BUNAC (to the UK) is back...

I just received an email earlier today announcing that a version of the BUNAC Blue Card is back with its Intern in Britain program.

The announcement I received opened with the following:

BUNAC is pleased to announce the launch of our exciting new Intern in Britain program. This is a one-time opportunity for US students and recent graduates to work as an intern in the UK for up to 6 months. The program will be available to your students exclusively through BUNAC and comes after many months of negotiations with the UK government.

I would love to know what went into those negotiations. Unlike any other extant program, there's no academic component to this one (that I can find). The announcement noted it comes in under Tier 5 of the new UK immigration scheme which provides for "youth mobility and temporary workers, who are allowed to work in the United Kingdom for a limited period of time to satisfy primarily non-economic objectives" (see here).

A couple initial observations:

• It's pricier than the earlier program (at least as best as I can recall) -- program fee eventually will reach $750 (1 October 2009). You also must have at least $1500 in reserve and insurance coverage.

• Participants need to set up their internship prior to applying for the necessary permit. It's the classic chicken and egg problem of working abroad: one of the great strengths of the earlier BUNAC program was that participants got the necessary papers & permits to work prior to arriving in the UK and could tramp around applying for work. No more!

• The internship must be skilled (or rather, according to the BUNAC site and some lovely bureaucratese, "cannot be an unskilled position"), should be a minimum of 25 hours a week, "subject to National Minimum Wage," and must be "supernumerary" which, again according to the website, means that "the presence of an intern must not harm the resident labour market. Interns must not fill vacancies in the UK workforce and must do work that is additional to the employer's normal staffing requirements."

Just saw something else of interest: the £125 visa fee is not included in the program fee.

Hmmm...

It will be interesting to see how this takes off, and how BUNAC's numbers for this iteration of the program compare to its earlier set-up. Still on the whole cheaper than most providers but I wonder how difficult it will be for interested students and graduates (you have 12 months following graduation to join the fun) to search for an internship on these terms.

My sense is that this is going to be a vehicle for other providers who have networks and relationships with employers and organizations (and are able to actually coordinate and set up internships with them) to get their interns abroad under the new system.

Boy, oh boy... This really does point out how important it is for students to network and interview (informational) when they are in the UK on a study abroad program (or even just traveling for pleasure) if they think they might be interested in returning to work one day!

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To work in the United Kingdom...

...or not.

The United Kingdom recently revamped their visa regulations, switching over to what the UK Border Agency calls the points-based system.

Ouch!

There's been less chatter than I expected there would be on this, though perhaps that's because no one is really sure what to make of it yet. It has, effectively, killed off the granddaddy of all schemes to get US students to the UK to work: the BUNAC Blue Card Program (quick note of clarification: BUNAC as an organization lives on, but the US-to-UK program is done) -- and with it any number of other organizations that arranged internships for US students and graduates but relied on BUNAC to get folks into the UK legally.

It's something of a mess trying to make heads or tails of the new system. There is a lot of information on the internet about it, and a lot that can be found on UK Border Agency pages, but trying to make sense of what options might be available to students and recent graduates...

Yikes. Which is somewhat akin to my earlier ouch.

As best I can figure, for US students and recent graduates it effectively boils down to this: you simply can no longer work in the UK. If you want to secure some sort of work or internship, it must be part of an educational exchange with an accredited, monitored, and licensed sponsoring educational institution/program (to be fully implemented on 31 March 2009).

For those familiar with the old system and regulations, there's an overview of the changes available. But because they have not yet fully implements Tier 4 -- which is the student category -- specific information as it relates to students (and I am fairly confident in saying that this effectively wipes out recent graduate opportunities) is lacking.

There is a rather daunting Guidance for Sponsor Applications on the Border Agency's website for the hardcore among us -- together, I might add, with equally daunting guides to immigration offenses and penalties.

Here is a snippet from the post-March 31 Guidance:

223. Migrants in the Tier 4 (General) Student category on courses of study at a minimum of NQF Level 3 or its equivalent (or at the equivalent of a United Kingdom degree level or above if an overseas qualification) are able to take course-related work placements. Work placements must take up no more than 50% of the full course length in the United Kingdom.

224. Migrants in the Tier 4 (General) Student category are also allowed to do other work. During term time, they are allowed to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week and during vacations they can work full time. This is in addition to any work placement that forms part of their course.

227. Other than when the migrant is on a work placement, all study that forms part of the course must take place on the premises of the sponsoring educational institution, or at a temporary location authorised by the sponsor. For example if the student is on a field trip, this will be acceptable.

Not overly daunting -- though the big change, the real earth-shaking change when it comes to what's been possible in years past, is in the requirement that this work is tied, both in terms of time but also in terms of type to an educational program.

Now there are other levels and other tiers -- though tier 3 unskilled labors has already been suspended and their are intimations that depending on circumstances tiers 1 & 2 might be similarly restricted or shut down -- but realistically there is precious little room for recent graduates in the scheme, which is understandably if disappointingly skewed to bringing in highly skilled labor.

And from the UK side of things -- be they educational institutions or companies -- I cannot imagine that there is much happiness about the multiple layers of application, vetting, and licensure that now seems to be required, although one recent report notes mixed reactions.

It is interesting to note that as the UK clamps down, other countries are opening up. Australia has been pushing its working holiday options lately, and Canada, (US citizens are actually out of the running for Canada too; see the list of eligible countries), New Zealand, and Singapore offer similar programs open to US citizens -- though these are quite different beasts from the BUNAC Blue Card Program to the UK, not the least because they require proof of a substantial bankroll (in support of the time you are holidaying and not working in country).

Well, I guess if you want to work in a pub, you can still go to Ireland.

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Addendum (20 May 2009): Well, it just keeps getting more and more challenging. Here's a bit of the latest from NAFSA which maintains a running log of UK visa regulations updates.

Please also note that as of June 1st students will have to demonstrate that they have held the requisite tuition and maintenance funding for 28 days. The concession currently in place allowing students to simply show possession of the funding at the date of application will end May 31st.

Again, I can understand the rationale behind this, but for students relying on the disbursement of financial aid from their home institutions...? Oy!!

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