Alternate entry into UNI for NHS Nursing

Ok, I am a full fledged British Citizen these days, but am unable to attend Uni for 3 years unless I pay for it myself. I was a Paramedic in the US for 12 years before moving to the UK. I have checked with NARIC and the HPC about getting some sort of reciprocity, but unfortunately I would have to go through 3 years of Paramedic training here in the UK. With that being the case I have decided to just go on to Nursing.
Has anyone found a way around the 3 year residency rule? Is there a way of having your local Trust sponsor your training? It seems odd that I would be allowed to wallow around and work minor jobs for 3 years or worse, go on the social and claim benefits, when I could be allowed to further my training and become a productive citizen. Sorry, cant seem to wrap my head around this....

Hiya, just saw your post as I am heading out for the evening but I hope this helps (should do since you are a British citizen)!

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/816.aspx

Nursing pathways are eligible for NHS bursaries. I looked into this as I am a final year Health Services Management student from the US (and was shocked to find out I was the only one paying fees- needless to say 'overseas' fees...) and unfortunately it seems the only reason for denial would be no ILR/residency or citizenship status.

If I had more time (will check back later) I can provide more info. From what I understand, you apply for the programme and these funds will be dispersed to the school (any refunds go to you for other expenses- usually the school has a bursary card programme that allows you to purchase books on campus, food, etc). All completely funded by the NHS.

However, if you hold a job offer within the NHS in any field and pursue studies later on, you can go thru the same process and have your manager provide proof of employment to the school and your actual trust will pay your fees.

Hope this is of help at the moment.

Best,

Lauren

By the way.... Just to put this out there, not sure what programmes or schools you have looked into but as a British citizen you should be eligible for many options of funding minus this bursary. At my university, there are progress bursaries (£1200 direct deposit to you just showing academic progress each term); financial hardship grants/bursaries, various scholarships.... Reply with the info you have received/been told thus far and I will help to the best of my ability. I've done tons of research on this, lol :-)

...as a British citizen you should be eligible for many options of funding minus this bursary.

I've done tons of research on this, lol :-)

Your research is very flawed.  How do you suggest OP meets the 3-year residence requirement?

Nursing pathways are eligible for NHS bursaries. I looked into this as I am a final year Health Services Management student from the US (and was shocked to find out I was the only one paying fees- needless to say 'overseas' fees...) and unfortunately it seems the only reason for denial would be no ILR/residency or citizenship status.

As sah10406 says, there's still the hurdle of meeting the 3-year residency requirement to be eligible for home fees, funding and bursaries.

Even UK citizens and people with ILR have to meet the 3-year residency requirement (either having lived in the UK or EU for the 3 years prior to the course starting) to be eligible for the NHS bursaries and funding - there is no way around this unfortunately.

Hi Guvnor

If you hold a Bachelors degree, you could apply (after 3 years) for the Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) in Nursing (Adult/Child/Mental Health) at universities that offer it (mainly in big cities like London). It's 2 years full-time. They will ask to see all your high school and college diplomas and transcripts. 

@Sah10406, I am sorry I must not have made my explanations a bit clearer to lead to your opinion of my research being flawed. As said earlier though, I was short on time and on my way out. Apologies for any vagueness yielding a reaction assuming I am providing inaccurate advice; I have been a programme ambassador up to recent at the university I am graduating at, and as the department is widely NHS-related I am quite often updated on the pertaining information.

Anyway! Moving forth with what I said, I have been advised quite a bit on the bursary/scholarship/grant procedures. It goes without saying that these differ between institutions, but nevertheless you could get around funding options with different residency status details.

As Guvnor did not mention how long they have held British citizenship, I assumed the most optimistic route for their enquiry... Regardless of the circumstances, don't you have to already hold ILR/FLR or other visa requirements for at least 3-5 years before qualifying for citizenship? If this is the case, I do believe my points are valid.

