Working while studying abroad: what are the options?

The following list, and a marvelous one it is, was originally compiled by Lisa Brown (Center for International Affairs, Case Western Reserve University) and distributed through the SECUSS-L listserv for education abroad professionals on 21 August 2012.

Included is information on countries that allow students to work on visas appropriate for study abroad. In addition, Ms Brown noted that she had been told that it was possible (read: legal) for students to work in both Spain & Thailand but had not been able to find any verification/confirmation for either. I haven't had any luck confirming either -- only discussion threads indicating the equivalent of "oh, don't worry, everybody does it!!" Maybe, but...

Here are the details Ms Brown so usefully pulled together:

In Australia, students are able to work up to 40 hours per fortnight on a student visa if they apply for permission. Someone reported that there is an extra fee for this permission, but I was unable to verify this. Source.

In Denmark, students are able to work up to 15 hours per week as long as they apply for a work permit. Source.

In France, student visa holders are permitted to work 964 hours over a 12-month period. This is 60% of the 35-hour per week legal limit, which amounts to 1,607 hours per year. Source.

In Ireland, US students can work up to 20 hours a week when their academic programme is in session or up to 40 hours a week when their program is on an official school holiday. However, this only applies to programs of an academic year's duration or more. Source.

In Italy, those with visas and permesso di soggiorno can work up to 20 hours per week. However, note that processing times often make this impractical for study abroad students. Source.

In the Netherlands, students can work 10 hours per week with the appropriate permit. Source.

In New Zealand, most students can work up to 20 hours per week. Source.

In the United Kingdom, students who enter the UK on an actual student visa (not as a student visitor) can also work part-time (up to 10 hours or 20 hours depending on the program). Source.

Are there other possibilities that are missing from the above? What was your experience working -- outside of the program opportunity -- while studying abroad? Let us know!!

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What do employers think of provider-sourced internships?

In what really amounts to an ongoing discussion -- even debate -- around the question of fee for placement internship & volunteer placements (both domestically and most acutely in the the international sector... read previous posts here & here), the one thing I haven't heard much discussion about is what employers think of these internships when it comes to shopping yourself (that is, those who have taken advantage of such program placements) around on the job market.

Despite whatever value is added by providers -- be it in the form of daily support, academic/reflective/critical framing of the program, language courses, room & board provision, and/or access to otherwise closed off opportunities -- there is, in my experience, continuing resistance to the notion of "paying for" an internship among students, parents, and faculty & staff in higher education. And, seemingly, among the general public as well.

Are business people, HR professionals in larger organizations/institutions, and other employers any different? When they see an internship on a resume is it of any concern how that internship was secured and does it make a difference if it was secured through a provider?

If you're a provider what, if anything, have you heard from non-affiliated employers? If you're a student or graduate who has taken advantage of provider-sourced internships have you discussed them in subsequent job interviews? Do employers care about the how of securing the internship or just about the substance your work and performance?

And if you're an employer: do you care?

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The interest is there, but are the jobs?

I can certainly attest to the fact that there's a tremendous interest among students and recent graduates in the possibilities of working abroad. And more than a few articles in some of the larger papers have noted -- and perhaps inasmuch -- encouraged the trend.

USA Today published a piece back in November 2009 titled "More U.S. job hunters look for work in other countries" which set me to thinking.

I mean, the obvious question is: more job seekers may be looking abroad, but are they finding opportunities? And are they finding opportunities that are available to them, considering the numerous and often seemingly (if not ultimately) insurmountable hurdles that come with lining up all the necessary paperwork -- visa, work & residency permits, etc -- to finalize that placement?

That goes unanswered in this piece -- with the exception of the far too blithely asserted "more Americans are hunting for, and landing, work overseas." In fact, success (in finding work) isn't even addressed. And look closely at the language used: "Fifty-four percent of executives said they'd be likely or highly likely to accept a foreign post" and "Contact Singapore, which recruits executives in that country, says it's seeking "global talent to help foster innovation" for fields such as digital games."

Executives. Okay... So is that the demographic addressed by the article? No, not necessarily.

The article concludes with a consideration of "Charles Wang, an industrial engineering major [at Georgia Tech who] worked as a project manager for United Parcel Service in Dubai from July 2008 until last May." Wow!!

Okay... (again) but what the article fails to note is that Georgia Tech has one of the most extensive and long-standing internship and international placement programs in the form of its Division of Professional Practice.

More recently, the Chicago Tribune had a piece titled "Americans chase internships abroad as a gateway to work" (1 February 2010). This piece seems more balanced on the whole, offering both success stories and those of folks still struggling -- and finding that the much vaunted "cross cultural competence" isn't paying off with a flood of job offers.

But here too there are artful omissions, such as the fact that the majority of international internship placements that are "available" (that is, searchable by a general audience of students, recent graduates, or anyone for that matter) are connected either to an educational institution & study abroad program (such as Northeastern University's coop program) or set-up through a third-party provider (such as MASA Israel). Sometimes a combination of both.

