Student route: Outcome, what now?

It’s very important to check your immigration permission and conditions are correct on the documents you’ve been issued by the UKVI/Home Office and report any errors immediately so they can be corrected. If you have been issued with digital immigration status (most European students) you won’t be issued with a physical document and will need to view your status and conditions online.

Are all your personal details correct? They should be the same as your passport.

Is the Sponsor Licence Number (SLN) correct? It should be THHCP1YV6 if you used a CAS issued by the University of Essex.

Is the expiry date of your Student permission correct? Most Essex undergraduate and postgraduate students should have been given permission that expires 2 or 4 months after the CAS course end date. The amount of extra time (wrap up period) you are entitled to is based on the course duration calculated from the course start and end date stated on your CAS.

• Course length more than 12 calendar months - your permission should expire 4 months after the CAS course end date.
• Course length more than 6 but less than 12 calendar months - your permission should expire 2 months after the CAS course end date.
• Course length less than 6 months - your permission should expire 7 days after the CAS course end date. For pre-sessional courses sponsored by the University of Essex - your permission should expire one month after the CAS course end date.

If you are continuing a course your original course start date should be mentioned in the notes of your CAS and the total duration will be calculated from that date rather than the CAS course start date.

Have you been given the correct immigration conditions? Most Essex undergraduates and postgraduates should be allowed to work 20 hours per week in term time, read our Student directory pages for more information about working during your studies. All students will have been given a 'no recourse to public funds' condition, this means you must not apply for state benefits or local authority housing.

Read the Appendix Student Immigration Rules to find out more about the length of time and conditions that you should be given.

If anything is incorrect, you’ll need to get it corrected immediately. How you request corrections will depend on where you applied for your permission and what type of immigration status document you have been given.

Follow the UKVI and Visa Application Centre instructions to arrange for your entry clearance sticker to be placed in your passport, you will need your passport and entry clearance sticker to enter the UK to study. If you have been granted digital immigration status you won’t have a sticker placed in your passport, you will be able to view and prove your immigration status on the government website (applies to most European students).

What date is your Student permission valid from? You must not attempt to enter the UK before the ‘valid from’ date. The date your Student permission starts can be up to 1 month before your CAS course start date, depending on your course, when you applied and what travel information you included in your application. The Appendix Student Immigration Rules include details of when Student immigration permission should start.

If you have entry clearance sticker:

• Check the ‘valid until’ date, you’ll need to arrive in the UK by that date.
• If your Student permission is for longer than 6 months, you should be issued with an entry clearance vignette that is valid for 90 days, during this time you will need to enter the UK. Then once you’ve arrived in the UK, you’ll also have a Biometric Residence Permit to collect. Find out more about collecting your BRP. If your entry clearance sticker is valid for longer than 90 days this will have been issued incorrectly, see below for information on how to arrange to have this corrected.
• If your Student permission is for up to 6 months long, you should have an entry clearance vignette that covers the entire duration of your course and will not be issued with a BRP.

Prepare for your travel and arrival at the UK Border. Read our Coming to the UK information and follow links to the Home Office and UKCISA guidance.

You’ll need to be able to arrive in the UK to study in person by the Latest Accept Date on your CAS which is a date agreed with your department..

You will not be a fully registered student until your in-person Right to Study check has been completed at your campus even if you have completed the online element of the registration process. If you have not registered and are not able to arrive by the Latest Accept Date on your CAS, do not travel to the UK. It is likely to be too late for you to start or continue your course this year and if that is the case your student permission would be cancelled.

• For students starting a new course who won’t be able to arrive by the Latest Accept Date on your CAS, please contact Admissions at visaquery@essex.ac.uk
• For students continuing their current course who won’t be able to arrive by the Latest Accept Date on your CAS, please contact the International Services Team at international@essex.ac.uk

If you have been issued with digital immigration status (most European students) you won’t be issued with a physical document and will need to view your status and conditions online.

If you applied in the UK, your BRP will be sent to the address you included in your Student route application. If you applied overseas, you’ll need to collect it when you arrive in the UK and can read our BRP page for more information.

You can find out all you need to know about BRP’s, including what to do if it doesn’t arrive or you lose it, by reading the government website and UKCISA’s guidance about passport, visa and BRP problems.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) are developing a digital immigration system. This means they are replacing physical documents (such as biometric residence permit (BRP), physical visa sticker in a passport, immigration ink stamp) with an online record of your immigration status. This is known as an eVisa.

An eVisa is an online record of your immigration status and the conditions of your permission to enter or stay in the UK.

If you have a biometric residence permit (BRP) that expires on 31 December 2024, UKVI will contact you with details on how to create a UKVI account and access your eVisa before the expiry date of your BRP. UKVI will start contacting people from April but this will be an ongoing process through 2024. The ability to create an account is by invitation only. We are expecting a further update from UKVI later in Summer 2024.

Further information

UKVI have published a factsheet (.pdf) on the move to digital proof of immigration status.

