LLM Checkpoint 2: Working in the UK

The Deputy Director of the Diploma at the School of Law will discuss the legal profession in the UK and the different entry routes into the profession. The University's Careers and Employability Manager will talk about application processes and the job market in the UK. An International Student Advisor will discuss visa regulations. There are different jurisdictions in the UK, including Scotland, England and Wales, and Northern Ireland. Qualifying as a solicitor in Scotland requires completing a Scots Law LLB, a diploma, and a traineeship. There are other routes available, such as the Graduate Entry LLB. In England, the Solicitor's Qualifying Exam allows individuals with any degree to qualify as a solicitor. Similar routes exist in Northern Ireland. It may be beneficial to be qualified in multiple jurisdictions, depending on the area of practice. Detailed information can be found on the websites of the Law Society of Scotland, the Law Society of England and Wales, and the Law Society o the Deputy Director of the Diploma at the School of Law, and he's going to tell you a little bit about the legal profession in the UK, the differences between the different jurisdictions in the UK, and how those differences might have an impact on the different entry routes into the legal profession in the various jurisdictions. And then we have Katrina Gartner, who's one of the University's Careers and Employability Managers, and she's going to talk to you about the application processes, the job market in the UK more widely, and also maybe sharing some tips about the kind of support that her team can provide to you. And then lastly, she's not here yet, but Melanie Zanga, she's an International Student Advisor from the International Student Support Team, and she's going to talk to you about some of the issues around visa regulations, and whether you might need to consider that when making job applications. So we have about 90 minutes, a bit less because we're slightly late, but our idea was to invite David to talk first about the legal profession in the UK, then we'll invite Katrina up, and because she has to leave slightly before the hour, we'll invite you to ask her questions related to her presentation, and then we'll continue with Melanie, and we'll have some time at the end for you to ask questions more broadly. If you would like to ask any questions to Katrina, but she's not here, we'll make sure to pass them on, and we'll get back to you later on, okay? So I think without further ado, David, if you want to take the floor, I think if you I've got you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for coming. As Javi says, I'm the Deputy Director on the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice, based over in the Sir Alexander Stone building, which some of you may know well, others may know less well, it's worth a visit. So what we do on the diploma, we're essentially the bridge between study law at undergraduate level, Scots law at undergraduate level, and then going into the profession. So I'm going to come at the thing today with really, you know, you're all lawyers, so how can you actually qualify to practice as a lawyer in the UK, should you choose to stay? And it's, there are various routes in, just to put it that way, and some of you may be aware as well that we're not just one jurisdiction in the UK. Obviously, we have Scotland, which is one distinct legal jurisdiction, and then we have England and Wales together, and then Northern Ireland. So effectively, within the UK, there are three separate legal jurisdictions at play. So you can, as a qualified practitioner, move between them, but it's not exactly straightforward. You have to do various things if you want to practice in, say, as a Scots solicitor, if I wanted to practice in England, then I would have to do certain, take certain steps, take certain qualifications or exams to allow me to do that. But likewise, if you are qualified from outwith the UK as well, a qualified solicitor, then you would also be able to take steps to come and practice in the UK in whatever jurisdictions you would be looking to settle into. So that's just a wee, forgive me if that's something new to you already, but quite often, I understand that you're all from different backgrounds and countries, so you may not have, that might not have quite resonated with you that there is that difference there. So firstly, talking about Scotland and qualifying as a solicitor in Scotland, which is what our course is about, we are that bridge for our students who are all going to practice as solicitors. Now, the most conventional or straightforward route for that would be to do your Scots Law LLB over four years, do the diploma, and then do your traineeship. So it's essentially three stages, which would take you seven years to do that, to qualify and to practice. There are certain ways that you can shorten that. If you've got a degree in another subject, then you could do the Graduate Entry LLB, which would be two years, and then your diploma, and then again into the traineeship as well. And that is something which, you know, probably fits better with you, you'll have your undergraduate degrees as well as your master's. So if you had a burning desire or burning ambition to qualify as a solicitor in Scotland, your two-year Graduate Entry LLB in Scots Law would be your first step, then the diploma after that, and then, as I say, on to your traineeship, which is effectively two years working with a firm or working in an organisation and doing you at the second stage of your professional training. There's also the Law Society of Scotland Professional Exams. The Law Society is the body that regulates the profession. This is fairly rare, but there are indeed some practitioners that I worked with in practice who didn't have a Scots Law LLB. What they did was they did something called a pre-PET, so PET is P-E-A-T, it's Professional Education and Training. So they did that. They would have been working in a legal firm, they would have been working in some sort of role, a paralegal, and then they would decide, right, they wanted to become qualified, probably so that their employers could charge higher fees for them, as opposed