Tier 4 (General) Student Visa

Step 1. Receiving your CAS number

If you are an undergraduate or visiting student, your college will contact you by email about your CAS; if you are a postgraduate or recognised student, your department or faculty will contact you. Make sure your college, department or faculty has your current email address. If you have an unconditional offer and have not received your CAS by three months before the start of your course, contact your college or department. Carefully check any emails about your CAS and follow the instructions to report any errors or changes. Your CAS is valid for six months but you cannot apply for your visa until three months before your course starts.

Your CAS number, which you need for your visa application,  will be emailed to you in a 'CAS statement' which lists the information that we have sent to the UK Border Agency (UKBA). This email will also tell you our Tier 4 Licensed Sponsor number, name and address. For your visa application you will need original certificates or transcripts for the qualifications listed on your CAS statement (though some nationals will be exempt from sending them). The statement lists your course fees for one year and whether you have paid any money for University accommodation. For your visa application, you must follow UK Border Agency instructions about sending or having available documents to show you have funding for your fees and living expenses.

UKCISA provide further information on making a student immigration application outside the UK.

Step 2. Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)

Some postgraduate research students and a few undergraduate students in science, engineering and technology subjects will need an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate prior to applying for a visa. If this applies for your subject your CAS will state that you require an ATAS certificate and your department (or college for undergraduates) will notify you of the steps to take.   You must obtain the approved research statement from your department or a list of modules from your college (undergraduates) before applying for your ATAS certificate.

ATAS applications are free, submitted online, take up to 20 working days to process and certificates are sent to you by email.   For further information see the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website.

Step 3. Where and how to apply for your visa

Find out where and how to apply for your visa (Entry Clearance) in your home country from the UK Border Agency website.  Immigration interviews will be introduced in most countries during 2013 (excluding nationals applying in "low risk" countries) so do make sure you know whether you might be called for an interview as part of the process by checking the Home Office website for your home country .  Also please be aware that visa applications may take extra time if your country sends applications to another country for processing.

Step 4. Tuberculosis (TB) Screening

If you will be studying in the UK for more than 6 months, nationals of certain countries must be screened for TB before applying for a visa to come to the UK.  The Home Office provides a list of the countries where TB testing is currrently a requirement. Note that for Hong Kong and China TB testing is currently only required for settlement visas and not for Tier 4 visa applications. Please check this list and the UK Border Agency webpages for your home country for more information, as the Government plan to extend this system to other countries in the near future.

Nationals of these countries are required to obtain a certificate from an accredited clinic showing that they are free from infectious tuberculosis. You will have to meet the cost of this screening, although the fee is kept as low as possible. Screening can be a lengthy process as you need to book an appointment and attend a clinic.  Applicants without a certificate are normally refused a visa.

Step 5. Check your visa requirements

Check the requirements for your Tier 4 (General) Student visa on the UK Border Agency website and the UKCISA website for useful advice. In most countries you will be able to apply and pay online. You will be offered three options under the heading "Type of application".  You should choose:

• Tier 4 (General) Student if you will be self or family funded, otherwise privately funded or funded by a student loan;
• Tier 4 (General) (Sponsored) Student if you are going to be funded by an "official financial sponsor", which includes Oxford or other university scholarships or bursaries, the UK government, your home government (though this does not include student loans), the British Council or any international organisation or international company;
• Tier 4 (Scholarship) Student ONLY IF you are the holder of a Chevening Scholarship or Fellowship, a British Marshall Scholarship, a Fulbright Scholarship or a Commmonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan.

If an online application is not available then you will need to download and complete the VAF (9) PBS Migrant form.

All applicants (online and paper based) must complete the Appendix 8 Tier 4 (General) Student Self Assessment form and to help you complete this form, download our Guide to Appendix 8, 1 August 2013 (158kb)

Evidence of Finances -  the UK Border Agency have compiled a list of financial institutions in some countries that do and do not satisfactorily verify financial statements for the purposes of obtaining a visa to study in the UK.

Step 6. Biometric appointment and processing your visa

After you have commenced your visa application you will be invited to attend a biometric appointment to give a face scan and fingerprints. The processing of your visa application only begins after you have submitted your biometric details. Follow the instructions on the UK Border Agency website about when and how to send in your documents and Appendix 8 according to the guidelines in your country of application.

Processing times vary widely between countries; some will process applications in 5 working days other countries may take several weeks or longer. You can check the processing times for your country using the UK Border Agency guide.

Step 7. When can you come to Oxford

The date you can arrive in the UK will be the valid from date on your visa. This will usually be one month before your course starts. You should not attempt to enter the UK before your visa is valid. If you are coming for less than six months, and are not on a pre-sessional course, your Entry Clearance will only start seven days before the course.

Step 8. Your responsibilities once you arrive in Oxford

Passport scanning

When you start in Oxford, you will need to take your passport and visa to your college to scan as required by the UK Border Agency. This will usually be done at registration for all new students. Recognised students will need to take their passport with their visa to the Examination Schools to be scanned.

Police registration

If your visa states that you need to register with the Police (clearly indicated on the visa) you must report to them within 7 days. This is only a requirement for some students and will be stated on your Entry Clearance (visa) sticker in your passport or will have been stamped into your passport by the Border Force Officer when you arrived in the UK.

