Student Visa

If you have received a refusal after a student visa application, you must inform the Student Support team  and the Admissions team as soon as possible.

Please send a scan of your entire refusal notice paperwork to Admissions and Student Support Office, and individuals in the teams will help you through the next steps.

If you think the refusal was incorrect, based on the evidence you submitted with your application, you may be able to request an 'administrative review' of the decision to refuse it. There is no fee for this if you are submitting an administrative review overseas, but you must request the administrative review within 28 days of the date you receive your refusal notice. Please note that you cannot produce new or different documents for an administrative review. You can readHome Office guidance to administrative reviews online.

We would advise you to consult the Student Support Office before lodging an administrative review where possible so that they can help advise you on the procedure and process.

When to make a Student visa extension

If you need to extend your Student Visa, you should start getting your documents ready at least three months before your current visa expires. Not everyone can extend their Student Visa in the UK. You need to check the following if you can extend your visa to the UK or if you need to apply from your home country.

• If you are applying for a visa to start a new degree, and this degree starts more than 28 days after your current visa expires, you will not be able to extend your visa within the UK. You would need to return home and apply there.
• You cannot apply for a Student Visa in the UK if you currently have a Standard Visitor Visa or a Short-Term Visa.
• Make sure you apply for an extension before your visa expires. If you apply after it expires you will be an 'overstayer'. This can have a serious impact on you starting your degree at the RCA and your visa application. If you have overstayed please contact us immediately at student-support@rca.ac.uk for further information.
• Meet the Home Office's 'academic progression' requirement; this requirement may mean that you cannot apply in the UK, even if you meet other requirements and you will have to apply from your home country.

How to make a Student Visa renewal application in the UK

If you already have a student visa to study at the RCA and need to extend this to continue your studies you first need to request for a new Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS) from the Registry Team.

• We recommend you do this three months before your current visa expires.
• Make sure you attach a scanned copy of your passport photo page and your most recent UK visa to your CAS request with details of why you require a new CAS. You may need to get a supporting letter from your Head of Programme.
• Once checks have been made the Registry team will email you a new CAS to your RCA email address. 

If your Student Visa is sponsored by another university, you must apply for a new visa sponsored by the RCA before you can start your degree here.

Make sure that:

• Your existing visa is still valid
• The RCA has issued you with a CAS
• You have checked Appendix ST: Student - Immigration Rules - Guidance - GOV.UK on changing your educational sponsor

Required documents 

The Student Visa route requires 70 points made up from:

Study 50 Points

• CAS for studies requirement 
• Course requirement
• Qualification requirement
• Level of study requirement
• Place of study requirement

Financial requirement: 10 points

• If you or your dependant partner, or dependant child have been living in the UK for 12 months or more at the time of your new applications you will automatically meet the financial requirements. This means you do not need to provide financial evidence with your application. If you are applying from outside the UK financial requirements will still be applicable.
• If you are a Graduate Diploma Student you might need to provide evidence of the financial requirements to check please email student-support@rca.ac.uk

Although there is not a requirement to submit financial documents when extending your visa you will still need to declare that you have the required funds to cover tuition fees and living costs. The caseworker could request you to provide evidence of your maintenance requirement.

You must declare you can demonstrate maintenance of:

• Living costs of £12,006 (£1,334 per month up to nine months ) 
• Living costs of £7,605 for each dependant (£845 per month up to nine months)

Documents you provide to demonstrate your maintenance funds can be original or electronic

Appendix Finance sets out the requirements for the level of funds and length of time they must be held

English requirement: 10 points

English Language Requirement For English language requirements click here

Additional documents required

Additional documents will be needed at the point of making your visa application.

• Passport(s)/travel document(s)
• Application Fee: The cost of visa application varies annually and depends on the location where you apply from. This online tool helps calculate your visa application expenses.
• Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) £470 per year (you will be required to pay this once you submit your online application).
• English language ability (as stated in your CAS)
• Sponsor letter (if applicable – if you are sponsored for living costs and/or tuition fees then you will need a document proving this)
• A letter from your parent/legal guardian if they are supporting you financially, and evidence of their relationship with you
• All documents provided should be in English. Officially certified translations are accepted where necessary.   

