Philip Said:

any edinburgh students out there?

We Answered:

Hi,

I didn’t go to edin uni, but went a bit further north to Dundee. When I moved into halls in my first year I went at the start of freshers week. This was the best time as it really is a dedicated week to get to know all other students or as many as you can stumble into in the union! And of course do some of the important stuff such as matriculate!!

I find out when freashers week starts and aim to arrive at the beginning of it, i.e. the Saturday so you can get to know your flatmates. Your uni should be sending you out a freashers pack (well they did for us!!) which will give you a date, or check their web site for more info!! This should give you some more info as to the best time to arrive, but don’t miss freashers week, I met my best mate on the 2nd night of it and have been inseparable since!!

Best of luck, you will have a blast!!

Rick Said:

Student Job In Edinburgh?

We Answered:

You may have more chance of finding something suitable through your college placement program, they will also be able to help with your Visa application and student status.
Here is a university list of companies who have hired foreign students in the past and some have offices in Scotland
http://www.le.ac.uk/ssds/careers/pdf/dir…
Good luck.

Shelly Said:

How hard is it to get a paid under the table job in the UK?

We Answered:

babysitting
housework
gardening
hard to work in a pub ... they have to declare their payroll
under the table money is usually direct from one person to another with no payroll involved

Ruby Said:

Student Tax Return...?

We Answered:

Sorry, students are not exempt from tax in the UK! Are you from N. Ireland or the Republic? If the former, you will be a British citizen and entitled to the personal tax-free allowance of £6035 automatically. If the latter, you will probably be entitled to it as a EU citizen, but to establish that you should do a form P86.
The British tax year goes from 6th April to 5th April. It will be too late now for tax office to amend your code number because employers are doing/have done final payroll. Send the form P60 that employer gives you after end of tax year to tax office with any other relevant forms, and any refund due will be made from there. Ensure tax office has complete employment history for you for the tax year, maybe on a form P91. You can download forms mentioned on http://www.hmrc.gov.uk , then put forms in search engine. Don't bother with an agency. Some take 40% of your refund.

Jackie Said:

Will I get my Work Permit and what arethe taxes?

We Answered:

If you are not from an EU country there is no guarantee that you will get permission to work in the UK. Tax is graduated and depends on how much you earn, including earning whilst still a student (again, if you can get permission to work).

Having a loan makes no difference.

Adrian Said:

Living expenses in Edinburgh,for students!!!?

We Answered:

I assume you're talking about Edinburgh University (as opposed to Napier or Heriot Watt)

How expensive it is depends largely on what you're used to. I would say in terms of general living costs it is fairly expensive but it depends on how good you are with money. Shopping isn't too bad depending on where you're staying, there are a number or supermarkets around, the biggest and cheapest one is probably at Cameron Toll shopping centre (depends on where you live though) but I couldn't give you an exact price on how much you're likely to spend. Transportation is good, £1.20 will get you just about anywhere in the city on the buses, £3 will get you bus journeys for the entire day.

You can get jobs, one of my flatmates works in one of the supermarkets and there are plenty of restaurants around that you can get casual work in, you can get jobs in the student union buildings as well. Don't know how much they pay unfortunately, I get the impression it's ok but not amazing. Weekly food costs you could probably get to £40-50 or even slightly less if you're careful and plan your meals. I tend to spend around £70+ but that's largely due to buying lunch separately most days. Flats vary, for two people and a reasonable flat you'll probably be looking at £300-400 per month each. Good places to look for student flats online are www.citylets.co.uk and http://www.edinburghstudentpad.co.uk/ which will give you a decent start. DO NOT RENT FROM GRANT MANAGEMENT

Hope this helps, if you have any more questions or need help with the sites feel free to e-mail me.

Anne Said:

Summer jobs in Edinburgh - any ideas?

We Answered:

there is plenty of temping work if you can type and use word processing packages. You can get work doing police line ups, taking part in medical trials and good old call centres. There is temporary work within the arts festival which would definitely be worth looking into, or you can get work in the backpackers hostels. Try Castle rock hostel and the High Street Hostel.

lived in edinburgh as a backpacker for a couple of years and did it all! There is no shortage of work.