Preparing for an international internship takes time, patience, organisation and hard work. The Saltire Scholar team are here to support you, but YOU MUST take the lead in booking your travel, and, where relevant, organising your visa and insurance.
This page contains onboarding information relevant to international internship roles:
The visa process will be the most complicated part of preparing for your internship, but it is also the most important. You need to start the visa process straight away to ensure you obtain this paperwork in time to travel. If you don’t get your visa in time, it is unlikely you will be able to undertake your internship.
The scholar team will provide support throughout and Entrepreneurial Scotland will cover the cost of the Visa and Visa processing. Scholars are respectively advised that ES do not cover the cost of travel/accommodation Embassy interview visits where this arrangement may create financial hardship scholars are encourage to speak to the programme team for further assistance.
You must be in possession of a valid passport, which does not expire any less than six months from the date you intend to return to the UK from your internship.
Please follow the separate visa application guidelines provided by email, relevant to your destination. It is paramount that you action this mail as soon as you receive it.
We have partnered with IST Plus who, along with CIEE, are the awarding and sponsoring bodies of your J-1 visa. In short, your visa application will require you to complete an online application (involving input from your host company) which gets reviewed by our partners. They then post you legal documents which allow you to book and attend a US Embassy appointment where the Embassy will retain your passport to issue you your visa and then return your passport to you, enabling you to enter the US.
You will find all the important detail in your onboarding email but we have included some handy links below for quick access:
Summary of next steps
Please view the Canada Work Permit and Visa Guide here.
Depending on where in Europe you are interning, this process may vary. All information regarding European Work Permits will be discussed on your onboarding call.
All information regarding the Australian Working Holiday visa will be discussed on your onboarding call.
For Scholars travelling outside the UK, you are covered on Entrepreneurial Scotland’s company insurance policy. Entrepreneurial Scotland’s company insurance policy only covers Scholars from the Saturday before your internship starts to the Saturday after your internship finishes.
The travel insurance provided does not cover pre-existing medical conditions. Entrepreneurial Scotland will reimburse you for the cost of an additional or alternative policy if required to ensure you have adequate coverage. If this is applicable to you, you must mention this during your onboarding phone call.
Scholars are responsible for booking their own travel to their internship destination through the Scholar Team. This gives you flexibility in choosing your travel dates should you wish to travel after completing your internship.
The Scholar Team will send you a Flight Booking Form, which you must return with all of the required information within 5 working days.
The Saltire Scholar Programme is funded by our Foundation. As a charity, you are expected to take the lowest possible cost option that is also convenient to yourself for the travel dates set by the team.
By ‘convenient to yourself’ we mean your journey should be of a reasonable duration - we don’t expect you to take a 34 hour flight instead of a 12 hour flight to save a few pounds.
Please read the information in your visa guidelines regarding when to book flights. Where possible coordinate booking with other Scholars travelling to the same host city. This can be much more enjoyable and makes travel to your accommodation easier on arrival.
You are not permitted to travel any earlier than the Saturday before your internship is due to commence (unless advised differently by the Scholar Team). This may differ if your host country require a period of quarantine to be completed before your internship can begin - we will advise you if this is the case.
If you wish to return at a later date after your internship has ended, we will ask you to set a maximum budget. This is the highest amount you are willing to pay towards any additional cost this date change may incur.
If the flight options are more expensive than the budget you have set for your preferred return date, then the standard flight offered by the Scholar Team will be booked.
If there are additional costs to pay, your contact details will be shared with Diversity Travel to settle this amount with them directly. In addition, you must remember the airports you will travel to and from will be the same for both outward journey and for the return journey.
We will provide accommodation from the Saturday before your internship begins until the Saturday after your internship ends (56 nights for an 8 week internship or 70 nights for a 10 week internship).
If you choose to stay beyond these dates, you are responsible for arranging and paying for your own accommodation and travel insurance.
Please remember to check your baggage allowance for both legs of your journey. You are liable for any additional baggage charges.
Scholars on internships outside the UK are provided with accommodation which is clean, safe and an appropriate distance from their place of work.
In the first instance we aim to accommodate Scholars in student housing but where this is not possible we will use long-stay accommodation or in some cases a hotel.
Accommodation is normally organised by the Scholar team but some host companies do organise accommodation directly. In addition to the above mentioned criteria, the accommodation sourced by us will entail single-occupancy bedrooms.
Please check what is provided in your accommodation as in student housing, bedding is sometimes excluded and you will need to purchase this on arrival or order it online to be delivered to your accommodation ahead of your arrival.
As you are a representative of the Saltire Scholar Programme we expect you treat your accommodation as if it were your own. It is important that your accommodation is left in exactly the same condition as when you arrived, no personal belongings should be left in the accommodation following your departure.
You will be responsible for any damages to the property. It may be possible to extend your stay in the accommodation provided but it is up to you to negotiate any extensions directly with your accommodation provider. We will book your accommodation when all interns travelling to your internship destination have been confirmed. All Scholars will receive details of their accommodation no earlier than a couple of weeks before your internship start date.
My supervisors and co-workers have truly made me feel at home, including me in every single discussion and opportunity, and have been an integral aspect of my joyful time here. Further, the chance to live with other scholars, which, I have now grown quite close to, has massively contributed to the experience.
My internship in Belgium is great, I'm learning a lot about how an internationally renowned company works, along with many transferable skills that will be essential in the future. I am grateful to be in a give-and-take situation where my experiences are valued and where I am developing myself thanks to my team.
I learned valuable new skills working with data and how to coherently present findings, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. I learned how to live and work independently in a vibrant city which has given me heaps of confidence for applying to graduate roles. Moreover, I have learned more about the type of work that I enjoy doing which is invaluable insight for narrowing down the roles I want to pursue in my career.
I’m having a great time at Wood and learning a lot. The programme has been structured as two week rotations which has exposed us to a variety of aspects of the business, such as risk management. The experience itself has been incredibly invaluable and I am so glad I embraced this opportunity!
To put it simply, I am having the best summer of my life! In terms of my work, the company have been nothing short of perfect. They welcomed me with open arms and have been so inviting and willing to let me sit in on meetings whilst also listening to and valuing my opinions and suggestions.
My experience with KPMG so far has been amazing, as well as the opportunity to have moved across the world to live in Toronto. I am so excited to be apart of a huge project within KPMG Canada, creating a new database that is of crucial importance to the business. I have gained lots of new knowledge, have created connections to further my career and have grown in confidence throughout the first half of my internship here.