3 years is the rule for university fees, but there might be other relevant courses you can do in the meantime. It could be worth looking at A-Levels to get your qualifications up to that level, especially if you are competing for uni places. Maybe look at the entry requirements on university websites and see what you can do in the meantime to make sure you look awesome on the application

Whenever you get there, I would suggest that you get to the nearest job centre, they should be able to explain any benefits you can get, and might be able to advise on training or trying to get a job in the meantime while you wait for those fees to drop.

Good luck!

Yes there are such services in London. But you really want to avoid that if you can. You'd be much better off (safer) somewhere else. Bristol is somewhere with a good support system. I have no doubt there are others.

Here are some details of agencies in Bristol and some other links. Ignore that it's caring at xmas, the info's still good.

It would really be a good idea if you could at least get a decent B&B for a few days on return.

I suggest you make contact with some of those organisations.

Off The Record on page 6 is good. The Hub on page 8 too (a strong recommendation for that one). You could do a lot worse than contact the Salvation Army too. Somebody from these organisations will make a huge difference in guiding you through the systems, including housing, benefits and employment/training

Here's a recent thread regarding Job Seekers Allowance. It won't take long to read through and it will give you an idea of pitfalls. There's an encouraging end too.


Could that person in Birmingham at least put you up for a few days? The earlier refusal of help might have been limited to financial help. You'll have a lot to do to sort things out. Some stability for a few days will make a massive difference.


You need to have someone on your side when you get back. I can't emphasize that enough.

I am no longer in contact with my step aunt and I have no choice but to go through sevices London has since that is where my plain is going to land and since I have no one to meet me at the airport I won't know my way around.
I will still look into it to see what they can do for me and if there is anyway someone can pick me up from the airport.

And for uni I wasn't planning on going until I was on my feet with my own place ad a good steady job. I dont think I will be ready for uni for atleast 3-4 years because I would like to pay my own way through so if I do need to take out a loan it would be as little as possible.

I have another question that just popped into my head
Would I be able to get duel citizenship in the uk and Canada
Since the only family I know are located here... This again wouldn't be for 5-6 yeas after returning.

Thank you everyone for all your advice and help
I feel more calm and clear headed about everything now
But I know this is only the start of what's to come next

If by London you mean Heathrow have a look at this link for Heathrow Travel Care.

http://www.heathrowtravelcare.co.uk/

http://www.heathrowtravelcare.co.uk/...newsletter.pdf

When I worked at Heathrow they were very good for helping people in similar situations to yours arriving back in the UK. You can email them and ask what help they can offer these days.

Okay. Perhaps just use them for information as to what's "out there" after you're more settled.

That Heathrow Travel Care link. It looks perfect for your needs. They must have some good contacts too. I hope they are as good as they sound.

That needs to be stickied.

In the meantime I've put it in the links at the top, but llikely to get "lost" there

Yes you can have both Canadian and UK citizenship. I suggest you post in the Canadian Immigration Forum regarding your status in Canada. The people who post in that forum will help guide you.

Much as I'd love to sticky every post with a useful link in it, thats just impossible as we would end up with pages of "stickies". The thread you put it in is probably the best place as it has a multitude of useful links

I agree that once you get to London, you can get a train to pretty much anywhere else in the UK fairly easily. You would have to travel to somewhere, even in London, and find your way around.

With regard to Canadian citizenship, yes it is possible to have dual Canadian/British nationality and both passports, but you would need to be eligible, and apply for, Canadian citizenship before you leave Canada. The requirement is that you have been a permanent resident for 3 years, and although I think your student visa might help a little towards that, being without PR status at the moment, I don't think you would be eligible.

Also, the application takes well over a year to complete, once you have been here for the 3 years. If you are certain that you can't be here for that long and get permanent resident status, your UK passport will allow you to visit Canada for 6 months at a time in the future.

You've been given some good advice regarding Bristol, and there are many places that would probably be easier for you than London where costs and population are so high already. There are certainly a lot of decisions to be made.

Do you have your flight booked already? You say that you're flying into Heathrow. There are cheaper options if you were to fly into Gatwick, such as Air Transat, depending where in Canada you're flying from.