You may need to extend your Student visa in the UK if:

• you are progressing to a new course of study;
• you are continuing your current course of study and need more time to complete your course;
• you wish to work as a Student Union Sabbatical Officer or as a doctor or dentist in training.

This is called making a 'Permission to Stay' application. 

You may be able to switch to a Student visa if you already have permission to be in the UK in a different immigration category.

If you are in the UK on a Short-Term Study visa or Standard Visitor visa, you will not be permitted to make a Student visa application in the UK. 

You can only extend or switch to a Student visa in the UK if you meet certain eligibility requirements under the UK Immigration Rules. 

You can find information on the eligibility requirements on our Student visa eligibility page.

If you wish to make a Student visa application in the UK to study at Queen’s University, please contact the Immigration Advice team at immigration@qub.ac.uk to check if you can apply for your Student visa in the UK.

The earliest you can apply for your visa is three months before the course start date on your CAS Statement.

You must submit your online application for your new Student visa before your current visa expires.  If you do not think that you will be able to apply to extend your visa before your current visa expires you should contact immigration@qub.ac.uk as soon as possible for further immigration advice. 

If your visa has already expired, Queen's University Belfast will not be able to support your application to stay in the UK and this will have implications on your study. 

CAS statement issued by the University

Before you apply for your Student visa you must have a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) Statement issued by Queen's University Belfast.  You can find more information about receiving your CAS Statement by visiting our Student visa eligibility webpage. 

Documents which meet the UKVI requirements

Before you begin your Student visa application, you must have prepared the documents you need to demonstrate you meet the UKVI requirements of the Student visa route.  You can find further information about this on our Student visa requirements webpage.

If you are applying for your Student visa in the UK, a TB test is not required.

Students from certain countries who will be studying a postgraduate course in particular science, engineering or technology courses may need to obtain an ATAS certificate before applying to extend their Student visa.

If you are required to have an ATAS certificate you are advised to apply for your certificate as soon as possible. The application is online and free of charge. The average processing time is four weeks, however this will increase during the busy time of April to September, when it can take more than six weeks.

You can find more information about the ATAS requirement in our Additional Support section.

If you are studying in the UK as a postgraduate student for more than nine months or as a government sponsored student for more than six months, you will usually be eligible to bring your spouse/partner and any child under 18 to the UK as your dependants using the Student Dependant Visa route.

If you have any family members on the Student dependant visa route already with you in the UK, they can apply to extend their UK immigration permission at the same time as you. 

Visit our Student Dependant Visa webpage for further information and guidance. 

The Immigration Support Service team can provide you with specialist advice and assistance with your Student visa application.  We are the only staff in the University qualified to answer your visa questions accurately.

We are here to support you from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, with online resources available 24 hours a day. If you have any questions about preparing for your application or you need clarification about anything in our guidance documents, you can email us at immigration@qub.ac.uk and we will be happy to help. 

Before you submit your Student visa application, you will need to take the following steps:

1.   You will need to contact immigration@qub.ac.uk to check if you can apply for a Student visa in the UK

2.   ISS will email you a CAS Request Form to complete which will ask you to provide your details and your course details.

3.   Once you have completed your CAS Request Form,  ISS will confirm the information you have provided with your School. 

4.   Your Immigration Adviser will then check your supporting documents to ensure they meet the requirements of the Student visa route.

5.   Once your documents have been checked, your Immigration Adviser will email your CAS Statement to you along with guidance to complete your online Student visa application form.

6.   When you begin your application, the UKVI website will check if you can submit your application using the UK Immigration : ID Check app. 

If you can use the app, you will complete your visa application fully online.  If you cannot use the app, you will need to attend an appointment at the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) Service point to complete your visa application. 

7.   You will then complete your visa application form in draft.  Once you have completed your draft application form, your  Immigration Adviser will check your application form for you. 

Please do not submit and pay for your visa application until it has been checked by and Immigration adviser.

You can access the link to the online application form and read more information on UKVI's website.

Some students will be able to use the UK Immigration: ID Check app to confirm their identity as part of their visa application.  

You can use the UK Immigration: ID Check app if you have:

• a passport with a biometric chip symbol issued by an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland
• a biometric residence permit (BRP Card)

You will need a mobile phone that meets the app requirements.

