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EU gives foreign students nine months to find a job

Americans, Chinese or Kenyans who have graduated in Europe, will be given the time to look for a job within the European Union. The European Students Union is satisfied, but had hoped for more time.

The European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Europe reached a compromise last month: after graduation, non-EU students will have nine months to find a permanent job anywhere in the European Union. In the meantime, they are allowed to work for up to fifteen hours each week in order to support themselves.

Unlimited number of hours
The Netherlands has been giving foreign graduates the opportunity to find a nice job for some time already. Graduates are given a year, during which time they may work for an unlimited number of hours.

‘The final agreement is only half of what we were looking for,’ says chairman Fernando Galán of the European Students Union. ‘In previous proposals from the European Parliament, non-EU students had many more rights than in the present proposal.’ For example, the parliament suggested a period of eighteen months before graduates had to leave.

The agreement still has to be approved by the parliament and by all EU leaders. If that is successful, member states will have two years to introduce the regulation.

Read the Dutch version of this article here.

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