The first thing is to book the seats near the exit and book for window seat (it’s optional). The reason for booking the seat near the exit is it will save a lot of your time in the immigration process. As you come out of the plane, try to walk faster and reach in the front of the queue. If you are visiting for the first time, then the immigration officer will ask for your X-Ray of your chest. If you do not have the X-Ray of your chest, then it would waste roughly 2 to 3 hours as most of the students would be arriving in the same month or same period and there would be a queue of 2 to 3 flights.
When you reach London's Immigration desk, the first thing that will be asked to you by the immigration officer would be:
1. Why are you here or the purpose of your visit to London, United Kingdom?
2. Where are you going to stay?
3. Documents in Support of your answer.
Please remember to fill all the necessary details on the application form given to you at the beginning of the journey by the air plane staff. This will save a lot of your time and your journey would be hassle free.
Travelling to your destination:
Generally students book a Taxi or ask someone to take them to the hostel or shared house or flat depends on your preference. If you could not find one, then options are available on the Airport, which can be arranged when you reach London's Heathrow or Gatwick Airport. It is always better to book in advance your journey and where you would visit.
Accommodation:
Accommodation in London is becoming expensive due to the heavy demand for student accommodation. You can find cheaper accommodation outside the Central London which is Zone 1. London is divided between zones 1 to 9. Zone 1 being the most expensive i.e., for example, if you buy a Juice or a Sandwich, it would be 0.50 pence to £1.00 costlier than the other zones. Having said that, it depends on what the students prefer. There are also places in Central London, whereby you can get cheap food, but that I can cover in a separate blog.
Flats or shared houses could go anywhere between £100 to £200 per week per person, whereas zone 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 could go anywhere between £50 to £100 per person per week depending upon the type of accommodation preferred by the students. Some of the best places, which provide decent accommodation, are International Students House, YMCA, Youth Hostels Association, London and many more, but these three provide good quality accommodation at a fairly reasonable price. There are many other places which do provide breakfast plus dinner in a shared house for £55 to £75, but it would be covered in another blog.
Bank Account:
The first thing to do when you settle down in your house is have a good rest and the very next day, go to your college or the university and ask for the Letters for opening Bank Account and Letter for the Council. It is very important to open a Bank Account as quickly as possible as other things are linked to the Bank Statement which is used as an Address Proof as well as transferring your salary to this bank. Without the bank account getting a job would become very difficult and it also serves as a reference for your credit history. Please remember that in UK everything is connected and personal details such as date of birth, full name and address lead to lot of ID frauds.
General Practitioner (G.P.):
The very next thing to do when you get a confirmation of Bank Account opening and collecting your admission letter from your college is to register with your nearest General Practitioner or G.P. You might ask why it is so important to register with G.P.... Reason for that is the registration times are limited and the G.P. will conduct a thorough check up of your body including blood, stool and urine samples. Please remember that this facility is free of charge and you can visit the G.P. in the G.P.'s visiting hours.
The UK government has taken an initiative to give the medical facility to the students free of charge for which the students contribute towards the National Insurance. Now in case, if you are hurt or are facing some serious pain and have to see the doctor in out of hours of the G.P., then you are allowed to visit the Hospital in the Accidents and Emergency Unit. Here you would be asked about your registered G.P. details along with your other personal details and the type of injury or pain.
Again these facilities are free of charge and hence the wait time could be approximately 2 to 4 hours depending on the queue. If you want to see how the system in the A&E works please see Mr Bean at the hospital in YouTube, the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iFZK9K3QB8. This will give you a fair idea about how the system works.
National Insurance (N.I.):
This is one of the most important steps for getting a Job. National Insurance has your Tax Code which makes sure that you do not get overly taxed, but it also keeps a check that you are not exceeding more hours of working time than you are supposed to do. In UK, students are allowed to work for 20 hours per week while studying and 40 hours in their holiday period for which they need to submit a letter from the College or University. If the students do not have a National Insurance number they need to apply to the nearest Job Centre where they are residing. For getting a National Insurance, you need to have a copy of 5 application forms or a minimum of 3 rejection letter before the national insurance number would be given to you.
The best way to get it is to apply on www.reed.co.uk or www.totaljobs.com for Jobs, as they send you an application confirmation. Also the companies where you apply do send you a rejection letter. If you get an appointment letter before getting the N.I. then you just book the appointment and follow the instructions on the Phone. Make sure that you have copy of the bank statement or account opening letter, which has your address on it, application or rejection letter, college admission letter and ID card and your passport with you.
Emergency Phone Numbers (999):
Another important thing is to save this number 999 for any emergency like theft, accident and ambulance service, racial abuse, harassment, etc. If you face any of these or are witnessing any of these, please call on the above number ASAP. The police or the emergency facilities will arrive immediately within 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the situation, but they do come.
Job Application:
OKAY! You have done all of the above as per the sequence, now the next important thing is Job and where to search for it and how to apply. Some students might take Job, some won't. This section is for those who want to know how they can apply for the Job. Some students carry with them lot of photocopies of their resumes or curriculum vitae's of 2 to 3 pages. This all is fine but depends on your profile. If you get the job that you want than go for it with this format, but if you cannot get into your field and desperately need a job then you can make these changes. This has helped many students, hope it helps you as well.
Firstly, make sure the resume is a one pager as most of them employers would not even look in detail. Secondly, visit all the high street shops and ask for a job personally and how to apply. Some might take your resume or some might ask you to fill the form. Please do so as per the best of your knowledge. If you still can't find a job, reply with your comments and I will try to respond.
Today, I have given you some of the basic information on what are the things you need to do in your initial period when you are in UK. This information has helped many students and they are now doing well in UK. Please feel free to write the comments or suggestions or if you have any queries with any other thing. There are still many things to share, things like where and how to find cheap accommodation, where to find cheap food, cheap places to shop in London and many more.
Thank you for reading my blog.
Cheers and Best of Luck for your future.
Rohan