Hardly direct placement. Hardly accessible to most (in the case of the latter more often than not simply due to cost considerations).

I feel like such a curmudgeon writing this, but it's important to me that the students who come see me get a realistic assessment not just of what's possible but what's likely and what's widely available. Desire, interest, and hopes don't readily translate into a paid placement abroad -- which is too often the sense that I get from these sorts of articles.

I am a big proponent of blue sky thinking: let's focus on what it is you want to accomplish, all things being equal and setting aside financial limitations for a moment. But that's just the first step, because it's from these dreams that we begin to get focused, set personal priorities, and start the hard work of finding what can be expected, what can be hoped for, and what might be the best fit.

Too much to ask for from a newspaper article, I know, but I do wish for a bit more nuance in these sorts of pieces. I think everyone would benefit from a bit more nuanced presentation of the very seductive dream, and realities, not just of working abroad, but of working hard at finding work abroad.

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Just a bit more on fee for placement...

I've noticed a fair amount of discussion in the media recently on what is being presented as a growing "trend": organizations and businesses that place students and recent graduates in internships for a fee.

Best I can figure, the Wall Street Journal started the ball rolling with "Buying Your Kid an Internship? It'll Cost You" (and then followed it up online on their blog, The Juggle). Gawker waxed indignant and then the ball was batted around the blogosphere and elsewhere for awhile.

Back in August, On Point Radio out of Boston picked it up with a show on "Paying to Work for Free" -- in large part revisiting the WSJ article and the main players cited. I'd earlier blogged on this topic when another National Public Radio show did a program on this "controversy" in March.

A couple things have jumped out at me in the interim.

As far as the media outlets are concerned, University of Dreams seems to be the poster child for this trend, which means they suffer the majority of bric-bats but also receive unparalleled exposure and publicity. I have a feeling they're suffering through this quite happily.

And I don't want to rehash the pros & cons of such arrangements, which are laid out pretty well by the players interviewed and detailed in the various shows and articles (and in an August New York Times article), as much as make a few observations.

I was first introduced to the University of Dreams as a provider of international internships. And London, Hong Kong, etc placements are seemingly always mentioned (as the draw they are). And yet I have yet to read or hear any discussion in these contexts of how fee-for-placement organizations and companies dominate the field of international internships.

Even more distressing for me, as someone who works with students day to day, is the fact that fee for placement has come to dominate international volunteer placements as well.

Do a Google search, browse the latest volunteer or internship posting on Idealist -- what you'll find are almost exclusively placements offered by companies for a fee.

Recently I've tried to become a little more active in the Building Bridges Coalition (active in a passive sense, such as it is: participating in a conference call discussing future plans & direction, reading materials and information prepared by the Coalition, etc). The stated goals of the BBC, right there on its homepage (and currently under revision), are:

It is a consortium of leading international volunteer organizations, universities and colleges, corporations, and government agencies working collaboratively towards the following goals:

• Double the number of international volunteers sent abroad annually by 2010
• Improve the quality of international volunteer service
• Maximize the positive impacts of international volunteer service in communities around the world

More details on those goals -- and how the BBC aims to achieve them -- can be found one click in.

But nowhere in these goals and strategies, and nowhere (that I can recall) in the circulating drafts of the revised mission statement, can be found a discussion of the cost of volunteering and the need to address questions of expense (from all perspectives). It seems rather baffling considering what a stumbling block it is to achieving... well, all of the goals.

It's this gap in the discussion -- the seeming inability for us as a community to explicitly address and ask for an accounting -- that I find most disheartening. Those of a conspiratorial mindset would look at the members of the BBC and note the preponderance of providers on the rolls (and, for that matter, study abroad [which internships programs are often bundled with for university & college students] can be revenue positive, very positive, for academic institutions).

I'm not so inclined. I think this is the model that has developed. And it's a good one for many people: providers, clients, and businesses & communities (that receive interns and volunteers). It is the model that has come to dominate because anything else is incredibly difficult (and let's call it outright: expensive, in time and treasure). But until another, sustainable (and sustained) model is offered, pay-to-play is going to predominate.

I just wish we could talk about it a little more. Or at least would think to...

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So you want to be an aid worker?

In a recent issue of The New Yorker, Jonathan Harr wrote an intriguing and disturbing piece on the refugee camps in Chad, housing the displaced of Darfur and a small cadre of worn down aid workers titled, Lives of the Saints.

(Clicking on the image above, by the way, will take you to an online only slideshow accompanying the article.)

As Harr notes early, the camps he visits are about the hardest of all possible hardship postings. The sheer number of refugees, and the scope of needs is almost unparalleled. Supplies and resources are in frightfully short supply. The area is, effectively, a war zone. Political control has largely broken down.