Checking your Application form  

The International Student Adviser can help students apply for their Student visa while in the UK.

At your appointment, they will check that your application has been completed correctly and that you have the correct documents for submission. We provide you with a registration form that you need to use at RCA enrolment to evidence that you have made a visa application.

If you would like us to help you check the application. You must make sure that you do not submit and pay for the application. Just complete sections 1, and 2 only and save your application. Do not tick the consent box on the 'Declaration' page of the online form as you will not be able to correct any mistakes beyond this stage.

This service is via appointment only.  To book an appointment, please email Student Support

How long will it take?

• Applications submitted will have a decision within 8 weeks. However, during busy periods (September to November) it can take longer.
• Get a faster decision on your application (If you want to get a decision more quickly, you can pay an extra £500 for the priority service to get a decision within 5 working days,  £800 for the super priority service to get a decision by the end of the next working day after providing your biometric information if your appointment is on a weekday, 2 working days after providing your biometric information if your appointment is at the weekend
• Working days are Monday to Friday, not including bank holidays.

When you get your biometric residence permit

• You’ll usually receive your biometric residence permit (BRP) within 7 to 10 days of your decision. If it does not arrive, you can report your missing BRP online.
  Your BRP will be sent to the address you gave in your application. You need to update your address before your application is approved if you want it sent elsewhere.

Please note: Your BRP will be sent by 'signed for' service so you should ensure that someone is at your home address to sign for the delivery.

Travel outside the UK before you receive a decision

Applicants under the new system keep their passports throughout the application process. If you leave the Common Travel Area (the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) and travel on the passport you used in your application before the Home Office makes a decision, you are automatically treated as having withdrawn your application. 

Your immigration health surcharge should be refunded, but your application fee may not be refunded. You will usually have to make another immigration application before returning to the UK.

It is important that you speak to a student adviser before you withdraw your application as doing so is likely to have consequences both for your current immigration status and for any future immigration applications you may make.

Your application has been returned as invalid. 

The Home Office recently introduced a set of new validity requirements for visa applications under the Points Based Immigration System. Your application must meet all of the validity requirements listed in Appendix ST 1.1 - 1.7 of the immigration rules. 

If your application is invalid, the UKVI will send you a letter telling you why your application was invalid. Your application fee will be refunded to the payment card you used for your application (minus a £25 administrative fee). 

If your previous Student visa is still valid after receiving an invalid decision from the UKVI you may be able to make a new application before your permission expires. 

Please note an invalid application doesn’t extend your permission to be in the UK. It is important that you do not apply for a new student visa very close to your current visa expiry date as an invalid application could result in you being an overstayer in the UK.

If your application is returned as invalid, you must contact student-support@rca.ac.uk and admissions@rca.ac.uk immediately so that an advisor can provide you will guidance and advice on how to proceed. 

Overstaying in the UK

Overstaying in the UK is a criminal offence, therefore, you must arrange to leave the UK or make an application to extend your stay before your visa expires. If you submit your student visa before your expiry date then your permission in the UK will extend until a decision has been made. 

If your visa application is invalid your current visa has expired and there is no grace period once your visa expires, You will have no legal permission to be in the UK until you get a new visa.

This will mean that:

• You cannot work or study (the College will suspend your enrolment)
• You may need to pay for any healthcare that you receive
• Your bank may close your account
• You will need to state on each future UK visa application that you overstayed your leave. 

You cannot make a visa application in the UK once your visa has expired, unless:

• You can prove that the overstay was for reasons beyond your control eg. hospitalisation or The Home office website not working

Your student visa application has been returned and is invalid

In the case that is invalid or for reasons beyond your control, you will be permitted to submit an application up to 14 days after your permission to stay has expired.  

Overstay of up to 30 days

You will only be able to make a new application to return to the UK if your period of overstay was less than 30 days, and you left the UK voluntarily and at your own expense.  

Overstay of more than 30 days

If you overstay for more than 30 days in the UK, you will be banned from returning for one to 10 years. 

