Moving to a new country to study can feel overwhelming and gathering your bearings with the new environment and course can take some time. This page covers all relevant information and guidance to help you understand the visa and immigration process before you begin your studies with us.
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If you intend to enroll for more than six months in the UK, you may need to apply for a Student Visa to study – This includes rules for Student Dependent’s. As of 5 October 2020, a new student immigration route was introduced in the UK. This has replaced the Tier 4 (General) visa category and will apply to EU/EEA nationals who do not hold Pre-settled or Settled Status wishing to enter the UK from 1 January 2021 onwards.
You must be an UK or Irish national or hold pre-settled or settled status in the UK to enroll for one of our courses. Alternatively, if you are not a UK or Irish National or hold pre-settled or settled status, you must apply for a Student Visa if you are planning to study for 6 months or longer or a Standard Visitor Visa if your course is shorter than 6 months.
If you are applying from outside the UK, you should always refer to the Home Office website where you will find information on where to apply, how to apply and the cost of the application. Please ensure that you only travel to the UK after you have been granted your student visa (this will be awarded as a sticker (vignette) on your passport). For further reference, the Visa authorization date will also be mentioned in your UKVI decision letter. If you enter the UK as a visitor beforehand (by using your passport), your student visa will not be valid, and you must leave and re-enter the UK to validate it.
Before you apply for your visa, you must ensure that you have all the required supporting documentation to avoid mistakes and delays. You can only apply for your visa up to six months before the start date of your chosen course. After submitting your application, you must not travel to the UK while your student visa application is pending. Once granted the Student Visa and your passport will be updated with an entry clearance vignette (sticker) permitting you to travel to the UK. You must ensure that you only enter the UK during the validity dates of this visa. After that your visa will be activated (stamped) upon entry to the UK.
If you travel to the UK before the visa issue date, your stay in the UK will be restricted to six months, you will not be registered to your chosen course, your visa will not be valid, and you will be expected to leave the UK and re-enter once granted your student visa. This will likely result in additional fee charges, which could lead to unnecessary inconvenience.
Please get in touch with the visa compliance team for further questions: visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk.
When applying for a Student Visa from overseas, the Home Office may require you to attend a credibility interview, whereby you will be assessed; on your integrity, whether you are genuine in wishing to study in the UK and your fluency in English – to determine whether you meet the English language required standard.
In this case, the interview will be conducted in English. The credibility interview is an essential part of the visa application process. However, interviews are extended to students selected at random or based on some circumstances, such as Immigration inquiries or education history.
The interviews are usually held at your Biometrics appointment after you have submitted your documents, fingerprints, and photograph at the visa application center. The interview will take place either by telephone, video call or in person, depending on the circumstances and should last between 5 – 15 minutes. The interviewer will then pass the results on to an Entry Clearance Officer at the Home Office, who will decide whether to conduct a second interview or the overall outcome of your visa application.
You need to answer nationality and current immigration status clearly.
You may be asked about your family and any dependents who live with you. Who will look after them when you are studying?
You need to give specific reasons and explain how you will benefit from studying in the UK. How will it enhance your career prospects? Do you wish to work in your home country, or do you want to pursue a career in the UK?
You need to demonstrate your knowledge of us and why you applied to it. This could be based on its location, reputation, course material etc. They may ask whether the applicant considered studying at any other institutions and the differences between Regent and the other institutions.
Get to know the information on Studying and student experience at Regent College London (rcl. ac. UK) for background information.
Explain why you chose the course and discuss specific modules and why you prefer the course over another offer.
Explain how you are going to fund yourself while at the Regent College London and pay for course fees, accommodation, living expenses etc. Will you use your money, money from your parents or a loan? What research have you done into costs, travel time etc.? Are you planning to do some part-time work alongside your course?
Explain your career aspirations and plans after graduation. How will the course help you in your future career?
It is essential to research us and the course you wish to study and have all your paperwork together to make it easier to answer such questions.
You may be asked about your academic background and qualifications to ensure that you have the correct credentials to study the chosen course.
It is possible that some students may be required to attend a second credibility interview. In this case, if an invitation for a second interview is extended to you, it is just as important that you attend and take it just as seriously as your first interview.
The second credibility interview will likely be more in depth and longer in duration. The interview will again be conducted in English via telephone/ video call or face-to-face. At this interview you may be asked to further elaborate on your answers about your visa application, finances, or personal circumstances from your first credibility interview.
If you are invited to any credibility interview and fail to attend without an acceptable reason, your visa application will be refused. If you cannot attend for any other reason, please contact our UKVI Compliance Team by emailing visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk
If you have made a visa application from outside the UK to enter for more than six months, you will be given an entry clearance vignette placed in your passport. This vignette is valid for 90 days. You must ensure that you only travel by the start date of the vignette. Your student visa will not be considered reasonable if you travel before the start date on your vignette.
You must travel to the UK within the validity period of the vignette in time for you to register onto your course. If you decide to travel after the valid date of your vignette, you will be required to apply for another entry vignette visa.
