Download the International Handbook

This section of the website is dedicated to helping and informing the international students at the University of Bolton. In these pages you will find lots of information which will hopefully help to make your stay in the UK, and in particular Bolton, enjoyable and trouble free. One of the main reasons that international students make appointments with the Advice Unit is to get help either extending their stay in the UK as a student, or for help applying for visas which allow them to stay in the UK to work once they have finished their studies (Post Study Work).

How to Extend your Student Visa

For all other information sheets please go to the International Downloads Section

 

Immigration changes on 6 April

Extending your Student Visa

The UK Government has published information of the immigration changes it plans to introduce on 6 April. The full details should be available on 15 March. In summary the changes will be:

  • If you apply on or after 6 April, you must show that you have higher levels of funds. If you study in Inner London, this increases from £800 to £1000 per month. Outside Inner London, the level increases from £600 to £800 per month. Funds for dependants also increase.
  • If you pay accommodation fees to your Tier 4 sponsor, you will be able to deduct a maximum of £1000 from the maintenance you have to show when you make your application, even if you have paid more than this.
  • You will be limited to spending five years on courses at degree level. There will be exceptions if:
    • your undergraduate degree course was four or five years long and you want to study a Master’s degree at a higher education institution (recognised body or institution in receipt of public funding)
    • you want to study a PhD at a higher education institution
    • you are studying a specific course: architecture, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and science, law, music studied at a conservatoire.
  • If you are studying a course below degree level and/or you are not at a higher education institution and you apply for leave on or after 6 April, any work placements must be limited to one third of your total course time (currently the limit is 50 per cent).
  • If you are going to do a pre-sessional course followed by a degree level course and your Tier 4 sponsor wants to assign you one Confirmation of Acceptance (CAS) for Studies for both courses, you must have passed a UK Border Agency-approved English language test at the required level before your sponsor can assign a CAS to you. Until 6 April, you did not have to pass an approved test and your sponsor could assess your English in different ways.

Post Study Work – Last date for applications is Thursday 5th April

  • The last date on which you can apply for Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) is 5 April. After then, you will be able to stay for work if you apply under Tier 2. Tier 2 sponsor employers will not need to show that no one in the settled labour market could do the job before offering it to you. If this is not possible because, for example, the Tier 2 minimum wage for your area of work is too high, and you need to undertake professional training in order to qualify in your profession, you should check with your professional body whether it can sponsor you under Tier 5 (Government Authorised Exchange). The Government intends to make it possible for you to apply under Tier 5 within the UK if you need to do stay under this scheme to do your professional training.
  • A new scheme called Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) will be introduced, but this could be after 6 April. Your Tier 4 sponsor will remain responsible for you and must work with you to help you develop your business. Places on this scheme will be limited to 1000 in the first year, and Tier 4 sponsors will select the graduates they wish to suppor

Immigration fees increase on 6 April

If you make an immigration application on or after 6 April, you will have to pay a fee that, in most cases, will be higher than if you apply before 6 April.  For example, the Tier 4 entry clearance (visa) increases from £255 to £289 and the Tier 4 postal extension application fee increases from £386 to £394.  There is no fee increase for a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) application as this scheme will no longer exist on 6 April. However, there is still a fee for Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) dependants. This implies dependants will be able to apply to join their family member after the scheme has ended, but the Immigration Rules have not yet been published so we do not know this for certain.  There is a fee for applying as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) of £700 (postal application in the UK). Again, we do not yet have any details of the requirements of this scheme.

New application forms will be published for use from 6 April 2012 – Make sure you always use the most recent version of the relevant application form on the UK Border Agency website.

 

UPDATES

On the 4th July 2011, some new immigration rules came in to affect for all Tier 4 and Dependant applications.  Below is a summary of the changes .   If you are planning to submit an immigration application you should read the revised Tier 4 Policy Guidance which is available from the links below.

Working During your Studies

You will be entitled to work only if you study at either a Higher Education institute or a publicy funded Further Education college.