The latest information about eVisas is available on the UKVI website.

Entry clearance or digital status errors

Read the UKCISA guidance for more information to find out how to report and correct errors on your 90 day entry clearance vignette, vignette for full length of permission or digital status. You must do this before you travel and may need to be issued with a new vignette so take action quickly.

If you are on a course that is more than 6 months long and have an entry clearance sticker you should have been issued with an entry clearance vignette that will be valid for 90 days, then when you arrive in the UK you will pick up a BRP (Biometric Residence Permit). If you have been issued with an entry clearance vignette (sticker) that is for more than 90 days it will have been issued incorrectly and you will need to get it corrected, please email our International Services team with a copy of your vignette so we can contact the Home Office on your behalf.

BRP errors

Read our BRP information to find out how to report errors and obtain a replacement BRP. You can also find information about collecting your BRP when you arrive and what to do if you lose it.

If your application has been returned to you as invalid or refused the university will need to check the outcome and advise you if you would be eligible for our sponsorship to apply again, should you wish to.

• If you have registered and started your course, email a scanned copy of all pages of the UKVI/Home Office decision notification to our International Services team.
• If you are due to start a new Essex course, email a scanned copy of all pages of the UKVI/Home Office decision notification to our Admissions team.

If you have been refused on financial grounds and wish to be considered for a new CAS, you will also need to send us documents that show you are able to meet the financial requirements. If you have been refused on the grounds of credibility it is highly unlikely that we will agree to issue you with a new CAS unless the decision is overturned via administrative review.

If you have been given the right to request an Administrative Review and you believe a mistake has been made you should submit it by the deadline given in your outcome notification and let us know when you email us. Read the Administrative Review section below to find out more.

If your application has been refused and you are:

Starting a new Essex course: send our Admissions team a scanned copy of all pages of the UKVI outcome notification.

Continuing the same Essex course: send our International Services team a scanned copy of all pages of the UKVI outcome notification.

If you have been refused on financial grounds and wish to be considered for a new CAS, you will also need to send us documents that show you are able to meet the financial requirements. If you have been refused on the grounds of credibility it is highly unlikely that we will agree to issue you with a new CAS unless the decision is overturned via administrative review.

If you believe a mistake has been made, you should submit a request for administrative review by the deadline given in your outcome notification and let us know when you email us. Read the Administrative Review section below to find out more.

You should be given the right to submit an administrative review if your Student route application has been refused and;

• you submitted the application overseas or,
• you submitted your Student route application online from inside the UK before your last visa expired.

If you believe a mistake has been made by the Home Office caseworker when they have considered your Student route application, you should submit an administrative review by the deadline given in the decision notification, this is the only way to overturn an incorrect decision. If you submit an administrative review, you’ll need to let us know and send us evidence.

If you would like to make a new Student route application instead, the university will consider your eligibility for our immigration sponsorship in line with the Immigration Rules and Student Sponsor guidance in force at the time.

If you submit an administrative review then make a new immigration application before you’ve had the outcome, the administrative review will be automatically withdrawn by the Home Office.

You will not be given the right to request an administrative review if:

• You are inside the UK and your most recent UK immigration permission has not yet expired when you receive the refusal decision. However, you may be able to make a new Student route application in the UK, if you are eligible for a new CAS. We will let you know your options when you send us the outcome.
• Your application has been rejected as invalid rather than refused.

Details about applying for administrative review can be found in the Student and Child Student guidance, Appendix AR: administrative review and on the government website.

If your application is rejected, you should get a refund of all fees paid.

When an application is refused, the Student route application fee is not refunded. However, if you paid the immigration health surcharge (IHS) as part of your application this will be refunded in full, usually within 6 weeks of the outcome.

Find out more about refunds of the IHS on the government website. If you do not receive a refund when you should have you will have to contact UK Visas and Immigration direct.

You must tell the truth in immigration applications and declare periods of overstay or breaches if asked about them. If you are found to have used deception in an immigration application you are likely to be barred from the UK for ten years under Part 9 of the Immigration Rules – Grounds for refusal and would need to seek advice from an immigration lawyer.

Before making a new Student route application from within the UK or overseas please read all relevant guidance to ensure you meet all the Home Office requirements and can provide all the specified documents. If you aren’t exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge, you have to pay it again, you should receive a refund of the IHS you paid when you made the application that was refused/rejected, usually within 6 weeks of the outcome.

It is your responsibility to make sure you are eligible to make a Student route application and can meet all the requirements. If you need advice about your application you can contact UKCISA’s student advice line. If you are inside the UK, we recommend you seek advice and guidance from our Students' Union by contacting SUAdvice.

If you intend to make a new application overseas, it will take a minimum of 15 working days to be processed. You must be able to be in the UK in time to start your course in the relevant period.

You can seek independent advice from an immigration specialist or UKCISA. If you applied inside the UK with help from SUAdvice you can also contact them.