Friday 07-05-2021 - 16:29

International Project Coordinator, Maria Loray, writes about the brand new International Students Group, as well as the support and advice available to international students at Manchester Met.

The Union is aware that international students are understandably concerned about the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact this has on their lives in the UK. The Union and University are keeping you as safe as possible by following the latest advice for the UK from Public Health England (PHE), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

To help you settle into uni life and meet other students, The Union has just launched an International Student Group to provide a safe space for meeting new people and expressing your opinions. We’ll organise monthly events and be here to represent and support you through your international student experience. If you’d like to get involved, join our Facebook group.

In May, we’ll be having ‘experience sharing’ events where everyone in the group will have the opportunity to get to know each other, and for us to get a better idea of what situations international students face every day, both positive and negative. If you would like to come along, please fill in this short form so we can find the best time/dates for you.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or want to discuss anything at all please email us at isg@mmu.ac.uk.

If you’re having any housing, financial, academic, health or hate crimes issues, remember you can reach out to our Advice Centre. Get in touch via phone (0161 247 6533) or email (s.u.advice@mmu.ac.uk).

General Covid-19 advice and useful guidance

We encourage you to keep track of the latest information on the following websites:

• If you have questions about your Visa, please do get in touch with one of our advisors at the International Office.

• Department for Education (DfE) in England guidance: Students returning to and starting higher education in Spring Term 2021

Pre-travel Covid-19 testing, self-isolation on arrival in the UK, and 'red list' restrictions by UKCISA

If you are travelling to the UK from outside of the Common Travel Area you are required to provide a negative Covid-19 test result before you are allowed to commence travel. See gov.uk info: Coronavirus testing before travelling to the UK.

Every person is subject to self-isolation ('quarantine') rules after arrival in the UK. Having a negative Covid-19 test result will not remove the requirement to self-isolate ('quarantine') on arrival. Upon arrival in the UK, you will have to provide details of your location in the UK. See gov.uk info: Coronavirus testing and quarantine on arrival in the UK.

The UK also has a 'red list' of travel ban countries, which exists to try to prevent the spread of Covid-19 variants. It is in place to minimise travel to the UK and ensure that those that do travel, do so according to the guidance. Some people are banned from travelling to the UK altogether, whilst others are allowed to travel but must quarantine in specially arranged hotel accommodation when they arrive.

You can read more on How the UK's 'red list' impacts international students and travel here.

Graduate route ("Post-study work")

• The Graduate route provides two years of leave following Tier 4 study. It would allow permit employment and self-employment and facilitate the move into other work routes that potentially lead to settlement (UKCISA, 2020).

• Applications will open at 09:00 on Thursday 1 July 2021. The key requirement is that when you apply you have a UK degree or other relevant qualification that you received during your current period of Tier 4 or Student permission.

• Fact sheet: Graduate Immigration Route

• The Graduate route is only open to those who have completed their course and who have valid Student or Tier 4 permission when they apply on or after 1 July 2021.

On 25 March 2021 UKCISA ran a student webinar on the Graduate route. You can stream the webinar here.

We understand these are hard and challenging times, and we hope we can help in every possible way. Feel free to reach out to us with any queries and we will do our best to help you through them.

Please remember you can contact our Advice Centre, our International Student Group, the International Office and the UKCISA advice line for students.