Your Family’s Immigration

You can bring or keep dependants in the UK if:

  • you are studying a Postgraduate course that lasts 12 months or more, at a Higher Education institution; or
  • you are a Government sponsored student on a course that lasts 6 months or longer; or
  • you are applying for immigration permission to study a course of six months or more, your dependant is applying at the same time as you, and within 3 months of the date of your application you had (or were last granted) immigration permission under Tier 4 or as a student under the old rules.

Evidence of Maintenance for Tier 4 Applications

From 4 July 2011, Tier 4 application forms will include a formal declaration that maintenance funds are genuinely available to you to pay for living and studying in the UK.

Students from certain countries that the UKBA has defined as ‘low risk’, who are applying in the home country or in the UK for permission to study with a Highly Trusted Sponsor, will not need to provide any further formal evidence of maintenance.  A list of these coutries can be found in the Tier 4 Policy Guidance.  However, the UKBA still has the right to request further evidence of your maintenance.  If they do request the evidence, and you do not provide it, your application will be refused.

The UKBA has said that the date of the closing balance on any financial statement used in a Tier 4 application will be counted at the 28th day of the 28 day period for which the funds must have been held.  They have also said that this day must be no more that 31 days before the date of application.

Academic Progress

From 4 July 2011 the new rules say that a Tier 4 sponsor can normally only issue a CAS for a course that represents ‘academic progress from previous study undertaken’, or which confirms that the new course compliments or enhances your previous study in the UK  the Univetsity will also need to confirm that your English Languate is at the cottect level.  There are some exceptions to this rule, including students who are applying for more time to re-sit an examination or repeat a module.

Further changes to the Immigration Rules will be implemented over the next 12 months and we will notify you when details of these have been published. The proposed changes include:
  • You will not be able to spend longer than 5 years doing courses at degree level. There will be exceptions if you take certain longer courses, including medicine and architecture, and if you study a PhD. This means, for example, you might not be able to do a 4–year undergraduate degree followed by a 2–year Master’s course. If you take longer than you expect to do a first degree, you might not be able to take another course below PhD level (April 2012).

 

  • Tier 1 (Post Study Work) –  This work route will close in April 2012. We do not yet have the details of what will replace it. However, it looks as if you will need to meet most of the requirements of Tier 2, except for the Resident Labour Market Test, or of a new student entrepreneur route which does not yet exist. This means that a Tier 2 employer will not have to show that the job was advertised and no UK or EEA nationals could do it. However, the job will have to be a graduate level job with a specified minimum wage, and the employer must have a Tier 2 licence. There will be no specific provision for you if you need to complete a period of work in order to qualify in a profession. You should speak to your college or university if you think this is likely to cause you problems.

New Forms and Interactive Tier 4 Form

The Tier 4 interactive form will help you to complete your application form, it is for guidance only - do not print it off and use it as your application form!!! We suggest that you complete your form in pencil so that any mistakes can be corrected.  Once you have completed your form, got your CAS from Student Services and any other documents you will be sending with your application, either call in or ring the Students’ Union to make an appointment with Janet who is the Advisor.  Once you have had your form checked you can go over the answers in BLACK ink.

Click here  for the interactive  Tier 4 (Interactive).

Click here for the interactive Tier 1 (Post Study Work) form.

You can either download the current application form and guidance notes from the links below or you can pick up an Application Pack from the Students Union Reception. An application pack from the Students Union costs £1 and consists of

Tier 4 (general) application Form

Tier 4 Help Text

Photograph Guidance

Please note the Students Union does not stock copies of the Tier 4 Guidance document, PBS Dependant application forms or the Tier 1 Post Study Work form, however you can download these forms from the links below.

Tier 4 (General) Application Form

Tier 4 (General) Help Text

Tier 4 Guidance Document

PBS Dependant Form

Tier 1 Post Study Work (for applications made on or after 6th April 2011)

You will aslo be able to find out more about changes to the UK Immigration system at www.ukcisa.org.uk and www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

To try and make applying to the Home Office for visa extensions as easy and stress free as possible we have devised some interactive forms to help.

How to use the Interactive Forms

Once you have a copy of the form you need to complete, click on the interactive help form you want to use.