Contact us

Please speak to an adviser to seek full advice about your options as early as possible to avoid overstaying. This could seriously affect future applications to the UK and other countries.

You can arrive in the UK prior to your course starting. If you are on a course lasting 12 months or more, you will be allowed to enter one month prior to the official start date of the course. 

If you are studying for less than six months you will be allowed to enter one week prior to the official start date of the course.

Effective 1 January 2024, only government-sponsored students pursuing a PhD, doctoral qualification, or a research-based higher degree will be permitted to bring dependents to the UK. It is important to note that dependents already residing within the UK will be allowed to extend their stay.

Please note that the UK government has announced that students who are already living in the UK will now be able to extend their stay. This policy will remain in effect from now on.

A research-based degree is defined by UKVI as a postgraduate program that includes a research component requiring the production of original work.

This research component should be larger than any accompanying taught component when measured by student effort.

UKVI has also clarified that those who start a postgraduate taught course before January 1, 2024, will still be able to have dependents join them after January 2024, as long as all other requirements of the immigration rules are met.

For courses starting before January 1, 2024, dependents can apply for immigration permission as a Student Dependant to join or remain with the student only if:

• The student is government-sponsored and their course is longer than six months, or
• The student is doing a postgraduate level course of 9 months or longer at a Higher Education Provider with a track record of compliance (such as the RCA) or a UK-recognised body,

or

• The student's current or most recent immigration permission is/was as a Student (or Tier 4 Student) Visa on a course longer than six months, and all of the following apply:
• The permission is current or has expired no more than three months before this immigration application,

AND

• The new immigration application is for a course that is longer than six months,

AND

• The dependent already has Student Dependant or Tier 4 Dependant immigration permission (or it is the most recent immigration permission that they have).

Who can be a dependant? 

Under the  immigration rules your 'dependants' are:

• Husband or wife
• Civil partner (same-sex relationship only)
• Unmarried or same-sex partner (you must provide evidence that you have been living in a relationship for two years)
• Children under the age of 18 (upon arrival in the UK)

Important: When bringing dependent children both living parents must normally be coming to the UK or extending their leave in this capacity. If only one parent is applying to come to the UK, please speak to an International Student Adviser at the College because there are very limited exceptions to this requirement.

Detailed information for dependants is available on the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website, including information about:

• financial requirements
• how to apply for a dependant visa
• working as a dependant
• babies born in the UK
• family members visiting you
• schooling for your children.

No recourse to public funds 

A person with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) cannot access benefits, homelessness assistance from the council or allocation of social housing through the council's register. Only these publicly​ funded services are classed as 'public funds' for immigration purposes – see the full list here.  

Family members visiting you

Your family members (including those not eligible for a dependant visa) can visit you for a short period of time while you’re in the UK. They would need to apply for a Standard Visitor visa online.

Standard visitor visa

Guide to supporting documents

Invitation letter for family

If you hold a Student Visa to study at the RCA then you should have permission to work in the UK for a maximum of 20 hours per week during term time and full-time during vacation periods.

Your permission to work will be stamped on your visa in your passport or on your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) if you have extended your visa in the UK.

You should check to ensure that you have been given the correct permission to work. If you have not been given permission or have not been given the correct permission you should contact the Student Support Office for further advice.

What kind of work can I do?

While studying in the UK you can perform most kinds of work. However, you cannot do the following:

• be self-employed (this includes freelance work)
• be employed as a professional sportsperson or sport coach
• be employed as an entertainer
• take a full-time permanent job
• pursue a career by filling a permanent full-time vacancy.

Volunteering is also considered as work; if you are working and volunteering the combined hours must be at 20 hours per week.

How a week is defined?

• A 'week' has been defined in the Immigration Rules as 'a period of seven days beginning with a Monday'.
• If you work irregular hours and/or have more than one employer, you will need to keep detailed records of how many hours you work each day so that you can be sure that you are not in danger of breaching your work condition by exceeding 10 or 20 hours in any seven-day period, starting on a Monday.

What is term time? 

