It is an open secret that Foreign students contribute billions of pounds to UK economy annually and in my opinion UK Government, colleges and Universities cannot do without international students.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/overseasstudents/story/0,,1755500,00.html


In accordance with UK immigration, international students are those students from other countries beside UK citizens plus EEC nationals[ with few exceptions though].

The thought of this thread actually brought me back from my "sabbatical" I would be eternally grateful if members contribute objectively on this thread.

Some students makes so much mistakes that eventually led them to drugs, prisons and probably DEPORTATION.

Here we go:

(1) OVER-ambitious attitude

Prior to them leaving their home countries, they have been fed with so much juicy stories about UK. How things are very "rossy"and the almighty exchange rate. This has led them to be a potential millionaire within a month. Few years ago, one guy got student visa, he celebrated it like mad. He then told few of us that "When next he come to Naija, he will be sitting beside Chief blabla and family in church and that they(chief's family) will be compelled to be his friend. I laughed because i know no abroad-based strugglers can ever match the Man's wealth. For he's stupidly rich.Here's the man that owns the first bla company in nigeria. A man who has reached millions in the 50's. he travelled but came back EMPTY-HANDED. Some of them promise heaven and earth to their spouses and family members before they left the country,even though they dont have a TRUE clue about their destination.

Comment: Yes, students can make money but there must be adequate planning and quite a lot of perseverance.

(2) Job-20 hours a week

Until recently, UK government dont really bother about this. They knew student work more than required but once they satisfy the main reason why they are in the country,its fine by them. Due to constant pressure from the conservatives and British national party, UK government now conceed to tightening_up immigration. Now, the issue of National Insurance number came to the picture. Students are now required to reveal their NI in the new "Visa extension application forms". Of course there's always a loop holes but hundreds had been deported in the last one year.

3) Security Job: This is one of the ready-made job in UK. Until recently, it is an unskilled job. Students take on this because its probably the easiest work in UK and allow them to read. Since the introduction of SIA, its now licensed job. Its mostly a full-time job, which is against the law for students. Just few days ago, alarm was blown over illegal immigrants taking up the job.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=493081&in_page_id=1770
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=493299&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
Please dont take up a full time job. Use your "head" and think.


4) University Admission

To facilitate the issuance of visa, most applicants chose to apply to UK universities. An average degree course in UK cost £6700 a year. This is just the school fees.They eventually pay a minute deposit with the believe that it's always EASY TO PAY the remainder IN uk . It is not practicable at all!

Comment: Why not applying to a college with moderate fees in the first instance?

5) AJALA_Students

Song: Ajala travel all over the world(apology Evangelist Ebenezer Obey)

Foreign students find it easy to secure visas to most countries of the world but some of them abused the previledge by travelling ANYHOW and ANYTIME. With no regard to "Term time" and holidays, they travel with no purpose thereby OVER-EXPOSING themselves to Immigration Officers at the point of entry.

Comment: Travel purposely. If you have "skeleton" in your cupboard, dont just try it.



I am tired for now, to be continue,
Cheers

Hi,i must commend ur effort for the info,u've said it all my man.nigerians mis-use opportunities and they'vebelieve they can't make it in naija,which is very wrong.I over-heard a man one day when he said he doesn't think he can make it again just because he was denied.I could picture the man's heart,if he's opportune to go,i'm sure he'll want to spend the rest of hislife there.I just pray we wake from our slumber and we open our eyes to the reality.Good job man

nice one. have you seen the SIA revoked licence list? enough nigerians.

Unrealistic expectation or should i say unrealistic optimism is what is really killing people, never judge a book by its cover and always know that its not all that glitters that is gold.

6) DRIVING & Its associated offences

Driving offences is a criminal one in UK. 10 years driving experience in Lagos is zero in UK. UK law is no respecta of anybody as far as this is concerned.
The first thing some students do is to buy a car. Using car in the kingdom is extremely expensive in comparison to most countries. Associated fees includes Insurance,MOT,parking charges among others. Some students come with international driving license to enable them drive but they do forget that the validity of such is just one year with a very high insurance.