to being a paralegal, they could charge higher fees if they're a qualified solicitor. So, but that's usually somebody who's already in a job and then they can take that route without having to go through the hassle of leaving your job and going to do an LLB, part-time or otherwise. So that's, again, another route, but in my experience it's a fairly unusual route to go through. The conventional route, as I say, is Scots Law LLB, either a straight undergraduate or as a graduate entry, and then the diploma and then on into your traineeship. So that diploma and the traineeship, that's called peak one and peak two, and so effectively that's three years of your professional training. One is at uni and the remaining two years are within a job, it's a traineeship. You might have heard students talking about getting a traineeship. That's what that, that's effectively called peak two, and that's to qualify in Scotland. So, and indeed Scots lawyers can go and work outwith their jurisdiction. They could go and work in England, they could go and work in Northern Ireland or further afield, and depending on what jurisdiction they choose, they would have to do certain, go through, jump through certain hoops or sit particular exams or qualifying exams to allow them to do that. And, you know, obviously with the proximity of Scotland and England in those two jurisdictions, there is quite an interest or, you know, depending on where you work for, if you're working for a UK based firm or wide firm, then it may be useful for you to be qualified to operate in England as well, whilst still, while just living and have your job in Scotland. Quite often, and certainly the last place I worked at, there was quite a lot of solicitors who were Scots and English qualified, but they were based up here. Ostensibly they were Scots lawyers, but they had done the extra qualifications to allow them to give advice and have English clients or English based clients as well. So there are various areas where that might be more important than not, and depending on what area you're practising in. I was a court practitioner, so it didn't really matter to me being English qualified or not, but if you are, say, employment or private client or working in those areas, then being qualified, dual qualified, is probably quite an attractive thing for you to do. So, I just wanted to bring that up, click on this, just to show you, give you an understanding of the various routes that are into the profession as well. So, I'll dip into the Law Society of Scotland, the Law Society which covers England and Wales, and also the Law Society of Northern Ireland. So, I mean, I simply could not cover what you need to know about qualifying in these various jurisdictions here this afternoon, but you can go in and they're really quite well laid out and signposted and directing you from whatever kind of starting point you approach it from. They will tell you or give you full guidance how you can progress, what you need to do and how long it's likely to take as well. So, everything you need to do, need to know, is within those three sites. So, in England, slightly different, their approach, and I think, you know, from what I can gather and the stages you're all at, you come towards the end of your Master's if you're thinking about staying in the UK and you're thinking, obviously, there's lots of jobs and you'll hear about that, that you can do where you don't have to be a qualified practitioner, but there are routes into the profession in England which are different and they have been changing over the last few years. In 2021, they introduced the Solicitor's Qualifying exam in England, which is a kind of, if most folk have heard of it, going to the New York bar and doing those exams and that kind of thing. Well, it's similar to that in that you do not have to have a law degree to qualify as a solicitor in England. Now, what you can do is come with a degree in whatever subject, but do these exams, SQE1 and 2, and do these professional exams, which would allow you to enter the profession in England and Wales. Similar approach to Northern Ireland, but not quite in Scotland as yet, may change in years to come. I guess they're all watching how things develop and the impact it has on the profession in England and Wales, because it's fairly early stages down south. As I say, that's particularly attractive perhaps for you, because you may not have certainly a common law degree or slash English law degree, so you don't have that, but you'll all have degrees from whatever your home countries are, and also your masters. So that's potentially a route where you could go down to London, for instance, and work in some sort of legal job as a paralegal. You could be working in a law clinic, you could be working in an academic setting, and you could be doing legal work there, but not as a qualified practitioner. And if you do that, you'd have to do two years of that kind of work, then do your exams, then that would lead you to qualifying as a solicitor in England and Wales. So that's quite a kind of new approach to things. Prior to that, it was a very similar set up as it is in Scotland, in that you did a law degree, then you did a diploma, they called it an LPC, Legal Practice Certificate, so I think that's what it's called. They did that, and then they did a pupillage or a traineeship, same idea as in Scotland. So it's a very similar kind of route, but they've changed it quite radically now, and for the next 10 years or so, the two of them are kind of working in conjunction. I guess they'll be fading away the old way of approach of it, and moving towards solely SQE and that way of qualifying as well, if you don't have a law degree, as I said, down south. So I guess, from what I can gather, that might be a quicker route for you, if you're really keen on qualifying and being a practising solicitor in England or Wales, that's probably a swifter route for you. Obviously, if you've been studying a number of years now, you might want to get out and work and earn some money, so that's a way that you could be working, earning money, but still progressing towards the professional qualification at the end. So that's something to think about, or something I'd like to flag up to