If you are a non-UK / non-Irish national and you are coming to the UK to study at Queen’s University Belfast on a full-time course for more than six months, you will be required to apply for a Student visa.

You can check if you are eligible for a Student visa on our Student visa eligibility page

This guidance is for individuals applying outside the UK. This is called making an Entry Clearance application.

You can submit your visa application in a country you have a passport for, or the country where you normally live.  You must have permission to live in that country and not just visitor permission.   

If you are already in the UK and you would like information and advice about applying for a Student visa in the UK, visit our Applying for a Student Visa in the UK page. 

The earliest you can apply for your Student visa outside the UK is six months before your course start date.

Your course start date will be confirmed on your CAS statement.

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 show you meet UKVI requirements.  You can find further information about this on our Student visa requirements webpage.

Residents of certain countries will need to take a TB test if they are coming to the UK for more than six months. You can find out if you need to take a TB test on UKVI's website.

If you have lived in the UK for over 6 months, and you have been outside the UK for less than six months, you will not have to take a new TB test. However, if you have been outside the UK for more than six months, you will need to take a new TB test.

If you are coming to study in the UK at Queen’s University Belfast 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.

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

You must apply online on the UKVI website. 

Please note that if you are applying from North Korea you cannot apply online. Please read further instructions about applying from North Korea on the UKVI website.

You will need your CAS statement when you are filling in the application form as this will contain your course information and unique CAS number. 

As part of the application process you will either: 

• Attend an appointment at a Visa Application Centre (VAC) to provide your biometric information (your fingerprints and photograph); or 
• If you are an EEA national with a biometric chip in your passport, you may be invited to use the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to scan your identity documentation.   

You will be advised about what you need to do when you apply.

Our dedicated team of immigration advisers will be available to provide assistance by email.

If you need help to understand a particular question in the application, you can email a screenshot of the question to immigration@qub.ac.uk and we will be happy to help.

If you do need assistance, please make sure that you email us before you submit your application. You will not be able to change your answers after you have submitted the application.

Visa application fee

The online application fee for the standard visa processing service is currently £490 (or equivalent in your local currency) outside the UK.

Priority visa services are also available in most countries. This means that you can get your visa application processed more quickly, however this will be more expensive. You are advised to check with your local visa application centre (VAC) to find out what services are available and how much these cost.

Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)

You will also have to pay the IHS fee, which is currently £776 for every year of your Student visa. The IHS will need to be paid in full for the whole duration of your visa at the time you submit your visa application. 

You can find out more information about the IHS fee on the UKVI website. This is a mandatory payment which will give you access to the UK National Health Service (NHS) while you are in the UK.

The application fee and IHS fee are online payments which are part of the online visa application, therefore you must make sure that you have enough money to make these online payments using a credit or debit bank card at the point of submitting your online application.

You will complete the online application form, then pay the visa application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge.

Once you have paid your fees, your application has been submitted. You will see a UKVI checklist of documents you must provide, and further instructions about the next steps of the application process. You are advised to read the checklist and instructions carefully. 

If you are required to attend an appointment to enrol your biometric information (your fingerprints and photograph) you will be directed to book an appointment at a Visa Application Centre (VAC). 

If you have submitted your application through the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app you will receive an email to confirm your application has been submitted.

Queen’s University Belfast is an approved Alternative Collection Location (ACL) for Biometric Residence Permits.

If you will be studying a course of 6 months or more and are not applying for your visa using the UK Immigration: ID Check app,  you will be issued with a BRP Card which you will collect on arrival in the UK.

If you would like your BRP to be delivered to Queen’s University, make sure you enter the Queen’s Alternative Collection Location (ACL) Code: 2HE572 in the visa application form. 

If you are required to attend an appointment at the Visa Application Centre, you will register your biometric information by providing a scan of your fingerprints and a digital photograph.  This information will used to create your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). Your BRP card is your full UK visa.  

You will not receive your BRP card at your visa appointment or before travelling to the UK. You will collect your BRP card after you arrive in the UK.  

If you have applied for your visa using the UK Immigration: ID Check App, you will not need to attend an appointment at the VAC and you will not receive a BRP Card. 

You may be asked to undertake an interview with a UKVI caseworker, either in person or by telephone or video call.

The purpose of this interview is for UKVI to assess your credibility and determine if you are a genuine student. If UKVI is not satisfied that you are a genuine student, or if you cannot speak English to the required standard, it is likely that your application will be refused.

In order to prepare for this interview, you should review all of the information you have about your course, including the exact course title, course start and end dates as stated on your CAS, and the names and general content of the course modules. You are also advised to prepare some information on why you want to study in the UK, why you have chosen this particular course at Queen’s, and you should be able to talk about any research you carried out into studying at Queen’s and other UK institutions.

If you have paid for the standard visa processing service, you should get a decision within three weeks of attending your appointment at the VAC. However, this may vary depending on the location where you submit your application or at busy times of the year.

If you have paid for a priority visa service you should get a faster decision.

If you applied through a Visa Application Centre

If your application is successful, you will receive a 90-day entry visa vignette (or sticker) in your passport. This will be valid for 90 days and it will enable you to travel to the UK. You must arrange to enter the UK within the 90-day period of your vignette. 

If you applied using the UK Immigration : ID Check App

You will receive an email advising you of UKVI’s decision.  If your application is successful, you will be given instructions about your next steps.  Please note if you have applied using the app, you will not receive a physical document confirming your immigration status.  Instead, you will be able to prove your immigration status using digital verification.  

If your visa application has been unsuccessful please contact immigration@qub.ac.uk for further assistance. 

If you have submitted your visa application through a Visa Application Centre (VAC) and have been issued with a vignette in your passport, you will need to collect your BRP Card when you arrive in the UK.

You will need to collect your BRP Card from the location you selected in your visa application form within 10 days of your arrival in the UK.

Visit our BRP Information webpage for further information about collecting your BRP when you arrive in the UK.