I knew of a particular police station in London_Liverpool street, precisely at Bishopgate avenue who through "stop and search" had deported as many as possible.

I have to commend the person that started this topic. I came into Scotland in September and things are not the way people in nigeria think they are. The life here is really hard, the school work especially for master's students is ridiculously excessive. Unless working on weekends, working on weekdays is a disaster and it will surely affect your studies.

final note to people coming to the Uk:
1. It is a hard place to live in
2. You must work for everything you get, because nobody is going to give you a penny
3. Make sure you have enough money before coming and have probably paid your total school fees and a part of your accomdation fee, because if you dont have the money and think you can work to pay up, you are better off in Nigeria than in the UK.

Tonex:

final note to people coming to the Uk:
1. It is a hard place to live in
2. You must work for everything you get, because nobody is going to give you a penny
3. Make sure you have enough money before coming and have probably paid your total school fees and a part of your accomdation fee, because if you don't have the money and think you can work to pay up, you are better off in Nigeria than in the UK.

God bless you my brother

I will be extremely happy if at least one being benefit from this.

More to come

@ akolawole
Egbon, o ga o! E ku a i bere wa. My phone got spoilt in uk and i could not call you-you did not even bother to ring me after our last convo. Mo ti binu gan.

@The topic
I have some hints and real life experiences of terrible mistakes students very close to me have made. It will suprise a lot-especially those new in uk and they will definately learn from it. I'll post them later today.

Baba na wa oh!


This is nice reading from you, after the long sabbatical. Are you still in the UK?
I will be contributing my bits soon. Got some work load on me at the moment.


@ funkybaby,
I dey vex with you seriously

Anyway sha, na so life be

@ pataki
What have i done. Didnt you see my various missed calls on your phonejust that i didnt leave any voicemail message. I promised calling you after i sent the text and i didnt but you didnt respond. I have not checked my mail in ages as well. I'll call you later today,if you like no answer. I dey suspect you sef-you don get whiteee abi?

funkybaby:

@ pataki
What have i done. Didnt you see my various missed calls on your phonejust that i didnt leave any voicemail message. I promised calling you after i sent the text and i didnt but you didnt respond. I have not checked my mail in ages as well. I'll call you later today,if you like no answer. I dey suspect you sef-you don get whiteee abi?

Sorry my phone is most times switched off during the days, there are times I even forget to take it with me while rushing out very early in the morning. I have not seen your missed calls on my phone though

I saw your text, and I did not bother to respond, simply due to the fact that I know you will not get the text. it seems your network has  a problem of recieveing international text messages.

Please call me in the evenings, it is better that way, during the day, I may not pick your calls, except in the hours of 12:30pm-1:30pm.

Whitee for where? Abeg, I get taste and preference and you know where my taste lies.
I have missed you oh. Will you be around in December?

@pataki
Alright then. Noted. I'll ring you tonight. Missed you too oh! I should be around by God's grace early or mid next month.

Some students go to the UK and forget why they are there. Its only a few that eventually come out with good grades. Why live large with a car and then struggle to pay your school fees its really pathetic. Some join bad gangs and constitute a nuisance. Bringing a bad reputation to the company.

@Funky

As my Mama will say " Ma binu, olowo ori mi" I beg ma.

@Pataki

How your end o?
Please be careful of those BOGOF(buy one get one free). I beg

I will be expecting your comments on this topic o.

back to the topic- It's true things are not what we hear back home and I must say, the Uk Government is enjoying our money. Many people here would have been better off if they stayed back home. Well, for anyone still planning to come here, have in mind that LIFE HERE IS NOT FREE FROM STRESS as you would have heared.
If you don't have a strong motivation to really study, then you will surely[b]'FORGET YOURSELF'. No Doubts![/b]

Akolawole:


@Pataki

How your end o?
Please be careful of those BOGOF(buy one get one free). I beg

Sure I know, on a daily basis, I get offers in my post mail seeking for me to come buy this or that as tempting as it, I am more wiser than all that.