you, and I'd say the Law Society of England and Wales, go to that website, and that will give you chapter and verse on that. And there'll be lots of institutions that do the courses that prepare you for these exams, but you feed the play and it's designed so that you can be working and doing those exams, or preparing for them and sitting those exams at the same time. Indeed, the results for this, I think it's January every year they do these exams, and the SQE one, multiple choice, and the other one, again, it kind of mirrors what we do in the diploma, and it's the practical skills that you need to go in for the profession, as well as an understanding of the fundamentals of law for that jurisdiction as well. But the thing for that, the main thing is, you can work, you're working away because you have to do the qualifying work experience, and as I say, that could be working in a law clinic, working in a legal firm as a paralegal, working in a larger organisation, doing some legal work, but it would allow you to use the qualifications that you have already, and do work that would be relevant to your qualifications, but allow you to hopefully qualify further down the line as a practising solicitor in England and Wales. So hopefully that's something that's of interest to you. I should say that you'll have heard other, I keep saying solicitor, so in Scotland we have solicitor, England solicitor, England and Wales solicitor, and also in Northern Ireland as well. Where it differs, and the terminology differs slightly, is that you'll have heard in Scotland we have advocates, and they practise at the bar, the Faculty of Advocates, and they're court specialists, they're based, that's what they do, they go to court, whether it's criminal or civil matters, and that's the area that they work in. They also give specialised advice and guidance to clients as well. And in England, the equivalent would be a barrister, and that's the same in Northern Ireland as well. So the routes into that are roughly similar, but you generally start from being a solicitor and then decide that you want to go, that's a particular area that you're interested in working in, and that's for you. So then you need to look into the various ways that you qualify into that as well. Generally speaking, in Scotland, most of those practising at the bar as an advocate, they'll have had some experience being a solicitor in practice, because effectively, when you're an advocate, you're essentially self-employed, your contacts and the reputation that you've built up whilst in practice will stand you in good stead for getting those instructions at the bar. So most that go to practice, or go on to the Faculty of Advocates, will have had some time working as a solicitor in practice. Again, in England, the bar, again, it's just a similar idea. If you think court work and advocating on behalf of your various clients is for you, and that's the area you're most interested in, then the barrister's role is for you as well, and it's the same in Northern Ireland. So again, focus on what I'm about to say here, I'm kind of looking through the lens of Scotland, because we're constantly talking to our students about what it's like in practice, where they can go and work, what different areas can you be a practitioner in. So for what I'm saying here, it's exactly the same in Northern Ireland, it's exactly the same in England and Wales as well. There are all the big, shiny, fancy corporate firms that you can go and work for, and they tend to recruit quite a bit in advance, so a lot of our students that are on, maybe coming towards their third or fourth year of their undergraduate studies, maybe already on the radar of these big corporate firms, and they're being offered traineeships for two or three years down the line. We find that happens quite often, so before they even come to us on the diploma, before they've even got their LLB, they've got the final stage of their training in place, but that tends to be only the corporate, the big firms that have the resources and the money effectively to do that, to plan that far ahead. A lot of other solicitors will end up in practice in high street practices, going to any town, any high street across Scotland, or England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you'll see these high street practices, and a lot of our students go on and practice there. Again, a completely different type of law. The pros and cons of all these areas, the corporates, I would say, you'll get paid well, but you'll be working long hours and your work-life balance may be not what you're looking for. High street practice, there could be a bit of that as well, but you're probably getting a much more dynamic environment, working much more closely with clients and getting that experience early on in your career. Ultimately, if your idea or dream is to work for yourself, maybe going the high street practice route and seeing how a practice is set up and run and going that way is probably for you. In-house, which is where I work in practice as well as working for a corporate firm, is also another avenue that's open to a lot of our students. That could be central government, local government, the Crown Office, prosecution services in England, and also various sub-sectors, organisations or indeed banks, energy providers, places like that, big media companies, houses, working in-house. There's a lot to be said for working in-house in that, effectively, you do not have clients other than your employer, that's the person or that's the legal entity that you represent. The plus side of that is there's no fees that you have to worry about getting in because you're in-house, you're in-house advice and guidance in your role as a solicitor there, so there's a lot to be said for working in that environment. That's a kind of a wee insight into some of the places you could end up in practice, but I think that's maybe ahead of where you are now. If you are thinking of staying in the UK, sure you can get lots of different opportunities and lots of different jobs on the back of the qualifications that you have, but if you have that burning desire to go into practice and be a qualified practitioner, there are various routes that you can go, depending