International Student Blog

The UK, like the USA, is starting to tighten up their immigration and visa policies for those entering the UK. For most students who want to study in the UK this will mean a few things:

1 - By April 2008, all students will need to submit biometric data with their application when they apply for their student visa. This data includes a scan of all our fingers plus a full face digital photograph. To get this done you will need to go to the nearest VAC or Visa Application Center who will gather this data, and should take no more than 5 minutes.

2 - Upon entering the UK, the British Government is currently undertaking a trial that will fingerprint and take a photograph of all those coming into the UK. The new trial is at the moment limited to those arriving from a few countries and is going on until 2008 - however it is expected that this will fully roll out after that for all those entering the UK.

If you are applying for a visa, or already have submitted a visa application it is most likely that you will not need to include biometric data - however for students from the USA who want to study in the UK the cut-off date for requiring biometric data is December 3rd 2007. So if you are a US Citizen wanting to study in the UK you are advised to get your application in before this date.

For all other students please check with your local British Embassy as they will be able to provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date information. You can also visit the UK Visa Website for further information and advice.

There is also a good new snippet from Reuters that explains the new finger-print and picture regulations in a little more detail:

The 2007 InternationalStudent.com Travel Video contest winner has been announced! What do you think?

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As we approach one of the major US holidays, some would say a holiday that is bigger than Christmas for many Americans, I thought a posting explaining Thanksgiving and what its all about would help many international students understand the tradition and why it is celebrated.

Typically thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, and this year it falls on the 22nd November. The day marks the start of a long weekend for many Americans as Thursday and Friday are usually days off work, so many have a 4 day weekend.

General public perception is that the roots of thanksgiving lay back in 1621. After the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, their first year was a disaster and many of them died. However with the help of the local native Americans their crop in 1621 was a bountiful one. To celebrate this crop they held a feast with the native Americans to give thanks. These events are traditionally known as the roots of Thanksgiving, however the feast was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops.

Today, Thanksgiving is a time for families to get together with each other and have a large meal. Typical items on the menu will be roast turkey and pumpkin pie. It is also a time of major travel - and airports, freeways and trains will be booked full of people trying to get home in time for Thursday.

If you are a student experience Thanksgiving for the first time post a comment about your experiences!

Some great news that has just been released from the Annual Open Doors report is that International Student enrollments saw a 3% increase this past year to a new total of 582,984. This increase is the first significant increase in the number of international students since the 2001/ 2002 year - and shows that the USA is moving forward and rebounding after a few troublesome years.

Even better news is the report of a 10% increase in the number of new students that are enrolled compared with last year.

As for where the students are coming from, Asia is still the largest sender of students to the USA with a share of 59% of total enrollment (up 5%), and with an increase of 25% in the last year, the Middle East is one of the fastest growing sectors for sending to the USA.

For US Students Studying Abroad, this has seen an increase also up 8% to 223,534.

For more information about Studying in the USA, or Studying Abroad please see our website and be sure to check out the full details on the Open Doors Website.

Well, the 2007 Annual Travel Video Contest has now come to an end and all the entries have been submitted - and there are too many to choose from!

We have whittled the finalists down to a last few - but we need some help! Who do you think should win?

http://www.internationalstudent.com/contest/

Check out the finalists and then let us know….

internationalstudentcontest@gmail.com

Good luck to all!

The latest issue of the InternationalStudent.com newsletter has just been released and should be in your inbox right now. This month we have some great information about financial aid for the UK, plus International Student Loans - plus all the regular mailbag review, fun site of the month and more…

- Travel Contest - Closed
- Financial Aid for the UK
- From the Mailbag
- International Student Loans
- Fun Site of the Month
- Learn Spanish
- Student News
- Study in the USA
- Last Word

You can view the newsletter online at:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/issue105.html

If you want to sign up to the newsletter or view the archives please visit:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/