Still, I see many students who want to "do good" and work in the "humanitarian" field -- which often, when pressed, means they are interested in doing relief work. And there are some potentially hard lessons to be learned from this piece.

For one, I would be surprised if anyone who hasn't lived in a camp such as this can ever be prepared for the sheer misery. As Harr points out repeatedly, it is grinding -- bone and soul grinding -- for both the refugees and the aid workers.

Also, aid work is about provision of often frightfully limited resources, which means not just offering support to a particular camp, community, or individual, but also often limiting or shutting off those same supplies.

Similarly, aid work is about logistics -- getting supplies from point A to point B -- and documentation: filling out all the paperwork required by the manifold layers of bureaucracy.

Most important to note in Harr's piece -- certainly striking to me -- is the fact that those who are doing the work on the ground are those with highly specialized skills and lots of experience. A lot of the workers that Harr profiles also happen to be African, a reality that I am (perhaps mistakenly) under the impression doesn't really register with many of the folks I sit down with here in Madison, Wisconsin.

Again, it's important to recognize that the refugee camps in Chad are about as hard as they come, and there is a tremendous need for skilled -- and hardened -- professionals. But the same holds in broad strokes for any and every such camp; Africa, as a friend of mine likes to note, is not lacking for inexpensive, well-intentioned but generally unskilled workers. If you want to be an aid worker you need to develop a skill set and experience that is going to allow yourself to be of use: not just to individuals on the ground (where compassion might very well soothe for a moment) but to the massive agencies that funnel resources and supplies into the camps.

That is a tall order indeed.

And so we bump up against the rather standard refrain: all these jobs require experience, but how can I get experience if I can't break into the field?!?

Look locally. Work locally. Do your research (I always tell folks you have to know your field -- and what it requires). Talk, talk, talk, talk to others. And read. Skills are transferable. Start working in poverty alleviation locally. Volunteer with the Red Cross for disaster relief. Get some medical training.

There actually is a lot you can do. Locally. And if you're young and really have both a desire and the motivation to work in the field, you can. But it's not going to be something you can just decide to do and parachute in.

Read Harr's piece -- if you have any sense, you wouldn't want to just drop in. There's simply far too much at stake. For everyone.

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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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More on the UK tier system...

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a lot of good news on this front. I have yet to find any clear, concise explanations of the system generally and questions (and answers) continue to shoot back and forth on a number of listservs about whether this or that student needs a visa or a particular sort of visa (and there is considerable confusion on this last point) and...

Well, there's no reason that sometime in the future, near or far, once schools, providers, staff, and students & workers are acclimated to and more familiar with the new system it won't seem easy and streamlined.

But for the time being? It's something of a mess.

For example, here's the explanation the UK Border Agency provides in a publication titled UKBA Student Visas: Step By Step Guide for US Passport Holders (pdf):

Steps to entering the UK as a (Non-PBS) Student Visitor

As a short-term student entering the UK, you may enter without a visa. However, you must be prepared to show the Immigration Officer at the airport (or other port of entry) that you have been accepted on a course of study by:

a) An Accredited Educational Institution

b) An institution that holds a Tier 4 Sponsor Licence, or

c) US Institution of Higher Education which is delivering only part of its program in the UK and holds its own national accreditation and awards degrees equivalent to those in the UK (eg study abroad programmes). In order to meet the requirements of being an overseas Higher Education Institution offering programmes at an equivalent of a UK degree, the institution should be recognised by NARIC.

You will do this by showing an original letter from that institution which confirms that it meets one of the requirements above, provides details about you, that you will be enrolled in classes and will include details regarding the start and end date of the course.

· You will be asked to show the Immigration Officer that you will have the necessary funds to pay for your course fees and support yourself for the entire period you intend to stay in the UK. This can be in the form of scholarship, grant or other financial aid award letters as well as bank statements in your name which are dated no more than one calendar month before you arrive in the UK.

· You will demonstrate your willingness to leave the UK once your course of study is complete by showing return tickets or an itinerary with your name and information on them.

· You must present a valid US Passport that will not expire while you are in the UK.

· You will receive a student visitor stamp/endorsement in your passport when you present your documents.

· If you travel outside the UK during your course of study, show the Immigration Officer your Student Visitor stamp/endorsement (code 5N) and the institution letter when re-entering the UK.

· Students arriving in the UK through Ireland should actively seek out an Immigration official upon arrival in the UK to ensure that their passport is stamped with the student endorsement.

Holy smokes!! And this doesn't even address whether or not to apply for a Tier 4 (General) Student Visa. Notice the nuance -- enter as a "Student Visitor" or on a "Student Visa".

The UKBA does have available a visa wizard which is a great concept. Unfortunately, the "explanation" of the yes/no determination are links to a host of web documents about the various possible visas you could be entering under. Not the best possible solution (the language and intricacy of the new system is mind-numbing; and discouraging) but it is a start.

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