Joining Part-time Post-Graduation on a Work Permit ?

[vic]

Hello all,

I haven't come across anything relating to this on the Home Office website so thought I will ask people here for their thoughts.

As a work permit holder, can I join a 2 year part time M.Sc. programme (while I continue to work on a full time day job on the work permit) ? I hope this will not have any impact on my eligibility for ILR on the completion of my 5 years on the WP ?

Thanks,

Vic

[vic]

anyone ?

[a11]

In theory, this should not be a problem. Your WP binds you to a specific employment, but it does not limit what you're doing in your spare time.

However, in order not to tease the geese, don't tell the HO you're doing that unless specifically asked - not because this is unlawful, but simply because this might be confusing for a caseworker.

[davidm]

Hello all,

I haven't come across anything relating to this on the Home Office website so thought I will ask people here for their thoughts.

As a work permit holder, can I join a 2 year part time M.Sc. programme (while I continue to work on a full time day job on the work permit) ? I hope this will not have any impact on my eligibility for ILR on the completion of my 5 years on the WP ?

Thanks,

Vic

My wife did a company sponsored MSc in Finance at London Business School while on WP. Did not have any problems with ILR or getting naturalised.

[vic]

thanks David & All,

dont think i made myself clear enough at first go - im not looking to join the post-grad but have recently completed it. My post-grad had been sponsored by my employers too.

the thing is that recently i had been away last year for 21/2 months to india, mostly doing data collection for my dissertation - & i wonder if mentioning this as a reason (in the ILR form - in the section on time away from UK where they ask you for a reason for being out of UK) will be a wise thing to do or am I better off just quoting 'holiday' as the reason for those 21/2 months ?

thanks again,

vic

[olisun]

Hello all,

I haven't come across anything relating to this on the Home Office website so thought I will ask people here for their thoughts.

As a work permit holder, can I join a 2 year part time M.Sc. programme (while I continue to work on a full time day job on the work permit) ? I hope this will not have any impact on my eligibility for ILR on the completion of my 5 years on the WP ?

Thanks,

Vic

My wife did a company sponsored MSc in Finance at London Business School while on WP. Did not have any problems with ILR or getting naturalised.

Is the OP's company sponsoring for the MSc program?

[vic]

hi olisun,

yup - my employer funded the entire course even though it is not related to my field of employment - i work in healthcare & the m.sc. is in construction management.

(To cut a long story short, they funded it because they were struggling to find the appropriate candidate for the job & my condition for joining here was that they will fund this m.sc. - the funding was more like a hard bargain that i negotiated at the interview stage.)

any suggestions whether i can quote my dissertation as a reason for being away for 21/2 months last year. (of which 1 month was unpaid leave)

also do you think a work permit holder is allowed to do a masters programme while working on the full time job

vic

[vic]

any suggestions ?

[SYH]

Two things did your employer continue to pay you any salary during this period.
Second, as it was only 2.5 months, this is not fatal in terms of wp purposes but I am not sure I'd bother mentionning you were away for school and just keep it simple with a long holiday or visit home if this is your country of origin.

[vic]

Hello SYH,

1. My employer continued to pay me full salary for the duration of the M.Sc. as I was working full time on the job - except the 21/2 months that I was away for the dissertation during which time 11/2 months was my annual leave and 1 month was unpaid leave.

2. I might be able to get a letter from my employer saying that 1 was away for a dissertation for 21/2 months which was a mandatory part of the further education sponsored by them - do you think it will be useful for me to get this letter when applying for ILR later this year ? or , as you suggest, am I better off just calling this break a holiday (I was in my home country, India, during this duration - & was doing a data collection to build on my dissertation). I must mention here that the reason I ask you if the letter will help is that I have in all been away from UK for about 7 months during the last 5 years & might need to justify the reason for having exceeded the standard 6 month norm in the 5 years ILR qualifying period.

what do you say ?

[SYH]

Then it sounds like you can get it covered quite nicely
Nice job geting the employer to pay for your diploma

[vic]

thanks again SYH

The only thing that bothers me with this is that I dont want the HO to turn around & say that it was inappropriate on my behalf to be doing a M.SC. (although its only part time) when I was supposed to be here only for job reasons (being on a work permit).

Thats why I posted this thread to get your views on the issue - as I have not been able to find anything that relates to this.

Ta,

Vic

[stedman]

I did a part-time doctoral degree here whilst on a permit free visa (An MD, which is a shorter PhD for doctors) I mentioned it when I changed my permit free visa to HSMP as it added to my points, so it's definitely on my file and I didn't have any problem getting HSMP, ILR and BC afterwards.

I don't see why the one month absence should be treated different to an other absence - you maintained ties with the UK, you were still in full time employment and the course was sponsored by your employers (mine was, too)

Of course, it could be that the case worker assigned to my case was a bit dopey, but I really don't think that part time study whilst on a visa leading to settlement is breaking the law.

[vic]

thanks stedman,

many thanks for your response & reassurance.

but in your case when you did your MD, you were on a 'permit free visa' which by its very defination is given for trainee jobs, hence expecting people on such visa's to be under informal/ formal training.