Studying in the UK

[Duffill01]

Hello there,

 

My wife has recently applied for the settlement visa in the UK and with stacks of evidence it is looking likely.

As she's pregnant we are hoping that she could study whilst the baby is young and the natural choice would be doing her GCSE Maths, English and Science.

After calling the local college they have said they do not take international students. Would she be classed as this on the settlement visa? Also do you know of any other way she could complete these qualifications online?

 

Many thanks

 

Luke

[7by7]

Only child immigrants of compulsory school age have an automatic right to a free education in the UK, and local education authorities have a legal obligation to find them a place at an appropriate school.

 

5 hours ago, Duffill01 said:

My wife has recently applied for the settlement visa in the UK

Do you mean she has recently applied in Thailand for her initial visa to join you in the UK as your spouse, or she already lives in the UK and has applied in the UK for what UKVI call 'settlement' or Indefinite Leave to Remain? 

 

If the former, then until she has ILR she will only have temporary leave to remain and so not officially be a UK resident. This means being classed by further education establishments as a foreign/international student and therefore she'll have to pay the higher fees. If they take her at all; as you've discovered some establishments do not take international students.

 

Once she has ILR, that is she is ordinarily resident in the UK without any time restriction on her stay, she will have the same access to further education as a British citizen and pay the same fees, if any.

[globalThailand]

Can confirm that college education would be very prohibitive due to the cost.  My wife was looking into a simple admin course that would be free for 'ordinary residents' but they were charging £6000 for non-EU.  

 

Can also confirm that having a young child is quite a handful and, assuming you will be working during the day, studying for anything will likely be the last thing on her mind ???? 

[rasg]

How good is her English?

 

I doubt that it's what you are looking for but my wife had no difficulty getting onto ESOL courses at the local college to improve her English speaking, writing etc. There are elements of maths etc thrown in. 2 days, two and a half hours a week is enough for her as she has a job as a Thai chef.

[Duffill01]

Thank you for your replies.

 

Her English is fairly good and she achieved a first class degree in English teaching. We sent that to UKNARIC and they confirmed it was the equivalent to a BA degree in the UK. 

 

As she's having the baby though we thought it better that she can study at her own pace rather than jumping straight into a job. 

 

Currently she's in Thailand and has applied for the spouse settlement visa to live with me in the UK. It just seems a shame to 'waste time' and not be able to improve her job prospects as soon as she gets to the UK.

 

I've heard there may be an option of 'fast tracking' her GCSEs which may allow her to study at home before only completing the test at the college itself? 

 

If there are any other courses etc available to us we would love to know.

 

Many thanks

 

Luke

[rasg]

8 hours ago, Duffill01 said:

I've heard there may be an option of 'fast tracking' her GCSEs which may allow her to study at home before only completing the test at the college itself? 

I would think you can do that. Just finding out how to do it. A private school is always an option but I don't suppose it would be cheap.

[BLACKJACK2]

What about Open University courses.

[7by7]

4 hours ago, BLACKJACK2 said:

What about Open University courses.

Obviously, studying at home in a flexible manner is ideal for a new mum.

 

But most courses offered by the OU are not free, and like other universities by law the OU has to charge international students a higher fee than UK residents.

 

The OU does offer some free courses, for example under it's Open Learn programme, but I cannot find out if these are open to non residents.

 

As said before, the OP's wife is not classed as resident in the UK until she has no time restriction on her stay, i.e. has ILR.