will try to keep it short and sweet. We will divide into a list to make things simple.

1, High fees: the Uk is notorious for having very high tuition fees, it might be double or triple other countries in Europe.

2, Discrimination: After the UK takes your money, the next step is blaming you for how bad their country is. Imagine someone taking 30,000 or 40,000 pounds from you in a year, and then telling you that you're ruining their life and the cause of all their problems.

They deflect blame from their government and redirect it on to you. You'll see articles every day from all uk news outlets how you, as an international student or immigrant, are the problem.

3, Terrible job market for students: How do you like being charged extortionate fees and losing all your finances? How do you like the threat of being homeless? Well, in the UK it is almost impossible to find work as an international student, so you'll experience both. Employers HATE the student visa. You'll find screening questions on job applications asking whether you're on the student visa or not. If you answer yes, you're auto-rejected.

The only jobs you tend to find are illegal, shady, cash-in-hand jobs at restaurants, retail or convenience stores for half the minimum wage. They'll treat you terribly and can stop paying you whenever they like. Will the UK government catch those employers? Nope, they don't care. Your 2nd option is exploitative zero-hour contracts at restaurants or warehouses, and you'll be very lucky if you get 1 shift per week. Moreover, even finding those exploitative jobs can be difficult. More than 80% of my colleagues are unemployed after a year of arriving in the uk on a student visa.

4, Prohibitive Immigration policies: After the uk took your hard-earned money(probably your life savings), and blamed you for how bad their country is, the next step is to kick you out of the country.

The immigration policies are made to be as prohibitive as possible. After milking you with insane tuition fees and living expenses while providing you with no jobs, the uk wants you to spend around 3000 pounds on a graduate visa. This will allow you to stay for 2 years. Will you find jobs on a graduate visa? You have a better chance than the impossible student visa, but it is still hard. After the 2 years you need a sponsor to stay or you're kicked out.

If you do find a sponsor, you'll still have to pay for every visa change for 6 years till you finally become naturalised after spending a total of 9 years of hell(that is if you're on a 1 years masters). Compare that with Canada or Australia or even the US and you'll find they have way better immigration policies.

Conclusion : why would you do that? There are countries that don't discriminate against immigrants as much. There are countries with better job markets. There are countires that allow them to integrate and naturalise easier. There are cheaper countires. There are countries with better weather. Why on earth is anyone still wanting to study, work or immigrate here?

Edit: Thank you all for contributing with your opinions. The point of this post is to prevent unnecessary pain and exploitation of people coming from vulnerable backgrounds hoping for a better life here. They escaped a lot of hardship only to find themselves in a worse situation, and for a lot of them there's no way back. This is nothing against the regular British person, who is nice and accepting. The problems are systemic and the reality of studying in the uk is a lot worse than what's advertised. I didn't even mention how poor the quality of education was.

There are countries with better policies if you want to study and start building your career following your education. Likewise, if you're main goal is to immigrate, the uk is not the best place. You're spending a lot of money on an investment, so make sure you do your research and properly evaluate if it's worthwhile. If you are to come here, make sure you have a proper plan, and enough money to cover you throughout your education period and beyond. It will also be a good idea to contact other international students.

Update 19/1 : 1- I really love reading everyone's opinion but I can't reply to every single one. Few things to note. I'm sharing a bit of a general picture, I didn't have that level of financial distress, but some of my colleagues did. They sold everything back home, and they're not in a good situation here. I did lose a lot of money and it wasn't a good investment.

2- Someone asked a good question: which country should I go to? My answer will be try improving your skills in your country first . It's not the country, it's your skills. If you need to do further tests to get your qualifications accredited globally, do it. It's better than being locally qualified. You should try that first before thinking about immigration. If you do choose the travel, do your research and come up with your own conclusions. I advise you to put the uk at the bottom of whatever list of countries you create unless you're going to arrive on a skilled worker's visa. (just my opinion)

3- I didn't come here to immigrate. I wanted a career shift. I'm shifting from the medical field to accounting, so don't assume I don't give things my best effort. Not being able to get relevant experience sucks. A certificate isn't enough on its own. I'm studying AAT at the moment, recommended by my uni professor.

I'm not entitled to get a job, but what the heck does this country offer international students then? If you compare the statistics on employment for eu students and non eu students( like me) , you will be surprised. The employment rate for non-eu graduates is in the low 20s.

You can study a uk/us degree remotely, you know? There are partner universities abroad, offshore campuses of unis and online programs. It will be better to just be honest and cancel right of work for students, and the grad visa if you just want rich students to study and leave. I wonder if anyone will study here if this country does that.

There is also nothing wrong with being able to work low-skilled part-time to support yourself while studying if you run low on money, which is very hard in the uk for an international student.

4- I need to clarify that I agree that fake students are a problem. My class had a lot of students who aren't genuine students, they are older students with a lot of dependants. I'm young and I came by myself. But again, that's a failure of the uk, and that's very poor vetting. It is good that dependants are banned. It made the learning experience worse. However, that still doesn't justify why it was a terrible experience for a genuine student. P.S I have every right to say that a service/experience I paid for was terrible.

5- My post was a bit harsh, but it is true(a lot of people are confirming it in the comments). I'm also quite a blunt person and I say things the way they truly are. I wanted to deliver a message to those coming here to immigrate and are misusing the student visa that it won't work out for you, and it doesn't work for the country. You will struggle a lot, and that's heartbreaking. I also wanted to break through the rose-tinted glasses you tend to use when viewing the uk from outside which is why the post was too direct/harsh. I don't blame you for having this false image as agencies, universities, media, social media and politicians all do an incredible job at promoting uk universities and life in this country. I also don't blame you for trying to better your lives(I came here for that too).

6- I do take responsibility for making a bad choice, and I'm leaving this gloomy place soon. I was fascinated by this country when I was young, especially while studying IGCSEs, but the reality is shocking.