on whether it's Northern Ireland, Scotland or England and Wales, where you end up. I would say, as I've mentioned already, probably London or the big cities down south would be a place to go, or the probably quickest route, going that SQE route for you, which is fairly new, so everybody's kind of watching and seeing how things develop and the impact it has on the profession, but if you're coming with your background with an undergraduate, masters and then say you want to do that, then probably looking at that would be a way to go. Sure, that was pretty much it, and we can, obviously my contact details there, and I'd be happy to hang about, and just over in the Alexander Stone building, so please come over and have a chat if you want to find out a bit more about practice, okay? Right, thank you. Okay, the reason my name isn't on these slides is because I'm standing in for someone else, okay, which is this gentleman, Daniel Mitchell, who is your careers and employability manager, but he's actually on holiday in the Canary Islands right now, so he can't make it, but you might get the chance to meet him at some point. I know you're halfway through, but there might still be opportunities to meet with him. Anyway, he's provided me with these slides, so it does have a bit of an insight into legal careers and resources, but also a broader insight into the labour market, the graduate labour market in the UK, because the UK labour market is quite different to a lot of other countries. For some of you, it might sound quite similar, but for others, you know, it might be actually quite different, so we'll just have a look at the opportunities and understand some of the steps in the process of being recruited, and some tips, okay? So, what is quite unusual in the UK, employers are obviously looking for good, strong qualifications, a good educational background, but they really, really emphasise strong transferable skills from all of your experiences, so they do look at people who have got, not just study to offer, but work of any sort, part-time, volunteering, full-time, internships, and also other co-curricular, extracurricular activities, outside interests. They consider all of this, they feel that that gives them evidence of your transferable skills, so make sure you think about all of the different things that you do with your time, because even an outside interest that you do for relaxation might actually be a really good insight into your skills and your personal qualities, so don't forget to consider those when you are going to apply for jobs, and also when you're looking at your suitability for jobs in the UK. Another big thing that is really important is to really articulate your motivation, so always think a lot about what you're interested in, and why are you really interested in it, and so that you're able to articulate that, both in the application stage of the process, and also at interview. So just keep thinking about what you can do during your course, I know you're very busy, and you certainly don't have to do all of these things, but if there is any spare time, and you want, if you feel maybe just lacking confidence in any areas, there's so many different ways to build up your skills and build up your confidence, and maybe fill any gaps, and it is very much considering where will I get the transferable skills, but do find two things that you enjoy as well, because that's good for your confidence, and for your positivity. Another thing about the UK labour market that can be quite different to a lot of other countries, is that actually the vast majority of jobs that you'll find through a graduate scheme in the UK are not discipline specific, so they'll take students from a lot of different subject areas, and that means there's a lot of different career areas that you could be looking at for after you finish. I'm not trying to steal anyone away from law, but actually your skills can be used in a lot of different areas, and they're definitely interested in master's graduates in a range of disciplines, in so many different areas, you build up skills that will be suitable elsewhere. For example, this is just an example of a job, policy officer, that people move into from a lot of different disciplines, and it's quite a good fit for those academic skills that you're developing on course, but also for the other skills that you might have from elsewhere. This is from the prospects website, and I'll give you the address for that later on. There's over 400 different profiles on there for different jobs, it goes into a lot more detail than you can see here, but tells you a lot about what the job entails, lifestyle implications, what you get paid, hours, skills, who are the employers, how do you progress, and you'll create a lot of really useful information to just help you browse and get started. Obviously there are a lot of really good sites, and I'll give you a list specifically for legal opportunities later on. To be honest, this should really see legal and other opportunities in the UK, because a lot of these, like prospects and target jobs, will tell you a lot about the labour market in lots of different areas, and lots of different jobs, as well as advertise the jobs too. But then obviously there are some really good ones that are specific to law, and a few more that were recommended. That mentions prospects and target jobs again, as well as our website. We do get a lot of really good vacancies, and we are targeted by a lot of employers, because Glasgow is a renowned institution, so it's a good place to look. That last one is an example of a Scottish one. Anyone who's thinking maybe about jobs within the charity and voluntary sector, which might be of interest to you, that's a really good one to look at. But there are others. If we go back to the job profiles that you'll find on the prospects website, those will include specific vacancy sources for each job area, so have a look at that too. In terms of the recruitment process, it's quite varied. It really differs from one employer to another. There may be certain things that are more common in some sectors than others, but actually there's a lot of different assessments that you might have to go through, particularly when it's large-scale