If you are coming to the UK as an international student, there are obviously many aspects of daily life in the UK that you will need to find out about. Here we mention some important things we think you ought to be aware of.
All residents in the UK pay an annual tax to the local council, known as Council Tax in England, Scotland and Wales. This pays for local services such as police, schools and refuse collection. However, if you live in a university owned hall of residence or flat, or in a rented house occupied only by students, then you will probably be exempt from payment. If you are not exempt, the amount you pay depends on the size of the property you live in: the average bill in 2007/08 was £1,101 for a year. Your rent may include this – but check with your landlord.
If you want to drive in the UK you will need a driving licence. If you are from an EEA country you can drive using your own national driving licence. For other countries you will probably be able to drive on your own national driving licence for up to 12 months, but at the end of that time you will have to acquire a full UK driving licence. For a small list of ‘designated’ countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa) you can simply exchange your national licence for a UK licence. For most other countries, though, you will need to take a UK driving test before you can have a UK licence.
It is also a legal requirement in the UK that the vehicle you are driving is insured, that it is roadworthy (this involves passing an annual inspection if it is over three years old, when an MoT certificate will be issued) that it is registered in the owner’s name and that the annual road tax has been paid for it. All this can be very expensive and many students find they cannot afford to run a car. You will need to cost this carefully.
To find out more about driving in the UK, download the UKCISA guide on ‘Driving in Great Britain: a guide for international students’; or pick up the leaflet INF38 ‘Driving in Great Britain as a visitor or a new resident’ from a Post Office in the UK or from the DVLA website.
Public service broadcasting in the UK (the BBC) is funded through television licences. If you have a television you are required by law to have a licence, which currently costs £139.50 per year for a colour television and £47 a year for a black and white set, and covers all the television sets at the address on the licence. In halls of residence however each student needs a TV licence of their own. You can get a television licence by applying on the TV Licensing website. The fines for not having a television licence are very large!
Obviously we hope that you never need legal advice, but if you do, then it is worth seeking advice from ‘free’ sources before you talk to a lawyer. The best sources of advice are the Student Union (who may for example offer a service to check housing contracts), the Citizens Advice Bureau in every town and local free law centres.
International students from an EEA country are normally entitled to the same welfare benefits as UK students, while those from a country outside the EEA are normally not entitled to any UK welfare benefits. There are some exceptions to this:
• Students from countries that joined the EU in May 2004 from Eastern Europe may not be entitled to the full range of benefits under the requirements of the Workers Registration Scheme.
• Students from other countries may be entitled to some short-term benefits in the event of their funding from overseas being held up or disrupted by factors outside their control.
• All students and their dependants are entitled to health care through the National Health Service on the same terms as a UK student.
More information is available by downloading the leaflet ‘Welfare benefits’ from the UKCISA website.
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