Immigration

Visitor visa – courses lasting less than six months

Students on courses of less than six months will usually enter the UK as a Visitor rather than applying for a Student visa. A Visitor visa is granted for a maximium of six months and cannot be extended. Working is prohibited and you cannot bring your dependants with you. However, students on short study abroad programmes or coming to undertake a short period of research, particularly those from ‘non-visa national’ countries including those in the EU, will wish to consider the Visitor visa as it can be easier to meet the requirements and for some nationalities can be requested at the airport rather than applied for in advance. Detailed information about using a Visitor visa for study, including eligibility and comparison with the Student visa, is on our website: exeter.ac.uk/immigration

Atas

Some postgraduate and integrated masters courses in scientific areas require students to hold an ATAS certificate. If this applies to you it will say so on your offer letter. A paragraph describing your research should be included in your offer letter and you will need this exact paragraph when submitting your ATAS application. You must receive ATAS clearance before you can be issued with the CAS for your visa application and the process can take up to six weeks so you should submit your application as soon as possible. This process is free and submitted online at gov.uk/ guidance/academictechnology-approval-scheme Note that some nationalities are exempt from the ATAS requirement.

Student visa requirements CAS

The CAS is a unique reference number given to you by your Student visa sponsor (the University not your financial sponsor) and is the confirmation of your unconditional offer which is required for your Student visa application. You may be issued with a CAS by more than one institution but when you use a CAS to apply for a visa, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will expect you to study at that institution. We will send you a CAS contract and data check email once you have accepted an unconditional offer. This will include your personal and course information. You will need to follow the instructions in the email to confirm that the information is correct or make any changes. A ‘CAS statement’ will then be emailed to you with your CAS number. Please note that a CAS is only valid for six months and that it is not possible to apply for a Student visa until six months before the start of your course.

Finances

There are strict financial requirements for a Student visa. You will usually be required to show that you have held your full tuition fees + £9,207 for living expenses in a bank account in your name or your parent’s name for at least the 28 day period before you submit your visa application, or that you are receiving official financial sponsorship, usually from your government. You should carefully review all of the financial requirements in the Student visas: Money section of our website before you start to prepare your visa application.

Other documents

Your may be required to submit other documents with your visa application, including translations of any documents that are not in English. You should refer to our Student visa guide for the full list of documents.