recruitment in areas like law that is included in that. There will usually be quite a few stages, so that they can narrow it down, sometimes from thousands of applicants down to a small number, and depending on the employer, it might be that they have a lot of opportunities, but they still have to narrow it down from many more people. Typically, it might be an application form, CV, cover letter at the early stages. Sometimes it's straight into psychometric assessments. That could be aptitude tests, that could be personality tests. There are some that are specifically used in law, but more I think Watson Glazer's one. I'll show you where you can practice these, because we give you access to a free website to practice tests. Video interviews are quite common as well, and we have lots of resources on our website for these things to help you. Assessment centres are very common. A lot of these as well, to be aware of, they're starting to talk about going back to face-to-face rather than doing a lot of online, because they are worried about AI and how that might enable people to cheat on tests and different things like that. It might be that you're applying for things this year that you're actually looking a lot more face-to-face than you expected. Then a final interview. This is fairly typical, but the different aspects of this could be done quite differently by different employers. So make sure you have a look on the website. This is an example for, it used to be called Evershed, but Evershed Sutherland have changed their name to now. I guess we've taken over a few. They're a big law firm in the UK, but whether it's a law firm or whether it's another big employer who recruits graduates, they'll detail on the website how they recruit, so you can get some advanced notice. So that if you know, for example, that they do numerical reasoning, you can start practicing it, because that's actually quite a good thing too, just so that you're not rusty on skills like that and also so you feel more confident in what you're doing. So have a look on their website, any employers that you're already interested in, to see what they say about graduate recruitment. One of the key tips that I would suggest is to really research the employer to find out more, because they are going to assess you on how much you know about them. They are going to expect you to have singled them out, and so you've got some specific reasons for wanting to apply to them. It's not just for that particular job. So just use LinkedIn, follow the employer on LinkedIn. You'll find out loads on there, but there's other ways to do it as well. Connect with people who work there and ask them what it's like to work there. And it's not just about what they do, but how they work, what's their culture. These things all feed into what's right for you, and they will take that seriously, because they will think not only is this person right for us, but they'll be a good fit in terms of culture and environment and people, and therefore they're more likely to stay. So they're thinking about retention. And other things like what they do with their products, their clients, etc. Who are their competitors? That's a question you're sometimes asked at interviews, so it's quite good to have a look at that. And generally what's happening in that sector, whether it's the legal sector or other sectors. Find out as much as you can, because again they might ask questions about do you really know what's happening here? Do you know this sector? And if you don't say too much, then they might think you don't really know what you're getting into. So you don't want to spend loads of time on this, but certainly try and devote quite a bit of time to finding all of this stuff out. It will really help, and I think it will just really make your application more authentic. These are some really good examples of websites that will help you research a legal career. Some of them Scottish specific, some of them UK. I think there are some others as well, but start off with these, and start off with our website, Prospects Target Children. That should cover you. And then a wee bit in terms of marketing, it's back to all those different experiences that you have that they are interested in. You're telling your story of all the different things that you've done that have developed skills, and do ensure that you tell a full story. It's not just slight details about these things. It's about adding narrative to your CV, to your cover letter, to your application form. Ensure that if they ask for 300 words, an example of when you were in a team, and what you contributed, give them 300 words. Don't give them 150. Make sure that you give them a full story. Okay, this is our website. This is our front page. This is what you'll see when you come in. There's a lot of useful resources on there, and links to other good places. So, you can start off here, so you trust that the links that we have are going to be trustworthy. If you actually then log in to Glasgow Careers, that's where... Have anyone used this before? Have any of you been on here? So, yeah, a couple of you. So, you'll find the one-to-ones that you can book, quick queries for application advice, maybe for some interview advice, as well as other general tips. The one-to-one career coaching is more in-depth. It's longer, so if you need actual guidance. If you can't get one of those straight away, book a quick query, and explain that you need a bit of support, and you're not really sure, and your advisor will probably then refer you on for a quick coaching appointment. It's also where you'll find the masterclasses, and I'll show you a list of those. All of our events, and all of the jobs, both part-time and full-time. Internship hub, it's worth pointing out that these are not just summer-long internships, full-time, because I know when you're doing a master's course, you can't necessarily fit those in. Some of them are part-time, so don't ignore the internship hub. Do have a look at that if you're looking for part-time work, as well as the student job hub. Lots of different topics covered in masterclasses, and we're open to new ideas, so if there's anything you feel we should be covering a bit more, do let us know, because we