As for the NHS bursary itself, the organisation handles each enquiry or request for funding at their own discretion by a case per case basis; I had a conditional offer to study Radiography years ago at an institution that was stating no international applicants. After contacting the department head personally (after UCAS clearing had closed for all applicants), I was told beyond this point all applicant qualifications/backgrounds would be accepted and bursary details handled by the NHS. As the organisation is becoming more privatised and "contracted", you would be surprised at how many alternate routes there are available, legally, to non-citizens.

Most currently state your situation is handled if you have been "normally resident" for a specified period of time. I know for a fact that this time frame differs by institution as funding matters can be completely different between private, public or solely NHS funded programmes.

Again, thank you for allowing me to attempt to clarify a bit. If one were to outline their exact situation I would be able to further tailor the advice.

Further advice @Guvner: regardless of residency related matters, be sure to research various organisations or your local council's routes of potential support.

Alongside this, the NHS and mostly all private health providers offer programmes or schemes that only allow certain requirements for eligibility; they are alike to apprenticeships, salaried and those who hold exact qualifications for the position applied for cannot apply. These are great as they pool applicants from many unique backgrounds.

As for matters of 'legality' to conclude... To further support what I said about discretionary applicants, as per general UKBA work-related matters these situations are often pooled from the rule "...unless the vacancy cannot be filled by a UK citizen, within the specified time frame". Whether a job is within the NHS or study funded-by, a contract is involved and can be further bound by such restrictions.

As Guvnor did not mention how long they have held British citizenship, I assumed the most optimistic route for their enquiry... Regardless of the circumstances, don't you have to already hold ILR/FLR or other visa requirements for at least 3-5 years before qualifying for citizenship? If this is the case, I do believe my points are valid.

Guvnor has previously posted he is a uk citizen by descent but has only been living in the uk for the first time for 3-4 months.

Ah, that helps. A couple snippets from the NHS funding criteria that may be relevant on an and/or basis:


 ..."be settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971. This means that there must be no restrictions on your length of stay in the UK."

Citizenship.. No restrictions?


"If you were living away from this country because you or your family were temporarily employed abroad, you may be treated as if your residence in the UK had not been interrupted"


Obviously, this may be personal.


My advice would be to further investigate matters of having to meet any or all residency requirements. I have often been skeptical and surprised with the fact of discretionary cases occurring, without breaching any restrictions and seeing/meeting individuals coming fresh off a plane from the EU or a minority country whom find themselves completely NHS funded and return to their home country post-graduation. I only say this as EU students make up a large number of health-profession related student bodies and their residency matters are handled the same (but lighter) than those completely of "overseas" status.

As Guvnor did not mention how long they have held British citizenship, I assumed the most optimistic route for their enquiry... Regardless of the circumstances, don't you have to already hold ILR/FLR or other visa requirements for at least 3-5 years before qualifying for citizenship? If this is the case, I do believe my points are valid.

I believe Guvnor is a UK citizen by descent (British parent), but has only been living in the UK for a couple of months.

And no, you do not have to hold ILR for 3-5 years to get citizenship.

For work permit holders/family members of EEA citizens, it's 5 years on a work visa (5 years residency for EEA family members), plus 1 year on ILR, for citizenship.

For spouses/family members of UK citizens who applied for their first visa before July 9th 2012, the only requirement for citizenship is 3 years residency plus ILR (so usually it would be 2 years on a spousal/FLR visa, plus 1 year on ILR).

For spouses/family members of UK citizens who applied for their first family visa after July 9th 2012, they cannot qualify for ILR until they have spent 5 years on FLR, and then they can apply for citizenship immediately after gaining ILR.

In the OP's case, they already have a British passport (so don't need to worry about the ILR part), but they do not have the 3 years of UK residency that is usually required for qualifying for UK funding/grants/bursaries and home fees.

Ah, that helps. A couple snippets from the NHS funding criteria that may be relevant on an and/or basis:


 ..."be settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971. This means that there must be no restrictions on your length of stay in the UK."

