International Student Blog

I have just been checking out our international student Facebook group and was surprised to see that our member numbers have rocketed to over 460 members. If you are not familiar with Facebook, its a great online tool to meet new friends and stay in touch with old friends.

The InternationalStudent.com Group that we have started is a way for students to network with each other, share experiences and generally learn from each other. We also have our international student forum that offers students a sounding board to air their thoughts and opinions.

With both of these options it gives students a great opportunity to meet others, and learn from each other!

Filing and completing your international student taxes is not one of the most glamourous things to talk about, but for nearly all international students this is something you have to do! Nearly all students studying in the USA will need to complete at least one form - and for some of you (if you have worked and received an income) you will need to complete more than one form to file your taxes.

Luckily, InternationalStudent.com is here to help and make your life easier. We now have a great online tax filing system that is easy to understand, will not break your bank balance and you can be complete in under 30 minutes (sometimes in as little as 10 minutes).

So who needs to complete a tax return and what do you need to do?
Form 8843 - Must be filed by ALL international students present in United States to exclude the days of presence from the Substantial Presence Test.
Form 1040NR-EZ - Must be filed by all international students who have received any type of U.S income other than interest received from U.S. banks and credit unions.
Social Security and Medicare Taxes - International students nonresident for tax purposes are NOT subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. If your employer has withheld Social Security and Medicare tax in error, you can apply to get a refund for the taxes withheld in error by filing Form 843 and Form 8316.

How do I complete this?
Completing your taxes is very easy - all you need to do is work out what forms you need to complete (if you have any questions about which forms you need to complete you can call the IRS for free who will help you) and then use our online system which will ask you all the right questions and enter the details you need. The system will then put all this information onto the right forms for you to print off and mail to the IRS.

For more information about your international student taxes, and to complete them today please visit:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/tax/

One question that is always asked when I open the International Student Mailbag each day is “How can I apply for an international student loan?” or “How do I go about getting funding for my time abroad?”. So, I thought I would dedicate a blog post to give a brief overview of who is eligible for an international student loan and how you can apply for one.

The International Student Loan is available to any international student who wants to study at one of the approved schools in the USA or Canada. The approved schools list is also available online so you can check to see if your school is part of the program.

To apply for the loan program, you will need to have a cosigner to complete the application. Your cosigner must either be a US Citizen or permanent resident for at least the last 2 years. Once you have that you can apply for the program and the best way to do is either online (where you can walk through the application step by step) or you can phone our customer support team who will go through the application over the phone.

If you have all the information with you when you apply, and your cosigner has a good credit history you can receive your funds in as little as 5 business days - and even get a preliminary approval in 15 minutes.

Of course, there are many students who do not have a cosigner, and unfortunately without a cosigner the loan program is not available to you. However, there are many other resources and means to obtain funding - for example there are many international scholarships around that providing funding for students all over the world, plus you should get out the international financial aid blog which has updated listing of financial aid information.

If you have any other resources or comments about funding, post them below.

All the team at InternationalStudent.com would like to wish all our Chinese members a very happy chinese new year!

Gong Hei Fat Choi!

The 108th issue of the international student newsletter has been released and all our subscribers should have received it now through their email address. The issue this month is packed full with great information, news and advice for international students around the world, including:

- Shani’s Blog
- Int’l Scholarships
- From the Mailbag
- Job Center
- Fun Site of the Month
- Student News
- Meet Mika
- Discover Italian Flair
- Last Word

You can see this online also at:http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/issue108.html

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The New Year issue of the International Student News has just been released and is currently on its way to your inbox if you are a subscriber. This month’s issue is packed full of great news, including:

- Student Insurance
- Last Minute Funding
- From the Mailbag
- Int’l Communications
- Fun Site of the Month
- Meet Mika
- Student News
- Learn Spanish
- Last Word

If you would like to see this online please visit:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/issue107.html

and be sure to sign up to the newsletter to make sure you get it each month:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/

We have put together a Christmas Video Card for all international students around the world that visit our site. We hope you have a great holiday period and an even better 2008 - enjoy the video:

With the new year only weeks away, a new semester will start for many students - some will be returning back to school and for others it will be a start at their new school. To help you with this, we have provided a checklist of things you need make sure are in place for the new semester:

1. Check/ Book Flights
Check and reconfirm your flights for your trip over. If you have not booked a flight yet it is not too late and it could actually save you money as Airlines tend to put sales on after Christmas.

2. Arrange Accommodation
When you first arrive, make sure you have accommodation during the first few nights.

3. Finances/ Student Loans
Make sure all your finances are in order - if you still are short of funds, you can still apply for an international student loan

4. Student Health Insurance
While some schools will automatically require you to enroll in their insurance plan, other schools will leave this up to you - and most schools will not allow you to register without proof of insurance. Save yourself time and hassle by applying now, so that you have confirmation ready when you arrive to register for classes.

5. Stay in touch
Being in a foreign country can be daunting, so make sure you have a way to either call home or for home to call you with an international calling card or sim card.

6. Ask Questsions
You will most likely have lots of questions, hopefully your international student advisor will have answered them all and they are the best person to talk to. However if you want another perspective try international student forums for information and to talk to other students.

…..and the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy yourself!

Students are notorious for wanting to get cheap things, and for most part if you are a student you can get things cheaper than most through student discounts, student travel cards, etc… However if you are not a student or you want to get even cheaper airfare when you travel around the world we have some great money saving tips that will help find great low cost flights:

1. Travel on Holidays - With this time of year, the rush to get flights can really push up the prices and so trying to fly home before Christmas will most likely cost a premium. If you want to get home, but still save some money, travel on Christmas Day or the day after Christmas (Boxing Day for the English folk amongst us) to save money. Flights are generally much cheaper and there is more availability - so if you can arrive a few days later its a great option!

2. Travel on Off-Peak Days - There are off-peak and on-peak days in the travel industry when flights are generally cheaper. If you want to save some money try and fly on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday as the cost will often be lower than flying over the weekend or on Monday/ Friday.

3. Search Low-Fare Airlines - If you live in NY for example, and you want to get to Nice in France, sometimes trying to book all the way through can be expensive. Instead try booking from NY to London, Paris, Madrid which are the main trans-atlantic routes and then look at low fare websites like Ryan Air or Easyjet for cheaper connections - it could save you some money.

4. Flexible Locations - Often flying from major airports can be more expensive so check out the other airports, for example London has Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Stansted and Luton all within a close distance. Most cities are the same and have smaller airports that are cheaper to fly into.

For more information to search for low-cost student airfare, please see our site and if you have any other tips to find low-cost student airfare deals then please feel free to post any comments.

The 106th, Holiday Issue of the International Student News has just been released and should be in your inbox now. This month we are celebrating the winner of our Annual Travel Contest, plus have some good tips for those who are looking to get home this holiday period. The issue includes:

- 2007 Contest Winner
- Student Blog
- From the Mailbag
- Holiday Travel Plans
- Fun Site of the Month
- USJournal.com
- Student News
- Learn ESL/ English
- Last Word

To view this online please visit:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/issue106.html