United Kingdom visa in passport

Supporting our students during the COVID-19 outbreak

If you are worried about how to extend your immigration leave in the UK or how the current Covid-19 situation will affect your immigration status, please contact us as soon as possible. This is an evolving situation and we continue to work with the UK government to distribute appropriate guidance to UK international students. To discuss your circumstances and to find out what options may be available to you, please contact us:

International Student Advice: internationalstudentadvice@plymouth.ac.uk or +44 1752 587676.

Your visa is expiring, select a category:

1. When your Student (formerly Tier 4) visa expires, your course will have finished and you intend to return home.

If your current visa gives you enough time to complete your course and you do not intend to do any further study or stay in the UK for any other reason, you should schedule your travel arrangements to leave the UK before your current student visa expires. If this is your situation please ignore the email/webpage.

2. Your Student (formerly Tier 4) visa will expire before your course finishes. 

If your current visa does not give you enough time to complete your course (for example you have been referred in a module or need more time for your PhD), you will need to make a visa extension application. Please contact International Student Advice (ISA) to find out how you can do this. Make sure you allow plenty of time before your visa expires, at least one month preferably more.

3. You have made an application to get a new visa (not a Student visa) yourself.

If you have made an application to extend your visa yourself then you need to provide evidence of the application to ISA.

4. Your current Student (formerly Tier 4) visa covers your course but you would like to stay in the UK to study a new course.

If you are intending to study a new course you will need to apply for a new visa before the new course starts. If the new course will be at the University of Plymouth we recommend that you contact us at ISA so you can prepare for your visa application. We will advise if you can make the new application from within the UK or if you have to apply from overseas. If your new course will be with another university, you must contact them directly for immigration advice.

5. You have left the UK.

Please contact UKVI-Reporting ukvi-reporting@plymouth.ac.uk and provide a copy of the evidence you have left such as a flight ticket. If you have already done this please ignore this email/webpage.

6. Distance learning students

You have received the email because the visa we have on record for you is expiring. Please provide us with evidence that you have left the UK, or let us know that you intend to leave. Distance learning students will not be withdrawn from their programmes once their visas expire, but please do remember each time you come into the UK it is a requirement you scan your visa with ISA.

7. You are planning on applying for a different type of visa to remain in the UK e.g. Graduate visa

Please contact us to discuss various options. We cannot offer specific advice on post study visas and may need to refer you to an independent immigration advisor. However, we can certainly provide some guidance.

8. None of the above

Contact ISA to discuss.

You will not be able to remain enrolled on your programme once your visa has expired if you are still in the UK. If you need an appointment to discuss, or to make your visa application then let us know and we can ensure you are booked in as a priority. You may or may not be able to extend in the UK. If you need a CAS to extend your visa please contact us to request one. If you are switching into a different immigration category then we recommend you seek independent immigration advice.

We reserve the right to withdraw or interrupt you from your studies if you have no valid immigration permission, are an over stayer OR in our reasonable opinion you cannot submit a valid Student (formerly Tier 4) visa or other visa application within required deadlines, and we have no evidence to show that you have left the UK.

If your situation does not fit into the above options or you would like further advice please contact ISA.

Scanning fingerprint. Image courtesy of Shutterstock