Employment status for applying for Avios Plus card as a student

[abaloni]

Hi! I am planning to apply for the avios plus as an international student, and I am not sure what to put as employment status. Does “unemployed” make you rejected straightaway? For some background, I have an income of ~100K as support from my parents, and I also do premier banking with Barclays.

Any datapoint/help is appreciated!

[Richie]

Have you tried the eligibility checker on their website at all.

Students are studying, they aren’t unemployed.

[Andrew.]

Honesty is always the best policy. Choose “student”, “Full time Education” or as appropriate.

[abaloni]

Andrew. wrote:

Honesty is always the best policy. Choose “student”, “Full time Education” or as appropriate.

When I applied for Amex they had this option, but sadly not with Barclays..

[abaloni]

Andrew. wrote:

Honesty is always the best policy. Choose “student”, “Full time Education” or as appropriate.

No but I don’t trust that.. I didn’t pass the Amex eligibility checker but still got the card!

[can2]

Perhaps start with a “credit builder” card before trying Barclaycard or Amex?

[abaloni]

can2 wrote:

Perhaps start with a “credit builder” card before trying Barclaycard or Amex?

I already have an amex gold!

[can2]

Barclaycard Avios Plus is a strange beast in terms of getting approved. I am Barclay Premier, they don’t give it to me. I only have the free card.
So it is difficult to reverse-engineer their algorithm

[abaloni]

can2 wrote:

Barclaycard Avios Plus is a strange beast in terms of getting approved. I am Barclay Premier, they don’t give it to me. I only have the free card.
So it is difficult to reverse-engineer their algorithm

oh noo. I would love to pay my tuition with the avios plus card 🙁

[anuj]

I had it as a student, I think I had the free one and then upgraded in the app, which if it shows, bypasses whatever usual requirements they have.

[abaloni]

anuj wrote:

I had it as a student, I think I had the free one and then upgraded in the app, which if it shows, bypasses whatever usual requirements they have.

thanks I will try that :

[Jamz]

I second the upgrading via the app option. I was only allowed to apply for the free card initially but was allowed to upgrade in the app.

Currently a student

[abaloni]

Jamz wrote:

I second the upgrading via the app option. I was only allowed to apply for the free card initially but was allowed to upgrade in the app.

Currently a student

thanks for the data point!

May I ask what did you put as employment status when you applied and how long after getting the free card were you able to upgrade via the app? thanks!

[Jamz]

I put my employment status as full time education, and I kept the free card for 6 months before I upgraded. Although this isn’t to say I couldn’t have gotten it earlier, I just didn’t know of this possibility until recently

[abaloni]

Jamz wrote:

I put my employment status as full time education, and I kept the free card for 6 months before I upgraded. Although this isn’t to say I couldn’t have gotten it earlier, I just didn’t know of this possibility until recently

thanks! I didn’t see the option of putting full-time education as employment status though.. there is only full-time, part-time, retired, unemployed, self-employed and homemaker..

I guess putting full-time can be full-time (education) and not full-time (employment)? 🙂

[Maples]

I’m actually surprised you’ve put down £100K as income when it’s just money from parents. Is money from other people even really counting for these things? If they ask for documents, I’m assuming your accounts end up getting closed?

For me, I was getting rejected for the eligibility checkers when I was trying as a “student” but putting down that I was working part time worked because I was indeed working part time.

[abaloni]

Maples wrote:

I’m actually surprised you’ve put down £100K as income when it’s just money from parents. Is money from other people even really counting for these things? If they ask for documents, I’m assuming your accounts end up getting closed?

For me, I was getting rejected for the eligibility checkers when I was trying as a “student” but putting down that I was working part time worked because I was indeed working part time.

It might not work. I am still waiting, and was told that they need to do further checks when I applied. It’s been a week already

[Maples]

It took me three weeks to get accepted, so you’re probably going to have to wait longer. They didn’t ask for any documents, and I’m under the impression that someone manually checks and does stuff because of how long it took. I was told I’d hear back in 5 business days or something, which didn’t happen.