I was lazing around in my student union office, expecting some students who took an appointment to meet me to discuss about international welfare issues. Suddenly a young Indian girl comes to my cabin to speak about her welfare issue. She wasn’t sure of how to apply a dependent visa for her husband who wished to come and work in the UK. I had no idea on how to go about this issue and I consulted the concerned person to help her. Her case made me think about weird reasons why people wish to come to the UK.
Below, I have listed five of the common but weird reasons for which people come to study in the UK .
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Dowry
Many Indian families wish to give their daughters to a person who has studied overseas or holds a good job overseas. Overseas tag when attached to a bachelor’s profile increases his “market-value” in the marriage circles and fetch him a lot of money as dowry. Take the case of my roommate who thinks it’s absolutely worthless studying here in the UK. He enjoys his life most of the time than study. One day, I got a chance to speak to his father. I told him about my concern about his son’s future. His response was a bit unexpected. He coolly said, “Don’t worry beta, let him enjoy his life. I have everything planned for him when he gets back to India. I’ve arranged a girl for him in my community. Her father is going to pay 30 million rupees as dowry as he studied in the UK.” I was like whoa man I should have a dad like that.
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Sham Marriage
This is one of the desperate reason for which people come to study in the UK. Acquiring permanent citizenship in the UK takes a long time. For an outsider, it takes at least 10 years, that too after satisfying the complex point system to qualify as a citizen. But there are some loop holes by which immigrants can get a permanent citizenship in less than 5 years. The most prominent loop hole is a sham marriage. This is an agreement of marriage between a British or an European Union citizen and an non European immigrant. Few students come to the UK with the sole reason of settling in this country quickly to enjoy the benefits of being a British passport holder.
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Dependent Visa
Work permit in the UK is not so easy to get when you apply it from India. But, there are ways by which people can legally work full time in the UK. One such prominent way for married couples is the dependent visa scheme. One of the person from the couple especially the girl comes to the UK as a student and applies for dependent visa of her fiance. Once he gets into the country, it will be comparatively easy for him to get a job and settle here. The husband of the girl about whom I had mentioned above, is now doing a full time job as a sales assistant in a retail clothing outlet earning around 2000 pounds a month.
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Part time work
Minimum wage level in the UK is 5.73£ p/hr which is equivalent to around 400 Indian rupees. For people who are keen in earning money and have an average academic scores tend to come to the UK on a student visa. With part time jobs being not too hard to find, people tend to look out for earning more working odd jobs rather than studying.
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To be one of them
This might seem a little out of context, but is definitely true. With a lot of western culture already imbibed, a modern Indian always fancies being one of the westerners. This might not be the sole reason of coming to the UK, but it is definitely one of the subconscious reasons. This inner desire becomes profound after landing in the UK. People tend to change their way of speaking, dressing sense, eating habits and also some of the cultural habits like clubbing, one night stands, binge drinking and drugs to mingle with Westerners and eventually adopt to be one of them.
About the Author: I am a Masters graduate from Middlesex University Business school. Also, I am an elected International Students' Officer in the students' Union. My interests are social service, politics, reading and traveling. My ambition is to be a socially conscious and an ethical entrepreneur. 