International Student Visas

What is a visa?

A visa gives you permission to enter the UK and is a certificate that is put into your passport or travel document.
If you have a valid UK visa, you will not be refused entry to the UK unless your circumstances have changed. A visa gives you permission to enter the UK.
When you arrive in the UK, an Immigration Officer may ask you questions, so take all relevant documents in your hand luggage.

Do I need a visa to study in the UK?

You will need a visa if you:

• are a national of one of the countries listed at the end of this guidance
• are stateless (you don't have a nationality)
• hold a non-national travel document, or
• hold a passport issued by an authority that is not recognised in the UK

If you are not a student from the EEA and wish to stay in the UK for more than six months you will need to obtain entry clearance before you travel.

If you do not need an entry clearance, you will have to satisfy the Immigration Officer that you qualify for entry when you arrive in the UK. You will then be permitted to stay in the UK for up to six months. You cannot extend your stay as a student unless you arrived with a student or prospective student visa.

How do I qualify to travel to the UK as a student?

To enter the UK as a student you must have been accepted onto a course from an institution that is on Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Register of Education and Training Providers.

You can search the register on the DfES website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/providersregister

You must be able to show that you are going to follow:

• a recognised full-time degree course, or
• a course run during the week involving at least 15 hours of organised daytime study each week, or
• a full-time course at an independent fee-paying school

You must also:

• be able to pay for your course and support yourself and any dependants, and live in the UK without working or needing any help from public funds, and intend to leave the UK when you complete your studies.