We’d love to hire you… once you have your visa.”

If you’ve ever said this to a French or European student, you’ve just closed the door on them without realising it.

Here’s the problem: for an internship in the UK, the visa depends on your offer. No offer, no visa. The student can’t get one first and come back to you later.

Since Brexit, we’ve heard the same three myths from UK employers again and again. Let’s clear them up:

❌ “We can’t sponsor, so we can’t hire them.”
✅ You don’t need to. With the Government Authorised Exchange (GAE) visa, an approved sponsor handles the sponsorship. You don’t need a sponsor licence.

❌ “The visa process is complicated and expensive.”
✅ For the employer, it’s free. There is no legal obligation for you to pay for the visa. Your part takes about 15 to 20 minutes: you simply describe the role, the day-to-day activities, and how the intern will be trained.

❌ “It’s risky. What if the visa gets refused?”
✅ The GAE visa has a very low refusal rate, and we check every application before it starts to make sure it meets the requirements.

So the real question isn’t “Can we hire French interns?” It’s “Why haven’t we started yet?”

📅 Free webinar for UK employers: 3 November
How the GAE visa works, what your 20 minutes involve, and how to welcome your first European intern with confidence. 👉 Register here

Over to you: has your company ever turned down a great European candidate because of the visa? Tell us in the comments