Visa and Immigration Advice - University of Staffordshire

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Visa and Immigration Advice

Follow our advice so you don’t miss any steps in your Student visa application. There’s plenty of help on offer.

UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website contains all the information you need to be able to complete a Student visa application, whether you’re making your application inside or outside of the UK.

When applying for your visa, please ensure you have access to the documents listed in the CAS – ‘evidence provided’ and ‘other evidence’ sections.

If you need any further assistance with your visa application, please contact our International Student Support team and they’ll be happy to help.

Confirmation of Acceptance (CAS)

Once you have an offer and completed the pre-CAS conditions, we will then issue a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number, which acts as your proof of acceptance. This CAS number is essential for your visa application. Here is a list of the conditions you will need to meet to receive your CAS.

Meeting your pre-CAS conditions

Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)

Some courses require ATAS clearance from the UK government. If you require ATAS clearance this will be stated in your offer letter. It’s really important that you apply for your ATAS well in advance of your course start date as processing times can take 6-8 weeks. Your ATAS certificate will be valid for six months and the CAH3 code, which you’ll need for your ATAS application, can be found at the top of your offer letter. For further instructions on how to apply for ATAS clearance, please see the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) guidance from gov.uk.

Pre-CAS interview

Once you have paid your deposit, you may be required to complete a Pre-CAS Interview. You will be contacted with details about how to book this at the relevant time

Student visa webinar

Once you have paid your deposit you may be required to attend a Student Visa Webinar. You will be contacted with details about how to book this at the relevant time.

Visa finance check

Before we send your CAS, we may ask you to send us some financial information to make sure that you meet the UKVI financial requirements for a Student Visa. As you may need to hold the required funds for a minimum of 28 days you should plan carefully to ensure you will pass this in time to receive your CAS. You will be contacted with details of how to send your documents to us at the relevant time.

For more information, please visit UKCISA about financial requirements and evidence, and you can also visit Help submitting financial evidence documents.

DBS and occupational health

Some of our courses require you to undertake a Criminal Record Check from your home country and to complete an Occupational Health Check to ensure that you are medically fit. For more details on how to apply for a Criminal Record check, please see the criminal records check guidance on the gov.uk website. Once you’ve received the police report, please send it to int-admissions@staffs.ac.uk so that we can update your record.

The Occupational Health Check will be sent to you 12 weeks before the start of the course. Once this has been successfully verified, you will be eligible to move on to the next stage of the admissions process.

Confirming your CAS details

Once you’ve met all the pre-CAS checks, you’ll receive a pre-CAS letter, which will detail all of the information for your CAS letter. You’ll be asked to check and confirm that the information is correct. You must contact the International Admissions team immediately if any of the information is incorrect.

Your Confirmation

Once you’ve confirmed that the details in your Pre-CAS email are correct, you’ll receive an official CAS letter by email. You’ll need this document to apply for your Student Visa.

You can apply for a visa up to six months before the start of the course. Please check your visa vignette carefully to ensure you do not travel before the permitted window.

The CAS provides details such as:

The course you intend to study
Course duration
Annual tuition fee
Deposit paid (if applicable)
The campus where you’ll be studying

Health requirements

Healthcare surcharge

The UK government require the payment of a healthcare surcharge, which must be paid before you start your Student visa application. The current surcharge is £776 per year for students. For more information on how to pay, please see GOV.uk.

TB certificate

You may be asked to provide a TB certificate from an official UKVI-approved health centre in your country. To find out if this applies to you, please see gov.uk.

Finances

The Home Office ask students from certain countries to prove that they have the funds to cover tuition fees and living expenses.

If this applies to you, we’ll have already checked your finances for you as part of the Pre-CAS check. It’s very important that you only submit the financial evidence that has been approved by our International Student Support team.

If you’ve any questions about your financial evidence, please see the UKCISA webpages.

Interview

The Home Office may ask you to undertake a credibility interview as part of your visa application, to ensure that you have genuine intentions to study in the UK. Questions will focus on your reasons for coming to the UK and why you’ve chosen University of Staffordshire , your background, study plans and finances. It’s really important that you prepare for this as much as possible.

Placements

If you’d like to undertake a placement as part of your course, you’ll need to apply to extend your visa after you’ve arrived in the UK. For further information on how to do this, please contact the International Student Support team.

Your Student visa

Once your Student visa has been issued, this is great news. You can now plan for your Staffordshire student experience. Please let us know so that we can offer our congratulations and prepare for your arrival.

Please also let us know:

If your visa is refused. Please provide the University with a copy of the refusals notice.
Any delay in your visa application process, or in the booking of your travel to the UK. The University has a responsibility to inform UKVI.
If you’re successful in obtaining a Student visa but do not enrol at the University on time. The University has a responsibility to report late students to the UKVI if you do not inform us. This will result in your visa being curtailed and unfortunately this process cannot be reversed.

If you need further advice or information about studying with us, please contact the International Student Support team.