A newbie with a question please help

[msamman]

.Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum, (found it by chance) and I have a question concerning work permit/immigration to the UK.
here is my story, I am a student on a student visa since 2004 and it will expire in 2008, my spouse who came with me as a student dependent, managed to find a work as a dental technician, she has a BSc in dental technology with a work experience of 1 year from our home country, the employer who is a well established business (dental lab) is very cooperative and is willing to help in case she needs any letter, contract or even any application...
my question is that based on this situation is my spouse eligible to apply for a work permit or for any kind of immigration scheme ? obtaining a work permit will make a difference regarding my fees, because if I manage to obtain a work permit dependant visa I would be able to pay home student fees (£3k instead of £9k). I tried reading through home office site but it was very complicated and not very clear, if any one can give me an advice from own experience it will be very appreciated.
thanx all and have a nice weekend

[John]

Welcome to this Board. I think there are two separate questions there.

Firstly, can your wife get a WP? I have just checked and Dental Technician is not on the official "Work Permits (UK) Shortage Occupation List". That means that a WP is not possible unless the employer has advertised a vacancy, not just in the UK, but also in the EEA and has been unable to fill the vacancy. Armed with evidence of such advertising a WP might indeed be possible.

Secondly, even if your wife could get a WP, would that convert your fees as a student from Overseas to Home? I regret to say the answer is ... no! For two reasons. Firstly one of the conditions for that would be for you to have ILR but as a student visa holder your clock towards getting ILR has not even started (except towards a 10-year application). Secondly, even if you did suddenly get ILR, because you have already started your course your status would stay unchanged until the cessation of the course.

[msamman]

thank you for your prompt reply, I don't know what do you mean by ILR but from university regulation they treat you as home students for the purpose of fees if you lived in the UK for 3 years prior paying the fees with some exceptions, being a work pemit dependent might get away with it, as a friend of mine who is a student , his wife (student dependant) is studying now and paying a home student fees.
but anyway since a work permit is not possible there is no point of doing more search on the issue.

[ppron747]

ILR= "Indefinite Leave to Remain" (=permanent residence)

[John]

I still doubt whether Home Fees are possible. A quick search on the internet shows that there are many UK Universities with webpages giving guidance about whether Home or Overseas fees are payable. Given that the legislation in the same for all of them it really doesn't matter which you look at.

An example is this page, which I think clearly highlights the problem you would have getting reclassified as a Home student, for example :-

Note: If you are granted settled status after the 1st September, you will not become eligible for home fee status, but will have to continue to pay overseas fees for the whole duration of your course of study.

This is not just a theoretical situation for us in this house. My wife is currently studying a for a Masters Degree, part-time over two years, and we went through the exercise of having to prove that she could indeed pay just the Home level of fees. My wife originates from Thailand. She came to the UK on a spouse visa in 2001, got ILR in 2002 and became a British Citizen in 2004. Nevertheless before she started the Masters Degree course in 2005 it was quite a struggle to convince the College that just Home Fees were payable. They seemed to assume that because it was readily conceded that my wife needed to get a sufficient grade in IELTS, because English is not her first language, that she would automatically be classed as an Overseas student.

However in accordance with the webpage linked to above, it was possible to show that she fell within "1. United Kingdom(UK) Residents with Settled Status" on that page. That is she has "settled status" in the UK, has been in the UK at least three years, and that "the main purpose for your residence in the UK has not been to receive full-time education during any part of the three-year period".

[Wanderer]

Your right John, home fees are hard to get, we've tried all sorts of tricks!

Now if you are an asylum seeker....

Steve

[John]

Now if you are an asylum seeker....

A careful read of that webpage I provided a link to will show that someone who is an asylum seeker is not classified as eligible for Home Fees.

Wanderer you doubt that? If so point me to the actual words saying that an asylum seeker is eligible for Home Fees. I fear you will fail to find them.

What you will find is a mention of those "recognised as a refugee by the UK Government", but such persons are of course not seeking asylum, they have been granted that status. You will also find mention of :-

Humanitarian Protection (HP),
Discretionary Leave (DL),
Exceptional Leave to Enter or Remain (ELE/ELR)

-: and again anyone so categorised is not an asylum seeker.

Personally I am very happy that any of those granted refugee, or HP, DL, or ELE/ELR status should indeed be eligible for Home Fees. After all the UK, with a long and honourable history of taking in people so categorised, recognises that they certainly cannot live in their former country.

As distinct from an asylum seeker who may or may not have a justifiable claim .... and thus is not (at least yet) entitled to Home Fees status.