want to make sure we're meeting your needs. Now, the free practice tester is a platform called Graduates First, but if you just go into Glasgow Careers, you'll find it in there, and these are all the different tests that you can get the chance to practice, so it's really, really useful, and can really just build up your confidence, so you know what you're doing. And because, actually, sometimes the pass rate is quite high, just because of the sheer numbers that apply, therefore, they want to ensure that they cut down the numbers, and they don't have to put lots of people through to the next stage, so you really do want to try and get quite a high pass rate, so that you get through to the next stage. And just work on building up your network, especially if you want to stay on in the UK, there's lots of opportunities to meet UK recruiters and Glasgow alumni at these events at our career fairs. I've got a date for the next law fair, I don't know if anyone attended this year, at the beginning of this year? Did anyone? I mean, you'll still be around in Glasgow, a lot of you, I'm sure, so let me see, what was the date? 9th of October, so if you're still here in Glasgow, absolutely, you're welcome to come along, and actually, I should have said before, you've got access to the career services for two years after graduation, so it's not like we stopped dealing with you in September. Also, the alumni events that we'll put on, or maybe put on through clubs and societies, joint student professional bodies, and use LinkedIn to connect to professionals and Glasgow alumni, a lot of people will be happy to talk to you and give you advice. I mean, one of the things that we see all the time is that if people enjoy what they do, they like to talk about it, and they'll happily talk to you in a one-to-one, as well as at the large scale events that we put on. These are just some of the examples of different events that we put on. We have quite a lot from September all the way through to about February, early March. The middle one there is the law fair, which is usually at the Hilton at the end of Byers Road, so it's quite a nice venue, and we do get lots of employers come to that, but there may be employers at other events too that you're interested in talking to. I don't have access to the employability module, but as far as I know, it's pretty good. It's got a lot of resources on there for you to use, so if you haven't already been in there, please do use that. It's kept up to date. This is just a course that we were told about recently that you may find useful. It is free to use on the Future Learn website, Managing Your Wellbeing when studying in the UK, so have a wee look at that, and I think some of you might find it's quite a useful course to do. Yeah, that's us, so we do have time for a few questions if anyone's got any. If you don't think of them now, obviously you can come back to us later, but does anyone have anything they want to ask right now? I know I've rushed through it, so apologies. I may have gone a bit too fast in places. Absolutely, yeah, so share the slides so you can have a look through them yourself, and then you've got all the resources. If you don't have any questions right now, then I'll just pass on good luck to you, and you have got a lot of different options to consider, and I know that can be a lot of work, but just have a look at the other things outside of the legal sector that may be of interest, and certainly overlap in terms of the skills that you'd use, but also maybe what you'd find a fulfilling career. There will be other jobs that will share the same criteria as legal careers. Okay, all right, so it's nice to meet you. Okay, it's Friday afternoon, and you're listening to me talk about immigration. I'm really sorry about that. I'll try and keep it brief. Hopefully you will all stay awake. I'm going to similarly do a very quick run-through, but all of the information that I present to you today is on our website. There are some changes coming up to some of the immigration routes, so it's worth checking back on our website. So my name is Melanie. I'm from International Student Support. A little bit about what we do. We're here specifically for international students. We can offer advice and support on visa and immigration matters, but also on welfare, personal matters, living in Glasgow, all the confusion that comes along with that. We're the people who send you the international student emails every couple of weeks. Please read them, because there's events specifically for international students, such as yesterday, I hosted an online session that was talking about visas for after studies. So there are lots of things that you can get involved with. If you want to take a photo of our website, this is specifically where you'll find all the visa and immigration information, and also our email address is on there as well. That's the best way to contact us. We are responsive, so I'm sure you'll get a reply within a few days. And this is what our emails look like generally, so look out for those coming and follow us on Instagram as well. Okay, let's not do that. So a little bit about what you can do on your current student visa. You can work 20 hours per week during term time. You can work full time during vacation periods. Now, which vacations apply to you is very much dependent on what your school says. So if you're a master's student and you're doing a project over the summer or a dissertation, you're in term time, so you can't work full time over the summer. But the spring break that's coming up in a couple of weeks, you can work full time then. There are limitations on the types of work you can do as a student visa holder. You cannot be self-employed or a sports person or a doctor. Check your visa for your work conditions, and you will need a national insurance number in order to work in the UK. You can apply online on the gov.uk website. It's free to apply, but you will need one when you're working. Okay, so let's move on to the good bit that you're here for. How can you stay in the UK to work after your studies? So the vast majority of students apply to the graduate route. The graduate route visa was introduced in 2021, I think. And it is a really flexible, easy-to-apply-for-a-visa