International Student Blog

This is not so much an international related topic but I am sure we have some US Citizens who read our blog, if so then this is for you. The Student STM is a great short term student insurance product designed to plug the gaps when you don’t have coverage.

A great example of where this plan will work is if you are studying abroad, or are fully enrolled abroad and want to come back home to visit family and friends in the USA - and you don’t have any insurance coverage? This plan will fit the bill perfectly!

Check it out:
Short Term Student Health Insurance

I am sure you are all like me, you love to travel, but you hate having to deal with Jet Lag - really for me its mostly being really tired and for the first few days not feeling like doing much! Having just come back to the UK after 3 weeks away, I was keen to find some help on how best to overcome Jet Lag!

The site below I thought gave some practical advice - basically there is no fix, but things you can do to help you get over it!

“Jetlag symptoms are physical, mental and emotional.”–Fairechild

A question that I am constantly getting from students that travel around the world is “How do I unlock my phone?”. To some of you this may not make much sense, but essentially what the person is asking is how can I use my mobile phone around the world when I travel!

Most of the world is on a GSM network, which means that all you need to do is have a service provider for the country you are visiting, and you can make local calls and save lots of $$. For example, when I travel to the USA I take my T-Mobile Sim card with me and swap the sim cards around so I dont get hit by roaming rates!

Most providers lock the phones they give you to their network and in the UK (and I believe the USA) they have to provide you with your phones unlock code if you request it. Obviously, some take longer than others and they make you jump through hoops to get it.

But all is not lost, there are other options. The first one is to check that you phone is actually locked and the best way to do this is to ask one of your friends who is on another network if you can try their sim in your phone. If it works, your phone is unlocked, however if it asks for a code - it is locked.

If it is locked, there are numerous companies who can unlock it and your best bet is to simply google it:
phone unlocking - Google Search

Hope this helps you all

The UK University application figures are released this coming week, and all points to a decline in the number of foreign students - a business that is very lucrative for schools as they can charge much higher fees that EU students.

The report goes against the Vision 2020 study that said numbers could reach 850,000 by 2020, but we will all see when the UCAS report is published!

BBC NEWS Education Universities face foreign slump

The tax season in the USA generally kicks off at the beginning of each year. Everyone scrambles to get their filings done in time for the deadline on April 15th.

One of the main problems for international students is that they do not know they have to file. Even though you have not worked, or have had no income - it is actually a requirement of your visa to file your taxes each year!

There is no immediate penalty for not filing your taxes, but problems could arise if you apply for a green card at a later date.

For more information on international taxes, please visit:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/tax/