Student Visa | AECC University College
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Student Visa

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Your Student Visa

The way in which you receive your Student visa will depend on where you’re from, when you apply, and when your course begins.

The UKVI are in the process of digitising all aspects of immigration permission and their intention is that from 1 January 2025 all immigration permission will be issued in digital format and not as a hard copy visa document. In the meantime there will be a mix of approaches:

Entry Clearance Vignette (ECV)

The ECV is a sticker in your passport which allows you entry to the UK. It contains confirmation of the type of immigration permission you have been issued (Student), and the Sponsor Licence Number of AECC UC, as well as the start and end dates of the ECV. You must arrive in the UK on or after the start date given on your ECV, this can be found in the top right had corner of the sticker. If you enter the UK before the start date of your ECV you will not be activating your Student immigration leave and may have to leave the UK and re-enter before being allowed to enrol on your course. Your ECV will be valid for 90 days from the start date and you are expected to arrive in the UK before the end date, if you try and arrive after the end date of your ECV you may be refused entry.

Depending on where you are from you may receive a stamp on your ECV as you enter the UK, this will confirm the date and entry point of your arrival.

Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)

Once you have used your ECV to enter the UK you must collect your BRP from the Post Office as soon as possible after you arrive, and before the end date of your ECV. Your BRP is your visa document and must be kept safe because you need it in order to prove your immigration status, and there is a cost if you need a replacement. You will need your BRP in order to prove your Right to Study (this happens at enrolment); to open a UK bank account; to prove your Right to Rent; register for healthcare with a local doctors surgery; and prove your Right to Work (if you are doing a placement or any work outside your studies).

It is your responsibility to check that the details on your BRP are correct and take action to report any errors as soon as possible. We will check your BRP when you bring it with you to your enrolment event so if you are not sure whether someone is wrong please speak to us about it then. Details of what to check are below.

Digital Immigration status

Applicants from specific countries are already issued their immigration permission in digital format and details of how you can access your digital visa will be included in the outcome notification from the UKVI. You will need to access the link above and provide a sharecode to anyone who needs to see your immigration permission. You must provide a sharecode to anyone who needs to see your Student visa in order to prove your Right to Study (this happens at enrolment); to open a UK bank account; to prove your Right to Rent; register for healthcare with a local doctors surgery; and prove your Right to Work (if you are doing a placement or any work outside your studies).

You must check that the details on your visa are correct and take action to report any errors as soon as possible. Details of what to check are below. We will check your BRP when you bring it with you to your enrolment event so if you are not sure whether someone is wrong please speak to us about it then.

How to check that the details and conditions of your Student visa are correct

If you have a BRP it will have an expiry date of 31 December 2024, this is because your visa will become a digital document from 1 January 2025. The length of leave you have been granted as a Student is contained in full in the UKVI Decision Letter which you should have received by email to confirm that your application for a Student visa was successful.

Name and Date of Birth

Check that these are correct and that the spelling of your name is the same as in your Passport.

Sponsor Licence Number

If you have a BRP the Sponsor Licence Number should be printed as NGX442QE0, if your document shows anything different please let us know immediately. If you have digital immigration status your document may not show a Sponsor Licence Number, don’t worry about this but speak to us if the CAS number you used for your Student visa application was not from AECC UC.

Expiry Date

Your course start and end dates are shown on your CAS. Your Student visa should start up to one month before your course start date (it will be less than a month if your visa is issued less than a month before your course), and as long as your course with us is longer than twelve months your Student visa expiry date should be four months after your course end date. If your course is for less than twelve months you will receive less additional time after your course end date.

Working condition

Your Student visa should allow you to work a maximum of twenty hours per week during term-time. If the number of hours on your BRP or digital visa says less than twenty you can only work the stated number of hours until the error is corrected and your immigration document has been re-issued.

How to report a Student visa error

The UKCISA guidance has detailed information about the errors you should report and how to do this. Read the information carefully and email studentvisas@aecc.ac.uk with copies of your immigration documents if you are unsure of how to take appropriate action.

Activating your Student visa

As long as you enter the UK on or after the start date of your Student visa your immigration permission will automatically be activated, the start date can be found in the top right hand corner of your Entry Clearance Vignette or on your digital immigration status document. If you enter the UK before your Student leave starts you may be considered to have entered the UK as a Visitor and this immigration route does not allow you to study on a course of more than six months. When you attend your enrolment event we will check the date you arrived in the UK (please save evidence of this) and if we cannot confirm that you have

activated your Student visa we will not be able to enrol you. You will be able to correct the situation and we will give you information about how to do that, however we encourage you to make sure you arrive after the start date of your Student visa so that the correct immigration permission is activated.

Other Types of Immigration Permission

Although many international students hold a Student visa there are other forms of immigration permission that allow study. We refer to these as ‘non-sponsored’ immigration routes because AECC UC is not providing immigration sponsorship and hasn’t issued a CAS.

Most types of UK immigration permission allow study, however, the type of study you can do may be restricted, you will need to read the Immigration Rules that apply to your immigration permission to find out what your conditions are. It is your responsibility to ensure the type of permission you hold is for the main purpose of your visit to the UK and that you continue to meet all the requirements and conditions of your permission during your stay.

Examples of the types of permission that may not allow you to study your chosen course include the Graduate route, Immigration Bail, Visitor and a Student visa for a different institution/course. We will check your immigration permission before you begin your course and you may be asked to provide additional information, and/or give us permission to speak with the Home Office on your behalf, so that we can confirm your Right to Study.

If your immigration permission will expire before your course is due to finish, you may be able to start your course but do so at your own risk. It will be your responsibility to renew, or switch, your immigration permission before the expiry date of the permission you have when you enrol, and provide us with a copy of the application you have made as well as providing us with a copy of your new immigration permission once you have received it.

We are unable to guarantee to sponsor you to apply for permission to stay under the Student Immigration Rules in the future but will consider a request. If you are interested in the Graduate route when you have completed an eligible course, you will need to have been studying in the UK with Student immigration permission for the required length of time, read the UKCISA’s Working after studies guidance for more information.

EU settlement – if you have obtained pre-settled or settled status you can study in the UK and will not require a visa. If you have pre-settled status, you can apply for settled status once you have been in the UK for 5 years. The Home Office are due to contact current holders of EU Pre-Settled status to advise of the process for changing your status to ‘settled’ but if your pre-settled status is coming to an end and you haven’t received any notification from the Home Office please contact us and we will try to help.

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