route that allows students who have completed a degree, a master's or a PhD in the UK to apply for the visa to work for either two years for undergrad or master's holders, or three years if you've completed a PhD. And there's a little bit more flexibility with the graduate route compared to other work routes. You don't have to have a job offer. You can do any kind of work, including self-employment, apart from working as a professional sports person. I don't know why UKBI has an issue with professional sports people, but you can't do that. So there are exceptions to the eligibility courses. So if you are on a professional legal practice diploma, then you can also apply for the graduate route. You must be in the UK to apply whilst you are still holding your student visa, so before your student visa expires. And you need to have successfully completed your course. So after you have got your final results, your exam board approved results, that's when you apply to the graduate route. Be careful of any extensions to your study period. If you have resits, then that can affect your eligibility to apply for the graduate route because you probably won't have enough visa time to get your results and then apply to the graduate route. So if you have resits, get in touch with International Student Support and we can discuss your situation and see if we can help you find a way around it. The other work route you might want to consider is a skilled worker visa. This requires sponsorship by an employer. So much like your student visa, where you've got a CAS to allow you to do a specific course at a specific university. For the skilled worker visa, you need sponsorship from an employer to do a specific job with a specific employer. Now there are some changes to the skilled worker visa route coming up in April. One of the big changes is that UKVI are significantly increasing the minimum salary threshold. So for new entrants as a qualified solicitor, I think you will need to earn £23,590. That will be your minimum salary. But I would always just check online and check that what you are being offered meets the requirements of skilled worker visas and check that the employer actually has a license to sponsor you and is capable of doing that. Skilled workers, I know lots of students do get skilled worker visas, but they are a bit more tricky and a bit harder to come by and so there's a bit more work involved in getting there. So it's worth remembering that you can do the graduate route first and so long as you apply for a skilled worker visa within two years of having your graduate route, you can still be considered a new entrant into the market. So you'll still qualify for that reduced salary threshold. That's quite important because UKVI, as I said in April, are increasing the minimum salary level and they will continue to do so over the next couple of years. So from April, for the general salary level is going to be £38,700 I think. So it's worth just checking that you can still qualify for the new entrant salary level. So check online for information on that. There's a couple of other routes that might be of interest. There's an innovator founder route. This is for those who are interested in starting a business in the UK. It's not just, I'm an entrepreneur, I've got a business idea. There's a lot of qualifying criteria. You need to be endorsed by an approving body and the business idea has to be scalable. So you have to demonstrate a plan for growth where you will create jobs, that sort of thing. So the bar is set quite high, but there are people who apply for it. That visa is normally issued for three years and you can continue to renew that visa, providing you can meet the criteria for renewal. So the criteria is always about growth. Check the UKBI webpages for more information on innovator founder and also the costs for that. So yeah, that's what I've just talked about. It's about a new business idea. You cannot join in on an existing business and it's got to be scalable and viable. So if you want to look into the endorsing bodies, there's only four of them. That's them listed there. So if you had a business idea, you would have to approach these endorsing bodies and ask them to endorse you for this programme. A couple of other, they're not smaller groups, they're just their criteria are quite strict, if you like. But I do know students who have applied for these visas as well. So there's a high potential individual. This is for students who have been awarded either an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree from one of a list of top global universities. So they're not UK universities, they are international universities. UKBI have got a list. And if you happen to have done your undergrad or if you've got a master's degree, you can apply for that as well. If you happen to have done one of your qualifications at one of these universities, you might want to consider the high potential individual route. In lots of ways, it's quite similar to the graduate route. You will be awarded a visa for two years. You don't have to have a job offer. And it gives you flexibility in the kind of work that you do. Finally, global talent. I mean, this is very niche. This is for those who are internationally recognised as or are likely to become world leaders in the arts and cultures, humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, or medical science, research, engineering or digital technology. If you think that's you, again, you need to be endorsed by a designated body and Research Councils UK is the place to look for that. The person I know who did that, I think was a musician. So I'm going to put it out there and say it's very niche. But you know, if you think that's you, definitely look into it. And that visa can be granted for up to five years. And finally, the other option is there's always further study if you want to continue with your academic journey. And in which case, you can extend your student visa and keep going. Alright, that was a very quick whistle stop tour. But hopefully it will give you some some things to think about in terms of where you go next. What do most students do? Most students apply for the graduate route. It is the easiest, it's probably the cheapest. And you don't need a job offer. And it gives you the most flexibility. There is a review by the Migration Advisory Committee underway, which was just announced this week. So the government is looking at the graduate route, there may be changes. But as it stands, currently, it's the most popular option. There we go. All right. We have time for some questions. Yeah, happy to take questions. I mean, we might not need this. So questions for either Melanie, or David, or Michael, or myself. And if you have any questions for Katrina, we're happy to pass those along and get back to you with questions. So we have some time until half past. So we only need to take a little bit of time to let you know that we have enough time for questions. Does anyone have a question? That's a really good question. And we are also hoping to find out the answer to that very soon. UKVI have not released any information as to what the transformation process is going to look like. We know that UKVI will continue to issue VRPs right up until September, although all VRPs will expire in December. So I think in typical UKVI style, they're going to leave it quite late. So at the moment, we don't know. We're waiting for information. You can check when your actual visa expires, either by looking at the decision letter that was emailed to you by UKVI, or you can do a right to work check. So if you go onto the gov.uk website and type in the search box, right to work check, I think you just need to put in your VRP number and your date of birth, and it will show you when your student visa will actually expire. And it will tell you what your current work conditions are as a student. And then as soon as we hear from UKVI, we will put a plan together, ourselves and International Student Support and Immigration Compliance, and we'll let students know. So that would be a question possibly for the school, if it's the law school that you're interested in for further study, or you can contact the admissions team. There's an inquiry form, or obviously if you look on the university website, there'll be some information there about PhD programmes and the entry requirements for that. Because I think one thing is to go on and do a PhD, but I think there's another option which is to become a lecturer or a teacher, and there are contracts that do not require a PhD. So it depends on what you have in mind. Was it a PhD that you had in mind? My parents wanted me to get a PhD, so my parents wanted me to get a PhD. So it's a PhD. In that case, I'm happy to stay after the event and tell you a bit more about that, but to be honest, we held a rave for the event last year on the topic that was recorded, and it's available for you to watch. It's a career in academia, and I believe that is available on the Affiliate and Google page. So if you go to that page, you'll be able to watch the recording, and I think it's very comprehensive because it includes advice to master's students on different entry points into academia, but also advice on the PhD programme at Glasgow. So if you're thinking about a PhD at Glasgow, you'll also find useful information on that video. So I would suggest maybe that's the first point of call. Anyway, if you have questions, maybe email the PGR directors or the PGR administrator, who is Susan Owen. But the video, I think, will provide a lot of useful information, so that would be my first recommendation. I have another question provided for you, David, regarding the InJobs app. Are we allowed, at the moment, to work for, like, protection services or relevant services? I think there may well be jobs available, and maybe some sort of administrative role. I don't think there'll be any issue working in that. And, you know, whether it's in central government, or local government, or maybe, you know, the Crown Office, property and fiscal service in Scotland. But is this with a view to qualifying, sort of, down the line, or...? Probably, either way, I can bear with it. Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any reason, but it wouldn't be necessarily a legal role, I feel like, you know, unless you're drawing a qualification that, you know, in terms of... And I think you would need to, sort of, think carefully about why you want to do it, is it a view to say, or just allow you to do your additional qualifications, you know, to get a degree, or something like that. But I don't think there'd be any reason why you couldn't get a job, or something like that. There is no requirement to be achieved, or...? Oh, I wouldn't know about that. I mean, I can share with you the experience of another alumni who, I know, got a job at HMRC, so I presume that if he can be employed, and he is Nigerian, so he didn't have a UK passport, so I'm guessing that... And he wasn't qualified in the UK, so he had a master's degree from Glasgow, and a graduate degree from Nigeria, and he found a job at HMRC. So, my guess is that, actually, there are probably other graduate programs, even within government, so Katrina was talking about graduate programs, you know, being open to any student with any kind of degree, I think this might be a good example of that. In addition to the private sector, I think the public sector also runs these kinds of programs. I also know about the Bank of England, for example, they also have graduate programs, or graduate entry programs, so check those out, because I think you'll find those probably one of the easiest ways into those kinds of employers. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, well in that case, I think we can finish here. Thank you for coming, and do make sure to check the employability website, because that contains a lot of information, and if you have questions, of course, do send us an email. Can we have a quick feedback survey, is that correct? It could take maybe two minutes, just to fill in the survey, so that we can know what worked, whether you found the session helpful, if you didn't find it helpful, what you think we could do to improve it. You can take a picture of that, or text the URL, and let us know what you thought about the session that we did. It takes just two minutes, thank you. Oh, and also, our email is a slide. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.