effects of masters' requirement

[evilg]

Hello. New to the forum, but I've heard there is some excellent expertise knocking about here, so hopefully I can benefit from it.

Here's my situation, followed by a few questions:

I've recently graduated from law school (3 year student visa) and have been granted a 2 year work permit. I intend to pursue a career at the Bar, and prior to Ms. Smith's announcement, my intention was to apply for a tier 1 come October (at which point I'd have earned sufficiently within a 10 month period to qualify for tier 1). I would then attend the Bar Vocational Course (course mandatory for barristers wishing to qualify in the UK), followed by pupillage (self-employed training/apprenticeship year at Chambers). I would then have been able to extend my tier 1 on the back of earnings etc., up until the point of naturalisation/ILR.

I was naturally shocked by Smith's announcement. As I have an LLB (law bachelors') but not a Masters, I will fall right outside the tier 1 criteria come April. As I need to be self employed to be at the Bar, tier 1 is the only option. First, I was wondering if the requirement for a masters would apply to those converting from Tier 2 to Tier 1. Secondly, would a masters be an independent requisite or simply indicate an increased overall point requirement (i.e. could I compensate for my lack of the masters by earning more)? I understand these questions may not have definitive answers until April, but any suppositions based on HO's modus operandi are welcome.

If the reforms are indeed as bad as they seem to be, I have thought of an alternative---going to Bar school in September as planned, then relying on the BVC as a postgraduate/masters qualification in addition to my earnings at the current job. I understand that if you are studying, then you can use previous earnings within a certain time period for point-calculation purposes (correct me if I'm wrong). What I am not sure about, is whether the BVC is considered a qualifying postgraduate qualification--it's not a masters per say, but is one year, full-time, and obviously prestigious. See: http://www.bpplawschool.com/programmes/bvc/ for an overview.

I welcome any opinions you might have on anything I mentioned above. I realise this is a rather lengthy post, but my situation (I imagine) is quite unique...

[kawasaki1]

Don’t think anyone knows (yet) how the HO will decide what qualifies as masters, but a guess is they will probably go by their current guides for Tier 1. Maybe you can look at those and see if this qualification is covered? Should give a good indication.

[evilg]

Thank you, that sounds reasonable. Would you happen to know where to find such information? So far, I found on a different board, the general requirement that the course consist of a year full-time... They also seem to accept some professional qualifications, which I think the BVC falls under.

[z00ps00p]

Actually, the best thing would be to ask the UK NARIC whether a BVC is considered a Master's level qualification, since the UKBA holds the NARIC as authoritative in these matters.

[evilg]

Thanks--I had a look at their website, and it seems like they mostly focus on juxtaposing foreign qualifications to UK levels; I'd rather not waste 40 pounds by submitting a query they couldn't answer.

Would it perhaps be possible to ask someone at BA about this? I imagine they are quite familiar with domestic qualifications.