Akolawole:

I will be expecting your comments on this topic o.

Ok here it is:

(7) Seeking to change your University when you get into the UK

This is another mistake most foreign student make on getting to the UK. They think that after securing the Visa, they can easily switch schools to a cheaper school than the one they had earlier been selected for. If you care to note, your visa is issued based on the school you applied to and all other criteria for your visa was based on the material evidence you had in respect to the particular instituition.

I once met an Indian on this forum from India, who got a student visa after appealing and reading the numerous postings on the UK Visa Appeal thread, he was delighted he finally got his visa. The first question he asked me was: ''Can I change my univeristy when I get into the UK?"

I will come back to talk more on the social aspects of Common Mistakes Foreign Students Make in the UK.
Thanks.

@Pataki

Thank you my brother.

By virtue of my "closeness" to a (*) in UK, government is in the process of empowering colleges and Universities to be able to bla bla bla.


@Seun

Can you please change my username as requested. You have the administrative priviledge to do that. My proper name is hindering me big time on this forum.

@ akolawole

apology accepted. and what a sweet way to apologise. 

@ topic

another BIG mistake that foreign students make in UK is collecting credit cards. whether it is store cards : Marks and Spencer, Topman, etc. Anything, credit card, just stay clear.

akolawole, you are very correct about students buying cars whilst in the UK not considering the cost of mainteanance.

below is a TRUE LIFE story of a VERY CLOSE male friend of mine and the big mistake he made in less than a year of his getting to UK and he is still regretting it till today.

Now, this dear friend of mine comes from a relatively wealthy family in Nigeria. His school fees are fully paid by his folks. On getting to the UK, he initially stayed with a family for some months before getting his place. Now the money he saved from the rent he did not pay for these months (plus free feeding), with the pocket money he brought from nigeria, and the money he was earning from his part time job (quite a tidy sum), made him feel that he had arrived.

Now he got a store card from one of the BIG, expensive male clothing line. He shopped with them using the CC, had no problems paying initially and so his credit limit was increased.

now, he wanted to buy a car and made the mistake of using the store credit card to buy the car. rather than buying a small car, my dear friend opted for a Peugeuot 406. This was the era in Nigeria when this car was the official car for senators in Naija, so you can just imagine the price which my friend paid for it. You can also imagine his ego,  he is driving a car equivalent to what senators are driving back home.

now, he came with an international driving licence from naija, which of course means he will pay higher insurance. Guess what my friend did?? he did not buy insurance for the car. He went about cruising the car for months in the UK, imagine his guts.

now, he did not anticipate the high cost of vehicle repairs in UK, the parking tickets, cost of gas, his rent (he now had his own crib), feeding, clothing, etc and he still had to work only 20hrs per week. You can guess what happened next, he started defaulting in the credit card payments and this seriously and till date left him in debt plus a bad credit rating.

Has God wan catch am, he was stopped by the police for a routine vehicle check. Alas, no insurance. He was asked to report to the police station. To cut a long story short, he was charged to court. Na only God save am- he for go jail. Anyway, he got a fine. Aparently, his international driver's licence was no longer valid. In UK, the licence starts counting from the DAY YOU STEP INTO THE COURNTRY and not from the day you purchase the car and it is only valid for a year.

so now my dear friend is still in debt, has a criminal conviction to his name (any type of traffic offence is a criminal offence), has a bad credit rating, he is fustrated, i can go on and on and on, just because he wanted to do ''big boy'' in london.

To finally put salt on injury, the 406 developed a serious fault that he was adviced by the mechanics that rather than spending money to fix the car, he should rather buy a new one. My friend looked for a buyer to no avail for the car. In the end, he had to crush the car.

