Obtaining a Visa

This page provides information for new students about how to apply for a Tier 4 student visa to travel to the UK to start their new course.

Applying for a Tier 4 Student visa should be fairly straightforward as long as you prepare carefully. It is important that you provide original academic documents and formal, original financial evidence to show that you have held the necessary funds for the required period (usually 28 days).

The International Student Advice team will do whatever we can to help you through the visa application process but we cannot usually intervene once supporting documents have been submitted to the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

The information below is for students who are applying for a new Tier 4 visa outside the UK. If you will be applying in the UK, please read our information about Extending your Stay in the UK instead. Please remember that you cannot extend your visa in the UK if there is a gap of more than one month between the day your visa expires and the day your new course starts.

The way that you apply may vary depending on the length of your course at City. Please select your course length below:

Students on courses of 6 months or more
Students on courses of less than 6 months
Students on a pre-sessional English Language course

If your course is 6 months or more

Applying for a Tier 4 student visa

If you want to study a full-time course which lasts at least 6 months, you need to apply for a Tier 4 visa. This visa scheme has very strict requirements and you should read the following guidance carefully even if you have applied for a UK Student Visa before.

You cannot apply until you have accepted an unconditional offer.

When you apply, you need to show that you have:

Your CAS statement confirming your place on a full-time course of study which includes details of your course and the University's Sponsor Licence Number.
Confirmation that you have enough money to pay your tuition fees and a specific amount of money to cover living expenses for yourself (and any dependants) for at least 9 months. This is called the Maintenance Requirement.

The CAS statement - this is an electronic visa certificate which includes your unique CAS number and is sent to you by e-mail. No paper copies are sent. A CAS number is generated by the UKBA and can only be used once. If your visa application is refused, you will need to ask the University for a new CAS number if you wish to apply again. More information about the CAS is available here.

The Maintenance requirement - The UKBA now specify exactly how much money an applicant needs to have when applying for a Tier 4 visa. Applicants can show they hold these funds in several different ways (or a combination of these):

Using personal or joint bank statements and/or A formal letter from the bank
Using your parents' bank statements (together with other specified documents - see below)
Using a formal letter from an 'official financial sponsor' e.g. a Government, the British Council, a university or an international company
Using a formal letter from an official loan provider e.g. a US Federal Loan letter

More information about the financial documents required by the UKBA is provided here. Additional guidance for students who have an 'official financial sponsor' is available here.

How to apply for a Tier 4 visa

You cannot apply more than 3 months before the course start date stated in your CAS.

Application should be made in your country of residence, e.g. the country where you usually live or for which you hold a valid Residence Permit. For information about how to apply in your country, please visit: www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/wheretoapply/

When you apply, you will need to complete TWO separate forms. In many countries applicants first complete an on-line form but if you cannot apply on-line, you should complete the paper VAF9 'personal details' form instead.

Everybody then needs to complete a paper form called 'Appendix 8: Tier 4 (General) Student'. These application forms can be downloaded from the UKBA website. Please use our step-by-step guide How to Complete the Appendix 8 Form to make sure you complete this form correctly.

Important: the online visa application form is only valid for 30 days from the date you start the application process online. If you are unable to submit your documents within 30 days, please complete a new on-line form.

You will need to provide you 'biometric' data as part of the visa application process. This involves a scan of your finger tips and a full-face digital photograph. Your visa application will not be processed until you have provided the necessary biometric information.

Applicants in certain countries now require a certificate to show that they are free from infectious pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). This includes applications made in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand. More information is given on the UKBA website.

Iranian students cannot currently apply in Iran as the British Embassy is closed. The UK Foreign and Commonweath Office has produced additional guidance to help Iranian applicants which can be accessed at: http://ukforiranians.fco.gov.uk/en/visiting-uk/visas/

If your course is less than 6 months

If you are coming to the UK for a course of less than 6 months, you can choose whether to apply as a Student Visitor or as a Tier 4 General Student.

If you apply as a Student Visitor, you will not be permitted to:

work in any capacity in the UK (even in an unpaid or voluntary capacity)
apply to extend your visa to continue your studies in the UK - you will have to leave the UK on or before the date your visa expires

If you would like to be able to work in the UK or to have the option to extend your stay for further study, you should apply as a Tier 4 student instead.

Please note: Please ensure that you obtain the correct visa before travel as it is not possible to change to a Tier 4 Student Visa if you enter the UK as a Visitor.

Applying for a Student Visitor Visa

If you want to apply for a Student Visitor Visa, you first need to know whether you are a 'Visa National'. You are a Visa National if you need a visa to come to the UK in any capacity - a list of Visa National countries is provided on the UKBA website.

i) Applying as a Visa National

If you are a visa national, you need to apply for a visa or 'Entry Clearance' before you travel. You will need to provide formal documents to show that you:

have been accepted on a course of study at City University London
have enough money to pay your tuition fees and living costs during your stay

An original unconditional offer letter from your academic department (or the Study Abroad Team) which confirms your course dates and tuition fees should be acceptable evidence.

You will also require formal financial documents to show that you will have enough money to live on during your stay. Money should ideally be held in your own bank account but you can also provide evidence of funds held by parents.

Further advice and guidance for Student Visitor applicants is provided by UKCISA on their website.

Information about how to apply in your country is available on the UKBA website.

ii) Applying as a Non-Visa National

If your country is not on the Visa National list (for example Australia, Canada, Japan or the USA), it is not compulsory to apply for Entry Clearance before you travel. Instead you can present your papers to the immigration officials on arrival at a UK airport and have the visa stamped into your passport.

You will need your passport, your University offer letter and recent, formal evidence that you can support yourself financially for the duration of your course (e.g bank statements, loan documents.)

Students on a pre-sessional course

If you need to complete a pre-sessional English course before you can start your main degree programme, you are likely to be issued with a short Tier 4 visa just for this course. You will then need to apply to extend your student visa once you have passed your pre-sessional course.

The International Student Advice Team can help pre-sessional students to extend their visas. However, you cannot extend your visa in the UK if there is a gap of more than one month between the day your visa expires and the day your new course starts. The application fee for a Tier 4 visa extension in the UK is currently £386.00 (correct at 6 Jan 2012).

The information on this page is given in good faith and has been carefully checked. City University however accepts no legal responsibility for its accuracy.