Employment regulations for international students: how to get it right?

For national governments, visa and international student employment rules can also be used to attract fewer international students, or to attract more highly-skilled graduates in specific employment fields only, where there is a national shortage of employees.

For international students who do not receive (sufficient) financial support and those who hope to use study abroad as a means to emigrate to their study destination, employment opportunities during and after study have become an increasingly important aspect of their decision on where to study. National regulations related to paid work during and after study by visa-holding international students can encourage incoming student mobility and skilled immigration, but they can also form a barrier.

Let’s look briefly at the employment regulations that international student face in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Australia.
 

Work during study

International students that study in the Netherlands on a student visa are legally allowed to undertake paid work for up to 10 hours a week during term time and 40 hours a week during holiday periods, as long as they have obtained a separate work permit. For students from the European Union (EU)/ European Economic Area (EEA) who study in the Netherlands or any other country within the EU/EEA, there are normally no employment restrictions.

Compared to the Netherlands, visa-holding students in the UK may work more: up to 20 hours a week during term time and 40 hours a week in holiday periods. From April 2012, students at universities and publicly-funded further education colleges will retain their right to work during studies, but students on below degree-level courses won’t. This is done to reduce the flow of 'low-skilled' students to the country, since currently, nearly half of all students who come to the UK on student visas enroll in below degree-level programmes.

Australia also allows student visa holders to do paid work for a maximum of 20 hours a week, and full-time work during holidays. These work opportunities provide students with the opportunity to interact with the local community, acquire income, improve their English language skills, and develop their professional experience. 

In several other countries work during study is more difficult for international students, for instance because of language requirements (as is the case in Sweden, for instance).
 

Work after study

On completion of their (officially recognised) studies in the Netherlands, non-EU/EEA students are allowed to remain in the Netherlands for one year to search for a job as a 'knowledge migrant'. If they find employment with a minimum annual salary of € 26,376, they are allowed to remain in the Netherlands.

Young non-EU/EEA workers that have completed a masters or PhD degree at an institution featuring in the top 150 of the Times Higher Education or Shanghai Jiatong Indexes, can apply for a work visa for 'highly educated persons', which allows them to remain in the Netherlands for one 'job search' year.

In recent months, the UK government has announced stricter post-study work regulations. The government wants to ensure that those who come to the UK on a student visa come to the country to study, not to work or with the aim to settle there.

From April 2012 onwards, non-EU/EEA graduates from UK higher education institutions will no longer be allowed to remain in the UK for up to two years on completion of their studies (as is currently the case for graduates in specified programmes).

To find work in the UK after graduation, they will need to find 'employment sponsorship', with employers having to be centrally registered as accepting overseas workers and having to certify that no suitable candidate can be found within the EU.

A limited number of 'Tier 2' visas are allocated to those who have a UK job offer from ‘sponsoring employers’ for a job that matches their skill level, with a minimum salary of £ 2,000 a year. No more than 1,500 such visas are to be released each month.

In Australia, post-study work opportunities are currently enabled through the so-called 'skilled-graduate visa'. This visa allows students who do not meet the criteria for a permanent 'skilled visa', to live and work in Australia for up to 18 months after graduation in the country. In this period, graduates are allowed to undertake a 'professional year', gain skilled work experience and improve their English language skills.

Some of these graduates, working in occupations that are mentioned in Australia's 'skilled occupation list' (SOL), subsequently qualify for a 'permanent skilled visa'. They can also try to find an Australian employer to 'sponsor' them on a 'business (long stay) visa'.

In Australia, a review of student visa reforms is expected to be published soon, and it will be interesting to see the proposed details.
 

The golden question: how to get it right?

Good work opportunities during and after study are attractive to international students. National governments relate international student employment regulations to their wider immigration policies, which may actually focus on reducing immigration. It can be difficult to get the right balance.

What is the appropriate number of hours a student should be able to work? If students are working full-time, they are normally not considered as genuine students. If they are undertaking a lot of paid work, may they be compromising their studies? On the other hand, if students are hardly allowed to undertake paid work, will they still be able to fund their study abroad or choose to go somewhere else?

Post-study work regulations for international students are often part of an integrated immigration framework. When there are strict post-study work regulations, such as providing no opportunity for international students to remain in the country on graduation to look for employment, will the destination country miss out on highly skilled and motivated workers?