Your Student Visa responsibilities

Upload a copy of your current passport and valid visa/BRP card to the University's e:vision system.

For students at the University for more than one year must bring on an annual basis your original passport and valid visa/BRP card to the Student Centre or your School Office to have it verified by a relevant member of staff.

Provide us with your UK contact details (address and mobile telephone number) and keep them up to date by noting any changes on your e:vision account.

Register for your programme on time each academic year.

Academic engagement at lectures, seminars, tutorials and practical classes is an integral part of a Student's programme of study and students are expected to academically engage regularly.

UG and Postgraduate Students

Your engagement will be monitored by the University fortnightly  by your School.

Research Students

Your engagement will be monitored by the University on a monthly basis.

If concerns are raised regarding your engagement you will be required to attend a meeting with a suitable academic from your Department in which you will be required to explain your non-engagement and show that you are actively engaged with your course.

If you don't re-engage, a formal written warning letter will be issued outlining the conditions on which you can stay on the course.

Formal written warning letters will be issued by Visa Compliance team. Following this, if the concerns are upheld your case will be considered and if you are judged to not be actively engaging with your programme you will be withdrawn and University's sponsorship of your visa will cease.

This will normally lead to your visa being curtailed by the Home Office and you will be required to return to your home country.

Ensure that you notify the University of any absences (medical or personal). Failure to do so could lead to further action and possible withdrawal.

Follow University processes if you decide that you would like to defer or suspend your studies. Failure to do so could lead to further action and possible withdrawal.

Inform the University (Student Centre) and the Home Office of any changes to your personal details or circumstances that may affect your visa status, including any changes to your name, gender, nationality, facial appearance and date of birth.

Once your suspension has been agreed by your School:

If you withdraw or are withdrawn from your course of study the University will make a report to the Home Office to state that you are no longer a current student, your leave will be shortened to 60 days after the date of the report and you will be expected to either leave the UK or to have made an application for leave to remain in the UK under another immigration category.

Please send the Visa Compliance Team (visacompliance@city.ac.uk) a copy of your travel bookings, as well as your boarding card once you leave the UK or a copy of your new immigration category. If you decide to appeal the University will still be required to make the report to the Home Office. See 'Resuming your Studies' for further information.

If you are required to repeat without attendance you will be reported to the Home Office, your leave will be shortened to 60 days after the date of the report and you will be expected to either leave the UK or to have made an application for leave to remain in the UK under another sponsor or immigration category within 60 days.

Please send the Visa Compliance Team (visacompliance@city.ac.uk) a copy of your travel bookings, as well as your boarding card once you leave the UK or a copy of your new immigration category.

Students who are required to complete an exam in the UK before they are progressed to the next academic year will be required to obtain a Visitor visa before they enter the UK and should not try to re-enter the UK with their Tier 4 visa/Student Visa at any point after a report has been made.

Once a report is made and you leave the UK this has the effect of cancelling your Tier 4 visa/Student Visa, even if you are still within the 60 day curtailment period. For further advice contact the International Student Advice team.

In exceptional circumstances students will be required to repeat with attendance in the UK. In this instance students will not be reported to the Home Office and their visas will remain valid.

This is usually approved when there is a strong justifiable reason for the student to repeat the whole year with attendance as recommended by the Assessment Board.

If partial repeats are scheduled outside your visa validity, but no later than 60 days from the visa end date, CAS sponsorship will be provided.

If partial repeats are scheduled more than 60 days from your visa end date, CAS sponsorship will not be provided.

Only in situations, where there are strong justifiable, reasonable and evidence-based reasons for you to partially repeat your studies with attendance as recommended by the Assessment Board, a CAS Sponsorship be provided.

In both cases, you are responsible to submit your relevant visa and UK address during that time to the Visa Compliance Team (visacompliance@city.ac.uk).

If resits [in person exams] are scheduled outside your visa validity, but no later than 60 days from the visa end date, CAS sponsorship will be provided.

If resits [in person exams] are scheduled more than 60 days after your visa end date, no CAS sponsorship will be provided.

Please note that students who have coursework resits without attendance are not eligible for CAS extension.

Postgraduate taught students who are offered the opportunity to resubmit their dissertation may not be required to be present at the University and can submit online. Therefore, if your visa expires before you are due to submit their dissertation, the University will not able to issue CAS sponsorship.

However, if ECs outcomes are approved at the Assessment Board where there are strong justifiable, reasonable and evidence-based reasons for you to write your dissertation in the UK, or you have to use the lab/specific University’s facilities during that time, CAS Sponsorship will be provided. That is irrespectively when the dissertation period is (within 60 days of your student visa end date or later).

If their course end date has been extended but still falls within the validity of your current visa, City would not sponsor you for an extension. If, however the course end date has been extended and teaching continues after your visa end date, CAS sponsorship will be provided.

Adding a Placement/Internships

If a work placement has been added to the course and as a result the course end date has been extended, a new CAS will be issued to cover this period.

If you complete your course earlier than expected or change to a shorter course of study the University will report this to the Home Office. You should therefore arrange to leave the UK within 4 months of your course end date OR make a new immigration application to stay in the UK within this time.

