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Student Visitor Visas

The Student Visitor Visa is intended for students who wish to come to the UK to follow a short course of study. The period of study must be less than 6 months in length (or 11 months if studying English language courses only). You cannot work on this visa (including unpaid work or voluntary work) and it is not possible to extend this visa. You may want to apply for this visa if you are one of the following students:

• Visiting & Exchange student studying at Sussex for less than 6 months. Please note that you should not apply for a student visitor visa if you think you may want to extend your stay at Sussex. A Tier 4 visa is more appropriate as you could apply to extend this from within the UK

• International Summer School student

• a Distance Learning student who is required to attend Sussex for a period of less than 6 months

• an English Langauge student studying a course of less than 11 months. However, please note that if you are taking a pre-sessional course to prepare you for a degree at Sussex, a Tier 4 visa is more appropriate as you will be able to extend this from within the UK

• a student undertaking re-sit/SITS at Sussex. Please see the Re-sit section of this website for more information on this

• a PhD student returning to Sussex for their viva. However, please note that if you have a student visitor visa you will not be eligible to apply for the Doctoral Extension Scheme

Please note that all other visit categories, other than student visitors and child visitors, have a requirement that the applicant does not intend to undertake study in the UK. Those granted leave on or after 6 September 2012 are also subject to a condition prohibiting study. This means that if you enter the UK as a general visitor or a business visitor for example, you will not be able to study and Sussex will not be able to register you on your course.

How do I apply?

Full details of this visa can be found on the Student Visitor section of the UKBA website. Amongst the requirements that you must meet are:

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You must have been unconditionally accepted onto a course of study. The relevant admissions office at Sussex will provide you with an acceptance letter which you will need to include with your application
• The period of study must be completed within 6 months (or 11 months if studying an english language course only). This includes students who may need to come back to the UK to re-sit an exam or repeat a module, and distance learning students who do not meet the requirements for Tier 4 but occasionally need to visit the UK. In this case, the overall course of study might be more than 6 months in total. However the time required to re-sit an exam, repeat a module or undertake study which is part of a distance learning course in the UK must be less than 6 months

If you are a visa national you will need to apply for entry clearance, which means you must apply for this visa before travelling to the UK. Depending on where you live, you may be able to make your visa application online or by printing out and completing application form VAF1D. Full details on how to apply can be found by visiting the relevant country in the UKBA's country finder tool. The current fee for a student visitor visa is £80, or £144 for the extended student visitor visa (if studying an English language course of between 6-11 months).

If you are a non-visa national, you can apply for entry clearance or you can apply to enter the UK as a student visitor on arrival at the port of entry.

If you are a non-visa national and you intend to apply for permission to enter the UK on arrival, you should carry with you all documents required to support your application to enter the UK as a student visitor. This includes evidence of your unconditional offer to study in the UK and evidence of your finances. You will have to show these documents to the Border Force Officer (BFO) on arrival at the port of entry. It is important you ask to be admitted as a student visitor (rather than as a general visitor) - you will need to make a special effort to talk to the Border Force Officer to explain that. Make sure that they look at your student visitor visa letter (which confirms your unconditional offer and acceptance on the course), and ask that the stamp you get in your passport indicates you are here as a student visitor. You will not be charged a fee for this application.

It is a good idea to carry with you all of the documents that you submitted with your immigration application, even if you have already obtained entry clearance as a student visitor before travelling to the UK. The BFO may ask to see these documents when you arrive in the UK.

What documents will I need to apply?

For a full list of the supporting documents required check the UKBA guide. The main documents needed are:

• Your unconditional offer letter from Sussex
• Evidence that you have enough money to support yourself (pay for your tuition fees, accommodation and living expenses) while you are in the UK. There are no specific requirements which state the amount of money you must show when you apply for a student visitor visa. However you must show that you have enough money to support yourself without working. It is advisable to provide evidence that you have enough money to cover your course fees plus accommodation and living expenses. Using the Tier 4 maintenance figures as a guide only, it would be reasonable to show that you have the equivalent of £800 per month for the duration of your course. If you will be staying with friends or family while in the UK, which will decrease your living costs, you can include evidence of this. Acceptable forms of evidence could be bank statements or official financial sponsorship letter. If you will be financially supported by your parents you should bring their bank statement along with a letter from them stating that they will financially support you for the duration of your stay

What conditions will be attached to my leave?

As a student visitor you will be granted immigration permission subject to the following conditions:

• you will not be allowed to work while you are in the UK, this includes paid or unpaid work
• you will not be allowed to undertake a work placement as part of your study - if this is a requirement of your course, you should apply for immigration permission as a Tier 4 student, if you are eligible to
• you must leave the UK before your immigration permission as a student visitor expires
• you will not be allowed to extend your stay in the UK beyond the date that your original immigration permission ends (6 months or 11 months)
• you will not be allowed to apply to switch into any other immigration category while you are still in the UK as a student visitor
• you will not be allowed to bring your family to the UK as your dependants. They must apply to enter the UK in their own right under the immigration category for general visitors. As general visitors, your family members will be granted a maximum of 6 months immigration permission, even if you have been granted immigration permission for more than 6 months. General visitors are prohibited from studying
• if you have been granted entry clearance for up to 11 months under the extended student visitor category, you may be required to register with the police within 7 days of your arrivial in the UK. If you are required to register with the police, your entry clearance vignette will state this. Not all students are given entry clearance that is subject to this condition

Entry via the Republic of Ireland

If you are a non visa national and are intending to apply for your student visitor visa on arrival in the UK, you should not enter from the Republic of Ireland. There is no passport control for people entering this way, so you are unlikely to encounter any border force officers. This means that it's unlikely you will be able to apply for your student visitor visa on arrival. As the university requires you to show your student visitor visa stamp in order to register for your course, we will be unable to do this as you will not have this stamp. You should make sure that you apply for entry clearance as a student visitor before leaving your home country if you intend to enter the UK from the Republic of Ireland. It does not matter if your passport is not endorsed with a date stamp on arrival in the UK, although you should keep evidence of travel in case your date of entry later becomes important, and make sure you enter after the valid from date on your visa. Please also make sure you meet any immigration requirements for entry to the Republic of Ireland.