You will be prompted to check if you are eligible to use the app when you begin to complete the online visa application form.  If you can use the app,  your visa application will be fully online and you will not need to attend an appointment at a UKVCAS Service point.   

If you are directed to use the app, you will be asked to scan your passport or BRP Card, scan your face and take a photograph of yourself. 

You can find information about using the UK Immigration: ID Check app on UKVI's website.

What if I cannot use the UK Immigration: ID Check app?

If you are unable to use the app, you will be required to attend an appointment at your local UKVCAS (UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services) Centre.  You will be directed to book an appointment at the end of the visa application form, after you have paid the Visa Application Fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. 

Visa application fee

When paying the visa application fee, you can choose from the following services:

Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) fee

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) fee is a mandatory fee that will allow you to access the National Health Service in the UK. The cost is calculated according to the length of visa that you will be granted. The cost is currently £776 per year and £388 for part of a year that is 6 months or less.

You can use the IHS tool on the UKVI website to check how much you will be required to pay. The Student visa online application form automatically calculates how much you need to pay and you will need to make this payment online at the point of submitting your application.

If you applied using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app 

You will receive an email to confirm your application has been submitted. 

If you did NOT use the 'UK Immigration : ID Check' app

If you did not apply for your Student visa using the app, you will need to attend an appointment to enrol your biometric information (your fingerprints and photograph). You will be directed to another website to create an account and book an appointment at a UKVCAS centre.

UKVCAS is UKVI’s commercial partner and they operate the biometric enrolment appointments on behalf of UKVI. The closest UKVCAS centre is in Belfast City Centre. You should receive email confirmation of your booked appointment. 

If you applied using the 'UK Immigration: ID Check' app

UKVI will inform you of the outcome of your application by email. They will send the decision to the email address you provided in your online application.

If you are required to attend an appointment at the UKVCAS application centre

You should arrive at your UKVCAS biometric enrolment appointment 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.

A member of staff there will scan the QR code on your ‘Appointment Confirmation’ email. You will be asked to provide your biometric information (fingerprints, photo and signature). They will check that your documents have been uploaded to your online UKVCAS account. You should take the relevant documents with you to the appointment (in case there have been any problems with the document upload). The staff at the UKVCAS centre are not UKVI staff and will not make the decision regarding your application.

You can find more information about what will happen at your appointment on the UKVCAS website.

There is a possibility that you will be asked to attend a separate credibility interview where a UKVI caseworker will assess if you are a ‘genuine’ student. UKVI will contact you directly if you are required to attend an interview. If you receive a request to attend an interview, please contact the Immigration Support Service team as soon as possible by emailing immigration@qub.ac.uk.

UKVI will inform you of the outcome of your application by email. They will send the decision to the email address you provided in the online application form.

The processing time for your visa application depends on the service type you selected when you submitted your application online.

For more information about the service types and processing times see the ‘How much does it cost to apply?’ section.

How you receive your visa will depend on whether you are a 'Visa national' or a 'Non-visa national'.   'Visa nationals' are applicants who hold a passport issued by a country listed in the Visa Nationals list of the UK Immigration Rules.

If you are a non- visa national

If you are a non- visa national and you applied for your visa using the UK Immigration: ID Check app, you will receive digital confirmation of your immigration status (an eVisa) which you can check on the UK Government website.

If you are a visa national

If you are a visa national, you will normally receive both a BRP Card and an eVisa.  After you have received the decision on your visa application by email, it can take up to 10 working days for your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) card to arrive. It will be sent to the address you provided in your online application.

If you used the Immigration Support Service office address, the Immigration Compliance team to advise how you can collect your BRP Card.  

You can find further information about collecting your BRP Card on our Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) webpage. 

If you leave the Common Travel Area (the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) before you receive the outcome of your Student visa application, UKVI will consider that you have withdrawn your application.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) fee you paid may be refunded, however the visa application fee will not be refunded. You will normally have to make another immigration application before returning to the UK.

We strongly recommend that you do not travel outside the Common Travel Area while you are awaiting a decision on your visa application.

If you urgently need to travel, please email immigration@qub.ac.uk for advice.