If you have studied on your current course for more than 12 months - The Home Office will take action with this information to bring forward the end date of your visa to 4 months after the new course end date. Students on courses of longer than 12 months are always granted 4 months on top of the course end date for visa purposes.

You should therefore arrange to leave the UK within 4 months of your course end date OR make a new immigration application to stay in the UK within this time[U2] .

Students returning to their studies after a period of absence due to suspension, return following appeal or repeating will in most circumstances be required to obtain a new Student Visa. Students should contact their School Office to request a CAS and for further advice, contact the International Student Advice team.

Regardless of how short/long a visa extension is, the additional period in the second row will be granted.

Example: Master degree programme (start 1 Sept 2021 till 30 September 2022)

The student has resits in March 2023. A visa extension will be given from the end of January until the end of March – The visa extension validity for the extension period will be + 4 extra months (new visa end date should be end of July 2023).

Yes, you would have to pay for the new visa application as well as Immigration Health Surcharge.

For more information, please check here.

Only if this is approved and recommended by the Assessment Board. After you have submitted an ECs and if they are accepted and there is strong reasons for you to stay in the UK and work on your dissertation, you can get a new CAS which will cover the whole period for the dissertation until submission.

No, City will not be able to sponsor you for the period where you have to wait for the outcome of your degree.

In addition to the requirements outlined here and within the Tier 4 students responsibilities booklets, further academic engagement requirements may be in place at School or Programme level. Where these are in place, they run in conjunction with the Student Visa holders requirements.

Academic engagement is recorded on an on-going basis by their School as well as Student and Academic Services. The academic engagement process has been designed to ensure that records reflects the cycle of the academic year and in order to ensure that any issues or concerns can be quickly and easily identified; and (where required) reported to the Home Office.

Students are expected to engage with their studies (via class register, Moodle, Count Me In card etc) at all classes, lectures, seminars and other academic events that are a compulsory part of their programme. In addition, students will be expected to demonstrate engagement by ensuring that they have their passport and visa verified at the start of each academic year.

1. Students must contact their School in case of the absence and request their authorisation by completing the Authorisation Slip.
2. Students will not normally be allowed to be absent during designated teaching and examination weeks. During vacation periods there is no requirement for students to be present on campus, and there is no need to request an authorised absence during designated City vacation periods.
3. The maximum continuous period of absence which can be granted without suspending studies is 28 calendar days. In exceptional circumstances, where appropriate evidence has been provided, City may consider authorising an absence up to maximum of 60 calendar days.
4. Students who are granted an authorised absence will not receive a refund of tuition fees; nor will their expected end date of studies be amended to reflect the period of time away from their studies.
5. In circumstances where a student’s absence is expected to prevent them from progressing on their current course, the School must decide on temporary or permanently withdrawal of the student. All authorised absences must be recorded on the student file along with any relevant supporting evidence.
6. Authorised absence will only be granted to students who need to be away from their studies for extenuating reasons beyond their control such as:
   1. Medical appointment/Ill health
   2. Genuine family emergency such as death or serious illness of a family member
   3. Visa immigration/nationality documentation reasons (e.g. you must renew your passport in your home country)
7. Students must complete the Authorised request form. Please include the Authorisation Slip (found in point 1) and evidence of the extenuating circumstances that leads to the request. Please submit the documents in PDF format.

This is not an exhaustive list and each request will be considered on its own merit.

Authorised absence will not be granted for events such as holidays or weddings during term time. Other non-urgent travel will not be authorised.

During your studies you may undertake off campus study for one of the following reasons:

• Mandatory Work Placement
• Study Abroad Programme
• Data Collection and Research for your dissertation or thesis away from City

If you will be undertaking study overseas for one of the reasons above, this will not be considered an "authorised absence" as you are still expected to be fully engaging with your studies, even though you are not physically at City. We must be notified of any Off Campus Study before it starts as this will be reported to the Home Office.

For those undertaking a mandatory placement, that is an integral and assessed part of your course, or study abroad, your school will provide us with an Off Campus Activity reporting form confirming the details of your time Off Campus. The details of your placement or study abroad will then be reported to the Home Office.

If you will be undertaking Off Campus Study for data collection or research away from City, this must be directly related to your studies. You must complete an Off Campus study form in conjunction with your school and ensure this is submitted to the Visa Compliance team. We will then notify the Home Office. The Off Campus Study form can be found here.

Whilst undertaking off campus study, we are required to continue monitoring engagement with your course. You must therefore remain in regular contact with your school, continue to check your City e-mail account regularly and notify us if any of your circumstances change.

Where engagement concerns are identified a School nominee will contact the student. Once contact has been made the student will be required to attend a meeting with their Course Director or Supervisor to discuss the reasons behind the non-engagement issues.

If the student’s engagement does not improve following the meeting, a formal written warning letter will be issued by the Visa Compliance team outlining the conditions on which they can stay on the course.

Should there be additional concerns after this, the student’s case will be considered and if they are deemed to not be actively engaging with their programme they will be withdrawn. The University will then cease sponsorship of their visa and the student will be reported to the Home Office as not in attendance.