'Term time' means any period when you are supposed to be doing academic work. For example, when you should be:

• attending classes and lectures, workshops and seminars
• preparing for exams
• doing coursework
• writing essays, a dissertation or thesis.

Term time and holiday or vacation dates are defined by the College's calendar.

These dates are usually based around the academic year with holidays at Christmas, Easter and in the summer. 

Vacation periods

Your vacation period is when you can work full time, are the period when you are not required to be studying. 

Different work restrictions apply to postgraduate students and postgraduate research. 

• You are allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week during term time and full time during the Christmas and Easter vacations only.            
• Once you've completed all elements of your degree and are waiting for your results then you will be able to work full-time for a maximum of four months or until your Student visa expires, whichever is the earliest.  
• You will also be eligible to apply for Graduate Visa once you have completed your course and when the college confirms and notifies you that you are eligible

Postgraduate research students

As a research student, you do not have the same defined vacation periods as postgraduate taught students. 

Your working hours remain as 20 hours per week throughout the year. You would only be allowed to work full time during your vacation time.

As a PhD student, your vacation periods would need to be approved and authorised by your supervisor. You would need to make sure that authorisation of your holiday is recorded and a copy is also given to you.

Applying for a National Insurance Number

Students who are actively seeking work may apply for a National Insurance Number by telephoning the following number.

You need to apply by phone for a National Insurance number.

National Insurance number application line:

Telephone: 0800 141 2075 
Textphone: 0800 141 2438
Monday to Friday, 8am – 6pm

The telephone operator will ask you a number of questions including:

• full UK address and Postcode
• personal details (name, date of birth)
• employer’s name and address if you have one.
• your occupation
• your date of entry to the UK
• your eligibility to work in the UK (e.g. student visa, student dependant visa, EU citizen).

The phone call will last approximately 10–20 minutes.

If the operator considers you to be eligible for a National Insurance number on the basis of the information you have supplied, they will book an appointment for you to have a National Insurance number interview at one of the local offices (they will provide the address) If required. They will inform you how long it will take for you to get a national insurance number. An interview will be arranged locally (usually within 18 working days) and you will receive a National Insurance Number several weeks thereafter.

Apply online

You can also apply online. After you apply you’ll get an email with your application reference number. The email will tell you if you need to provide more proof of your identity.

It can take up to 16 weeks for you to get your National Insurance number after you have proven your identity.

Working without a National Insurance Number

You can start work before your National Insurance number arrives if you can prove you can work in the UK. You should tell your employer that you’ve applied for one, and give it to them when you have it. 

There are currently a number of different work visa categories available under the points-based system. All have varying requirements and rules attached to them.

Visit Staying in the UK after your studies for more details.

Correcting an error on your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)

When you arrive in the UK and receive your BRP card check it for any errors.

• If there is an error report this within 10 days of receiving your BRP card. You should report the error using the online form on the UKVI website within 10 working days of receiving your BRP.
• Report the error to the student support team and the visa compliance team and they will be able to advise you on how to correct this.

You can report an error if:

• there is an error in relation to your visa conditions
• an error in the length of leave (for example you were granted 2 months at the end of your course instead of 4 months)
• For GradDip students, ( if you were granted a week instead of 2 months at the end of your course)
• mistake about your personal details, DoB, nationality, place of birth, gender)
• any faults on your BRP card.
• Incorrect work restrictions

The UKVI will then respond to you to advise what to do next if any errors have been found. If you have been granted less time on your visa than you should have been, please select 'conditions or length of stay' as the reason for the error.

If your application was made outside the UK the correction process is free.

BRP error correction if your visa application was made in the UK

If there are errors with the length of or the conditions of your leave, you are required to submit an application for Administrative Review within 14 calendar days of receiving your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). There is an £80 fee for this application which will be refunded to you if a mistake has been made.

Please note If you do not correct your BRP within the 14 days of receiving your BRP card the correction will not be amended.

If you hold a vignette (visa sticker) in your passport

If you notice an error on your vignette please contact the International Student Advisor at student-support@rca.ac.uk. They will advise on how to correct this.