For the first time since I started this blog, I have some great news for all Bulgarian and Romanian students in the UK.
But as with many things in life, for now only the possibility that things will change in a good direction exists. It is up to us to make this happen, to prove them wrong and to be equal to the rest of the world.
Maybe you are not aware of the fact that the only 2 countries out of 193 that face so strong work restrictions are Bulgaria and Romania – ironically, they both are indeed EU countries. Even non-EU students that come to study in the UK can work for 20 hours a week, once they have their visa. Only Bulgarian and Romanian students should pray to get a work permit. At the moment this takes 10 months on average. As a result not only are many Bulgarian and Romanian students missing their placements that are part of their degrees, but even more are facing serious difficulties to survive, because their families can’t support them financially.
This all not only sounds hilarious, but it appears to be illegal.
You might have seen the picture I posted some weeks ago:
A couple of days afterwards I found out the Facebook group from where it was taken and some days later I even met one of the organizers, almost by a chance.
To sum up what all that guys have come up to: we can change the current situation of the Bulgarian and Romanian students, because we, as students, classify as highly-skilled individuals and this means that we should get our registration certificate immediately. According to the UK-law immediately means up to 20 days. So the very fact that they say that we should get our yellow cards for 6 months is an infringement, what’s left for the current situation, where we are facing delays of 10 months?
Now we all have to change the situation and this is possible! Just follow the 4 easy steps below!
What each of us has to do is to:
1. Join the Facebook group, to keep updated.
2. Sign the petition, so that we can prove how important the change is.
3. Write to your own MP. You need just to type your post code. The sample letters are to be found in the group.
4. Write to your university – the International office and other departments that are responsible for financial issues for example should be able to help. Again, there are sample letters.
And this is all!
It won’t take more than 20 minutes, but each single email is really important, because together we are stronger. And remember that you don’t have to be a Bulgarian or Romanian student to sign the petition. You can support us regardless of your background. Maybe you know someone in this position and you feel sympathetic about them or maybe you just value the human rights… it doesn’t really matter, the only important thing is that you care! In this way we will furthermore help all Croatian students that will face the same restrictions for at least 3 years, once they join the EU (this information is already on the site of the Boarder Agency).
Thank you very much for the support on the behalf of the 10,000 Bulgarian and Romanian students in the UK and their families and all the Croatian citizen that will decide to study in the UK, when they join the EU!
And have great last days of 2012,
Yuliya
xx
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