Springboard course eligibility for USA Graduate visa

Uncle_moe

Hi,

I've been offered a course through the springboard program and its a level 7 course on the NFQ but it also says its a special purpose award and I was wondering if this makes it inelgible for the graduate visa program. Its part time 2 nights a week for a year. Its like a post grad supplemental course as I already have a masters. Any info is welcome, thanks.

Bullzi

Moe,

If the award is a ordinary bachelors degree such as those at level 7 NFQ then you should be eligible for up to one year from your date of graduation. If you find out from the course provider the extent of the qualification, ie degree, or CPD credits towards a degree etc you will be able to figure out for certain your eligibility.

Uncle_moe

Thanks for the reply. Just looking at the prospectus and it says the course has 30 ECTS credits if that means anything to anyone. I'm not sure myself what they are or certainly what they mean in relation to this visa.

ProudDUB

You might want to have a look at this thread. According to the last poster, USIT are not accepting applications for the graduate visa, if the applicants are part time students.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057002402

Bullzi

The ECTS is the european standard for accumulation of college credits for the completion of a college qualification. During a full time course there are for most courses 60 ECTS credits granted per year upon completion of all required modules. Therefore for a Level 7 degree you would accumulate 180 ECTS credits.

As your course is 30 ECTS credits I assume you had to fulfill a prerequisite for you application to be considered, ie already have attained a qualification minimum level 7 for example. This in theory is using the knowledge and credits you have gained in your previous qualification along with the credits you are completing at the minute part time to grant you the new degree in ''whatever'' your studying now. I hope that makes sense for you. In simpler words upon completion of the 30 credits (usually 5 per module) you will graduate with an ordinary degree in what you studied.

As for the eligibility for the US visa the wording USIT use for the requirements for eligibility are not easily deciphered. It is my understanding from a conversation I had with them is that a full time student that has yet to complete the degree they are studying is eligible to apply, a part time student is not. However after you graduate whether it was part time study or full time, you fall into the recent graduate bracket and have up to one year from graduation to apply for your visa. (note: the one year from graduation is not the day of your graduation however, the college tends to back date this date to when your exam results are final and is determined you have completed the course. Usually during the 2 months following completion of your final exam/module).

Hope this helps!

You may want to double check the award you receive from the course with the provider, as well as the graduate visa status after graduation and award of degree. I'm not the expert on it all so I wouldn't want you to take my word as gospel.

Uncle_moe

thanks for the information. I checked into the course and it is definitely considered level 7 on the NFQ and yes you must have completed a degree to do the course as it is a supplemental award to a degree or higher. As for the graduate visa I am still unsure as to whether it qualifies. According to USIT you must have completed a major award at level 7, however, none of the other providers of the visa seem to stipulate this. It's very hard to nail down exactly what the specific requirements are relating to your qualification/certificate upon completion. I have emailed the IIIC and am awaiting a response from them. I will also get in touch with Go4less and see what they have to say. I think part time is allowed but as you have said you must have completed the course. Only time will tell, I will post a reply once I have more news.