We love having international students at Park Church. We try our best to help you find some friends and fellowship for as long as you are here. You are welcome to our services. You are welcome to join a community group. You are welcome to join our 18-30s group.

But, if you are reading this before you arrive in the UK, please read this warning!

Most international students find life in the UK very hard. If you are coming from India or Africa, you will probably have an agent who is organising your application to study in the UK. They are paid by UK universities to recruit you. Their aim is to make as much money from you as possible, and they may not give you a truthful picture of life in the UK. Some of them may lie to you.

They may tell you it is easy to find part time work. This is a lie. It is very difficult to find part-time work in the UK. There is a lot of competition for a few jobs. UK nationals find it difficult to find work – you will find it much harder. If you can find work , you may have to travel a long distance, and public transport is very expensive. Your visa will only allow you to work for 20 hours per week.

They may tell you the wages are very good. This is a half-truth. Compared to your country, wages are good. But the cost of living is also very high compared to your country. You will find rent and food will be vastly more expensive than you are used to. You can survive, but you will certainly not make significant amounts of money here.

They may tell you that it is easy to find somewhere to live. This is a lie. Accommodation options are very limited. Please DO NOT travel unless you have accommodation arranged. DO NOT find rental accommodation on Facebook – they are all a scam. We know several people who have lost large sums of money like this. You MUST go through an estate agent and get a written contract. Google estate agents near the university and use one with a good reputation.

They may tell you that you can buy a car and have freedom to travel. This is a half-truth. Reliable used cars are very expensive in the UK. You should budget at least £3,000. Insurance is mandatory and also very expensive – you should budget £2,000 per year. You can only drive for 1-year after you arrive with an international driving license. After that you will need to take the UK driving test, and it is hard to pass. You will need lessons (at least 20) which will cost about £50 each. The wait for a driving test is about 6 months.

They may tell you that you can stay for 2 years (18 months from January 2027) after your course finishes, on the graduate visa programme. They will say you can find a full-time job and pay off your debts. This is a half-truth. After you finish your studies, the visa will cost about £3,000 extra. It will be hard to find work. You are very unlikely to find work related to your degree. Many international graduates can only get work as carers or in warehouses.

They may tell you that you can find a sponsored “Skilled Worker” visa and stay in the UK indefinitely – becoming a UK citizen one day. This is a half-truth. Sponsored visas are very hard to find now. You will need to find a job paying more than £33,400. As an international graduate, it will be very difficult or impossible to find a job paying that much. Even if you do, it will probably be 10 or 15 years before you can even apply for indefinite leave to remain.

They may tell you that the weather is OK – a nice relief from the heat. This is a lie. You will find the weather is good for only about 3 months per year. You may find the rest of the year pretty miserable. UK houses have heating systems because it’s so cold. The heating is expensive to run, but you will have it on anyway because you cannot function without it.

If you need to borrow money from friends and family to come here, please think VERY carefully. Is this really a good investment? Most international students will struggle to pay back their loans. Many go back to their own country with lots of debt, and in no better situation than before.

Please understand: the UK is a brilliant country. There’s lots to see and do. If you want to study here, and you have enough budget, you will have a wonderful time. But if you have to rely on loans or work to cover living costs, please be very careful. It’s expensive, and may be much harder than the agent says. Speak to other people from your country who are already here. And remember that the visa rules are constantly changing, and it’s much harder to stay now than it was just 2-3 years ago.

Do also read this article from a UK newspaper. They did an investigation about this whole subject. What they say is exactly the experience of many international students we know: The Brutal Reality of life as a foreign student in the UK.

We love having international students worshipping with us at Park Church. And it’s because we love you that we want you to come with an realistic expectation of life here. Please do contact us if you have questions.