You register at the main Police Station in Oxford in St Aldates. You do not have to make an appointment although you may have to queue; registration is a routine procedure and there is no need to be concerned about it. More information on Registering with the police.

Step 9. Student and University obligations for visa holders

The University is required to tell the UK Border Agency if you do not arrive for enrolment, leave your course, suspend your studies, or if you are absent for a long period. Please keep us up-to-date with any changes in your circumstances including your contact details and any matters that may affect the progress of your studies.

It is your responsibility to keep to the conditions of your visa and to make sure you do not stay beyond its end date, unless you have put in a renewal application. If you break the conditions, you could be prosecuted or made to leave the UK and it could make it more difficult for you to get another visa.

Your visa will be issued for study at the University of Oxford only, for the course and duration specified on your CAS statement. You will usually be granted an additional two or four months after your course end date depending on the length of your course.

For further information on renewing/extending your visa while you are in the UK, travel, working during your study and your legal responsibilities,  please see the during you studies section of this website.

Step 10. Entry Clearance Error Correction Scheme

This scheme has been set up by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to correct mistakes made by Embassies or High Commissions overseas in granting leave to remain in the UK. If a mistake was made, it can be amended free of charge and this avoids the need to pay the current fee to extend your visa. You can only use this scheme if the entry clearance issued before you travelled is still valid and your leave has not been extended by the UK Border Agency.

Am I eligible for the scheme?

Length of visa

If you applied for a visa/entry clearance overseas and provided the Entry Clearance Officer with an UNCONDITIONAL OFFER letter from your College (before 30th March 2009) or a VISA LETTER/CONFIRMATION OF ACCEPTANCE FOR STUDIES (CAS) from your college or department (from 31st March 2009), you may be able use this scheme to extend your leave to remain in the UK without charge ONLY if the Embassy or High Commission overseas did not follow these guidelines:

• Postgraduate students should be given the length of their course plus 4 months.
• Non-Postgraduate students coming for courses of one academic year or more that finish in the summer should be given until 31st October following the end of their course. (ie undergraduate courses at Oxford)
• Non-Postgraduate students coming for courses of one academic year or more that do not follow the standard autumn to summer pattern should be given the length of their course plus 4 months
• Short Term Students:
• Studying English or other course of 12 months or less but more than 6 months' duration, should be granted to the end of the course plus 2 months (to end of the month);
• Studying a course of 6 months or less, should be granted to the end of the course plus up to a maximum of 7 days;
• Pre-sessional course of 6 months or less, should be granted to the end of the course plus up to a maximum of 1 month.
• Dependants of students should be granted the same period as the student.

Work Conditions

Your visa will also contain information about your permission to work.  One of the following statements will appear on your visa:

• Work (and any changes) must be authorised
• Able to work as authorised by the Secretary of State
• Work as in Tier 4 Rules
• Restricted Work. P/T term time. F/T vacations
• Restricted work term time
• Work limited to max 20 hrs per week during term-time
• Work limited to max 10 hrs per week during term-time

For details of the hours you should be allowed to work please see the UK Council for International Student Affairs webpage.  You must not work if your passport sticker says "No work" or "Work prohibited".  Please contact us if you believe there is a mistake on your visa in connection with your permission to work.

 How to apply

Please contact the Student Information and Advisory Service for an appointment as soon as possible when you notice the error. Do not wait until your visa is due to expire. You will need to bring:

• your passport
• a photocopy of the visa vignette in your passport
• a photocopy of the photo/ID page of your passport
• a photocopy of the unconditional offer letter/visa letter/CAS from your college or department  that shows how long your course is
• your contact details- telephone, email and college address
• any details of future travel plans

If it appears that a mistake was made we will email the necessary details to the UKBA. They will then contact the relevant Embassy or High Commission overseas; this process could take up to five weeks or longer. When the Embassy overseas has reached a decision the UKBA will contact us. If they agree a mistake was made, we will ask you to bring in 2 recent passport photographs of yourself with your name written on the back of each photograph, original police registration certificate (if applicable), passport(s)for dependant(s) together with 2 recent passport photographs of each dependant with their name written on the back of each photograph. We will send your passport to the Home Office. It will be returned within about three weeks with a new 'residence permit' with the correct end date, work conditions, information about police registration to replace your student visa.

Any review is based on the documents submitted at the time of application. No further documents can be provided in support of a request for the decision to be re-considered. It is a mistake in the decision which is being reviewed, NOT a mistake in the documentation provided.

What cannot be corrected?

Please note the scheme cannot be used to correct mistakes in leave or other conditions granted by the UK Border Agency from within the UK, or by Immigration Officers at ports of entry to the UK.  Only mistakes on entry clearances that were issued at posts abroad can be corrected.

• If you identify a mistake by an entry clearance officer, other than the mistakes listed above, then it cannot be rectified through the scheme. Please contact us at student.immigration@admin.ox.ac.uk
• If you have changed course or institution since applying for entry clearance, you cannot apply for a correction to be made.

Students with leave due to expire in two months or less

If your leave to remain is due to expire and you have submitted an application under the above scheme, you must submit an application for extension before the expiry date of your visa even if no decision has been made by that time. If it is subsequently decided that a mistake was made by the Embassy or High Commission you may be able to get a refund of the fee paid to extend your leave to remain.