When you make you visa application you will be given the option as to where you would like the BRP to be delivered to. Your BRP card can be delivered to your nearest Post office or to Regent College. If you want your BRP to be delivered to Regent College, you will need to collect your card within 10 days, use the below ACL (Alternative Collection Location) Code.
If you have selected you card to be collected from the college, you must wait for the Home Office to deliver it to the college. You will only receive an email from the compliance team informing you that it is ready to collect, once you have completed your enrolment and the Home Office has delivered the BRP to the college. If you haven’t received this email yet, it means the card has not been delivered.
However, for alternative support, you can request a supporting letter subject to attendance checks until your BRP arrives. To enquire about your BRP, you can email Visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk.
The ACL code for Regent College is: 3HE382
If you decide to have your BRP card sent to your nearest Post Office, you will have 10 days of arriving in the UK which you must collect the BRP card.
You must bring your passport and the Home Office decision letter to collect your BRP card.
A CAS is an electronic document confirming our sponsorship of you as a full-time student in the UK. It will contain a unique alphanumeric reference number (CAS number) that you must include in your Student visa application, as well as the start date and end date of your course. The earliest that a CAS can be issued is 6 months prior to the start date of the programme.
We can only send you a CAS once you have met all the conditions of your offer letter. You must contact the recruitment team for further details about the international visa process. You must ensure that you have enough time to apply for the CAS and can obtain your visa before the registration deadline of your course, so you must meet the conditions of your offer as soon as possible.
Once you are issued with a CAS, it is your responsibility to check the details on the document are correct. You are required to inform us if there is any error. In most cases, we should be able to correct your CAS electronically. We can add a ’sponsor note’ to correct any CAS details or update the tuition fees. We will not issue you a new CAS – we will confirm we have fixed the electronic document.
Each translated document needs to contain the following:
The reasons why you wish to study the course and why you wish to attend Regent College in particular. You should include your background, previous academic achievement, and experiences that led them to the course. You should consist of work experience that relates to the course. You should also include what other interests you have and why you make a suitable candidate.
We are assessing potential students based on the following criteria and how well they can relate it back to the course:
Depending on what country you are from, you may need to have a Tuberculosis (TB) test before you can apply for your CAS and Student visa.
You will need a TB test if you are coming to the UK for more than six months and are a resident of any of these listed countries. This only applies to applications made outside the UK.
If the test is negative, you will be given a certificate that needs to be provided in your visa application. This certificate is valid for six months. You need to ensure that you take the test less than six months before you apply for the visa application.
If you are from a country that ordinarily requires a TB test, you will not require one if the following applies to you. You have lived in a country for at least six months, The UK does not require TB screening, and you’ve been away from that country for no more than six months.
Upon passing your TB screening, you will be issued an official certificate which has an expiry date. This will be stated on your certificate. (Maybe mention how long this will be valid for). – Not needed, they only need to pass this for their Visa application.
To submit a student visa application, you will have to pay an additional fee called an Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). Please note that this change also applies to immigration applications in other categories. Although it does increase the overall cost of making a visa application, the money raised contributes to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). This gives you the right to receive medical care while you are in the UK without any further cost.
For students who apply for a visa of more than 6 months will be charged. However, students coming to the UK for less than six months will not be charged. This will mean that you will not be charged if your student visa application is made for one of our pre-sessional English courses of less than six months.
You will be charged when you extend your permission to stay inside the UK to undertake your main degree course.
Your visa application may be rejected if you fail to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) when you apply for your visa. However, if you pay the fee but your visa application falls for a refusal the fee should be refunded.
The Compliance Team can help you with this – please contact our UKVI Compliance Team by emailing visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk
International students who hold a student Visa to study in the UK are subject to working restrictions imposed by UKVI. This is stated on your BRP card – where it will say how many hours you can work during term time. During your holiday break, you are allowed to work full time. However, once the term resumes, you must revert to working within the restricted hours. These term dates can be found Here. For further reference, you can also be issued a work reference letter that stipulates the holiday dates within the term which can then be shown to the employer to prove they can work additional hours.
The main purpose of your travel to the UK should be to pursue and fully focus on your studies. Students are reminded that taking up work during their stay in the UK can significantly diminish their ability to keep up with their study commitments resulting in poor performance and potential non-compliance of their course requirements and visa conditions.
If you are on a student visa and are studying a course at Undergraduate or Postgraduate level (RQF 6 and RQF 7 respectively), you will be entitled to a maximum of 20 hours of work per week.
During your term, you are not allowed to travel outside of the UK. Traveling outside of the UK is only granted during exceptional circumstances. Requests to travel outside of the UK during term time will require evidence of your circumstances, where your case will be reviewed, and if accepted, a travel letter will be issued.
However, during term break, travelling will be permitted as you do not have an obligation to attend classes.
If you travel and fail to inform compliance of your whereabouts, or your intentions to travel during term time, will result in an unauthorized absence, which will affect your attendance.
If you have any issues or queries regarding a visa refusal or late enrolment, please contact our UKVI Compliance Team by emailing visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk
