Year in industry abroad. Idiots guide!

[BigSilly]

DD is a biochemistry undergraduate, and looking into a year in industry. She has a contact in a pharmaceutical company in Finland who has expressed a possibility of her working there. Now obviously we are not now part of the EU and don't have the freedom of movement any more, is there any mechanism for paid placements

She could ask her university whether it's possible to use the Turing scheme. (Anecdotally it seems a mess but...)

Or her contact could ask the pharmaceutical company to look into the work visa situation.

My experience of placements in the larger pharmaceutical companies within the EU is that these placements are generally not open to students who require a visa. If the student is successful in securing a placement, the placement must be a mandatory part of the academic program to qualify for an internship employment permit.

She needs to work through her university - they’ll have staff with expertise in placements and advice re the Turing scheme. The Turing scheme was being used as a widening participation tool so there are different regulations for it than when we were properly part of Europe.

Just to note, the government haven’t yet confirmed if Turing Scheme will be running for the 2025-26 year.

Information on visas for internships can be found here, although you would need to check if the placement would be counted as an internship or if a work visa would be required: migri.fi/en/internship

In any case, students applying for work/study visas in the EU will need to apply as far in advance as possible, be proactive, and prepare for lots of paperwork! It really is a nightmare now.

My son got no Turing funding for his year (language degree).

His friend is doing a year abroad at the moment and is stuck there for Christmas due to visa issues.

My main advice would be to give loads of time and budget for it, we had to pay for return trips to the embassy in London, visa fees, flights etc.

I’d get a placement here. No uni will have great links with Finland. No MFL dept to help either.