Citizenship.. No restrictions?

Actually, ILR = no restrictions. Citizenship is just an extra step on from that.

There has been some question in the past as to whether or not ILR is actually needed for qualification for home fees (but you only have 'no restrictions' if you hold ILR, so I don't see how you would get away with not having it) - however, the 3-year requirement is set in stone.

"If you were living away from this country because you or your family were temporarily employed abroad, you may be treated as if your residence in the UK had not been interrupted"


Obviously, this may be personal.

From their earlier posts, this is not the case for the OP, as they have lived in the US for their whole life (only visited the UK regularly on a US passport) and have only recently registered as a UK citizen.

As has been mentioned, it's not immigration restrictions, ILR or citizenship that is the problem for the OP, it's the fact that they have only physically lived in the UK/EU for a few months and so don't meet the '3 years of UK/EU residency' requirement.

 Wow, thanks everyone for the quick responses! To clarify what others have said, I gained my citizenship through descent. My mother and her whole side of the family are from the UK. I recently bit the bullet and waded (rather painlessly) through the application process. I'm registered as a UK citizen, swore allegiance to the Queen and her heirs, the whole bit. I've been here since early September as well.
 
 The hurdle that I keep seeming to run into is the 3 year residency requirement.

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Students/3261.aspx

Each of the following 3 requirements must be met:
1. Have been ordinarily resident in the UK, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man throughout the three years preceding the prescribed date, apart from occasional or temporary absences;

2. Be ordinarily resident in any UK country on the prescribed date (medical and dental students must be ordinarily domiciled in England)

3. Have ‘settled status’ in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971. This means there must be no restrictions on your length of stay in the UK.


I've contacted LJMU and Edge Hill Uni for clarification regarding this and I keep getting referred to this "eligibility" page. On the surface, the answer I've received is "if you haven't been in the country in the last 3 years, you don't qualify". I am also basing this on the fact that my cousin, who was born in the UK and lived her most of her life here, went to Australia for 5 years. Upon her return she wanted to attend Uni, but was also given the same "you must live within the UK for 3 years prior".
Granted, I haven't received an outright "No, you can't attend", but no one appears to know how to deal with my situation.

LTK, if you have any way of finding a definitive answer, I'd sure be grateful! I'll keep digging on my end.

ksand24, thanks for the clarification, I appreciate any help I can get!


 In the end, I just think its a waste to let my skills languish over 3 years while waiting to attend Uni. The demand for trained workers in the UK is as great as ever and given the current downturn in Uni applicants, I would think they'd welcome anyone with a solid background.

PS, I even looked into Nursing Cadet schemes, but they are only open to 16-19 year olds

Steve
 

Ah, thank you for that. I am relatively new to this forum and have not often thought to look at other posts from users to potentially gain more insight on a situation.

Best of luck to you Guvnor! If you would like me to perhaps verify or provide any other additional details you might feel will be helpful feel free to PM :-) I have a close friend who is department head of nursing at a trust in London & previously worked as a flight nurse abroad, along with a handful of other potentially useful contacts who would be happy to offer advice.

Best,

~Lauren

Steve,

I believe we just replied at the same time :-)

Just want to quickly add before heading off for the evening... I will dig through some resources I have this weekend regarding studies as I will have spare time, but thoughts I have at the moment with your military background:

I think I recall seeing a post here on UKY recently about someone with a prior service US Marines background who was interested in potentially joining the British Army (apologies if I have gotten this wrong); now that you are a citizen, could this be an option to perhaps gain medical corps experience/pass some time before returning to uni? I apologise in advance as I am not at all military savvy, is this what you mean by what is only recruiting up to 19 y/o?

Have you looked into the Peace Corps or anything affiliated?

To touch on the education subject again briefly before closing, I cannot think of the exact URL at the moment but if you search google for student scholarships/financing uk there is a database you can search schools with by entering many keywords, tailored down to your unique situation.

I think this database is a redirect link from the British council website.