Now, he had already paid for about 6months insurance on the car. The car got spoilt about a month after the commencement of the contract with the insurance firm. You wont believe that he paid the insurance money to the last pence till the final month on a car that had already been crushed !!!!   

he confided in me that his greatest mistake was taking the store card and buying the car.

on a final note, only buy a car only if it is very neccessary and unavoidable and it must be after you are done with your studies. If you are tired of walking and walking, take a cab !!

@Funky

Thanks for sharing.

Even Cherie Blair(the then Prime minister's wife) and a Judge commute to work by Train.

Most don't understand that international driving license at all.

Take a cab

I prefer to buy a bicycle! It is efficient, a good form of exercise, no insurance, no international bicycle license and does not cost a dime to maintain!

Am still awaiting your call oh

Thanks for the writeup. It was refreshing reading it.

@akolawole

oh yes! even some celebs take the tube.

what hurts me most in my friend's case was why he should drive a car without insurance, knowing very well that it is against the law. i felt like kicking him when he told me.

@mrpataki

bicycle ke? am scared of that thing, lol ! the day aint over. am going to call you,

@akolawole and mrpataki

please clarify this issue of changing schools after securing the student visa.

is it safe/wise or not?? what are the future disadvanatages??

have you got any real life cases to share on this switching schools issue?

funkybaby:

@akolawole and mrpataki

please clarify this issue of changing schools after securing the student visa.

is it safe/wise or not?? what are the future disadvanatages??

have you got any real life cases to share on this switching schools issue?

When you switch without informing the Home Office, and you want to renew your Visa, then the question pops up!
I have seen cases where foreign students have been refused extension based on that and even deported based on that fact.

It is not safe if the home office is not aware of it.

funkybaby:

@mrpataki

bicycle ke? am scared of that thing, lol ! the day aint over. am going to call you,

My dear, O pe, O di ose oh. What you have to do, do quick.

You can't live in my world oh, if you dont love riding a bicycle. No CCTV speed camera to catch you if you are overspeeding.

Besides there are bicycle lanes. I have not ridden bicycle for the last two weeks now, I am not myself at the moment

@Funkybabe & Pataki

There is a way of going round the change of school. This is a "behind the scene" talk sha.

Change of Course is worst.

CHANGE OF COURSE

Some students is of the opinion that they can change course anyhow. Home office regard that as "student with no pattern". Most especially, courses that are inconsistent with each other.

9) Nursing Students

Foreign student cannot study Nursing AGAIN in UK, even if you are ready to pay £21,000 for the three years course. I have seen guys withdrawing from their course, go for "access to nursing" as a step towards studying Nursing. They eventually met their waterloo along the way.

This was the cause of my disagreement with londonCool months ago.

10) JUST CHOOSE THE US: simply because it is easier to obtain UK visas as compared to US visas a lot of gullible "students" rush to the UK. Since 9-11 immigration officials have become very strict with international students but even then life here is still relatively far easier than in the UK.

and life is cheaper . . . and some of us dont pay a dime to school . . . and you are allowed to work full time during the holidays and . . . just come here!

@Alphabeta

As much as i wont like this thread to be yet another Visa Advisory thread.

The simple truth is [size=14pt]APPLICANTS WITHOUT BRITISH PASSPORTS, UK PERMANENT RESIDENCY OR EEC PASSPORT cannot study Nursing again.[/[/size]b]

Its a long story though. Recall that in 1999 up to 2001, Nursing studies is free to anyone irrespective of nationality or immigration status. Then, finishing Nursing guarantees straight 5 years work permit. Now they have "USED" us to stabilise their health system and  DUMPED us.

Sister, please check this link,http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/prospectivestudents/events/hsc.shtml#event209

particularly No 2 which state thus:

[b]" UK residency status - you must have settled UK residency status as a UK citizen or indefinite leave to remain granted by the home office (other residency criteria can apply - you would need to check). The NHS (UK government) will not fund you on a nursing course if you do do have the required UK residency status - you can not study nursing on a student visa "

Very funny,