I’m facing a university year that’s going to be different. I’ve been abandoned by a significant proportion of friends, who are heading off for years abroad. But it’s not just my year that’s going to look different, now that part of my social life has temporarily emigrated. Students on their year abroad face a new minefield of form-filling and red tape.
Now that British students are no longer permitted to travel and work freely across the EU, studying abroad has become a headache. Endless registration and visa forms are putting off many, by making an already stressful experience even more confusing. But there are still a few who think it’s worth it.
In one of my summer beach reads this year, a character describes their experience on the Erasmus scheme. Only a few years ago Erasmus was all anyone could talk about at school, as a handful of students were selected to go to Italy and the Netherlands for a term, free of charge, courtesy of the European Union. It’s the same scheme that older friends were able to go on when they worked or studied abroad as part of their language degree. It’s the same scheme that is still benefiting thousands of young people who are provided with funding and easy access to placements. It’s the same scheme for which British students are no longer eligible, because of Brexit.
One of my old school friends is an alumnus of the Erasmus programme, spending a term in Italy during secondary school. She now studies Spanish and history at university, and splits her time between studying in Argentina and working in Spain. Argentina offers an easy paperwork process: the university sent all the necessary documents to be filled in and provided advice and support as she navigated the process of moving continents.
However, sorting documents for Spain has been far more complicated. She has had to reckon with the Manchester consulate closing email applications due to a surge in demand. As for her decision to work as an English teacher in Spain, she has been advised against it by her university. “They say do it, but it comes with a heavy warning against,” she says.
Another friend of mine is splitting her year between Germany and France. She told me that her plan to deal with the visa situation included trying to apply for an Irish passport, which may just about arrive in time if all else fails. “The visa process [for France] was unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming,” she said. Her original plan was to work in Germany, but she struggled to find a company willing to deal with all the hassle of taking on a British student. They would have to argue that she was the only person capable of doing the job. That argument works if you’re recruiting a CEO or some trained professional with specific qualifications, but not a 20-year-old who just wants to get some experience.
Another friend, who spent last year studying psychology in France, explained the visa process she experienced. First, she had to apply for “Études en France”, and then use that for her visa application. After handing over various documents, as well as fingerprint samples and photos, they accepted her visa. Then, she had to get this converted to a residence permit when she arrived in France. “There were just a lot of forms and each one led to another.” It made an already stressful life change even harder.
This added stress is putting many students off. Since 2018-19, the number of young people studying abroad has halved. From the accounts I’ve heard, it’s hard to imagine the number rebounding to its pre-Brexit, pre-Covid levels.
