International Students

As an International Student, you are facing a very exciting and probably a daunting time in your life. You will be trying to absorb information about studying at a British University, while doing your best to adjust to living in a different country. It is a lot to take on board and DON'T PANIC if you feel like it is all too much. WE ARE HERE TO HELP.

The Advice and Support Centre in the Students' Union aims to help you adapt to life in the UK with as much ease as possible and we are on hand to answer you enquiries on anything of which you are unsure.

The pages in this section are designed with information specifically for international students but many of the pages in the Advice part of this website will be of relevance to you.

You will probably have queries regarding housing, finance and academic matters not to mention, health, legal, consumer and employment issues while you are here. We provide advice and information on all these subjects and more. Drop in to the service to pick up a booklet or speak to an adviser, or call or email us if you prefer. (Our in-house booklets are available to download from these pages).

See the Contacts page to find out how to get in touch.

Important News

Tier 1, Post Study Work visas launched.

Students who wish to apply to remain in the UK towork aftrer graduation will now need to apply under the new Tier 1 Post Study Work sub-category.  This replaces IGS and SEGS but the eligibility criteria are slightly different  so please see our page Staying in the UK after you Graduate, for further information.

Changes in the Immigration rules which could affect you!

If you intend making an application to extend or obtain a visa, start planning and preparing documentary evidence months in advance!

In the past, if you made a visa application and could not provide all the documentary evidence required, as long as your application was submitted before your current visa expired, your application was classed as valid and in time.  This meant that you did not become an overstayer and aswell as keeping your right to appeal if your application is refused, you remained under the conditions of your previous visa until your application was processed.  e.g. if you had applied to extend your student visa, you could continue to work 20 hours per week.  

The immigration rules have changed so that if you do not submit all the evidence stated as a mandatory requirement on the form, at the time of your application, your application will be regarded as invalid.  Unless you resubmit the form with all the evidence by the time your current visa expires, you will become an overstayer and remain in the UK unlawfully until your application is processed.  

This does not mean that your application will be automatically refused.  As under normal circumstances, you will have up to 28 days from the date your current student visa expires to submit an application to extend this visa (rules for different visa applications may vary).  The Home Office will still consider an application made within this time frame and in exceptional circumstances may even consider those submitted later.  However, you will lose your right of appeal if your application is refused, you will no longer be subject to the conditions of your student visa and so must stop working, and if you remain in the UK as an overstayer for longer than 28 days you may be refused Entry Clearance in the future.    

At the moment, the only missing evidence that could cause your application to be invaild under this rule, is your payment and photographs, but you should be prepared for other evidence being added to the list. 

How to avoid this change affecting you

• Begin preparing your application months in advance of making it.  This gives you time to ask sponsors to send evidence from abroad and for you to ask banks in the UK to send out duplicate statements if you have lost any.

• Make your application as early as possible.  If you are submitting your application yourself rather than using the Postal Batch Scheme, you are only permitted to make your application up to four or five weeks before your visa expires.  If you apply at the first opportunity and you have forgotten to include a document then you may still have time to provide it without becoming an overstayer as the Home Office may return your application with a request for further evidence before your curent visa expires.  (At busy times such as Autumn, this might not be the case as your visa may have expired before the Hom eOffice have had chance to look at your application).

• Make sure you keep any documents that might be of use in a future via application.  A lot of time is wasted by students having to wait for banks to provide duplicate bank statments becasue they have lost the original copies the bank sent them throughout the year.  Check each academic year that your Student Office has the correct start and end dates for your course on the University student records system.  If you only find out that these dates are wrong after you have requested and received a term dates letter, you will waste time waiting for it to be corrected.  If there is anything unusual about your circumstances such as you took a leave of absence, keep a record and proof of what you were doing during this time so that it is ready to present to the Home Office when you make your application.

For further information about the evidence required when you extend a student visa click here

Biometric Registration Pilot   

Please note, between 28th April and 25th June, if you have a London address or extend your visa in person at the Public Enquiry Office in Croydon, you may be required to give your biometric details.  This means that a record of your fingerprints, a photograph of your face and personal information about you will be stored on a Home Office database.  Eventually this scheme will be in place wherever you extend your visa/apply for entry clearance and you will be given a biometric identity card.  For now though, only the pilot scheme is in existence and students who live outside London and apply for their visas by post or at the Birmingham or Liverpool Public Enquiry offices remain unaffected.

Fire Alarms

It has been reported by security staff that some students are not evacuating builings when a fire alarm sounds.  It is vital that you leave a building immediately if a fire alarm sounds.  This is for your own safety.  Even if you suspect the alarm is a drill or a false alarm (i.e. there is no fire) you MUST by law, evacuate. If you are unsure what the procedures are for evacuating the building you are in, you should refer to the blue fire notices displayed around the building. General procedures in a fire are as follows:

On discovering a fire:

Sound the alarm (by breaking the red break glass call point)

Ensure that the fire brigade is called (Call 9-999)

Leave by the nearest available exit

Go to the assembly point

Take any students or visitors with you

On hearing the alarm:

BELIEVE IT!!

Leave by the nearest available exit

Go to the assembly point

Take any students or visitors with you

NEVER USE THE LIFTS UNDER EITHER CIRCUMSTANCE, IF THE POWER FAILS YOU WILL BE TRAPPED!!

 Student Safety

Do you have top tips on staying safe to share with other students?  If so, you might like to enter a competition at the following link.  You could win a book filled with ideas for enjoying your time in the UK whilst remaining safe.  Student Life competition.

New

Within the International pages of this site, we now have created a page for academic and administrative staff who advise and support international students.

It is not intended to replace signposting the students to the International Office and Advice and Support Centre for expert advice, but we hope will assist in identifying the extra considerations that international students must make in order to continue their studies and remain in the UK lawfully.