Extending/renewing your visa

The Student route replaced the Tier 4 route from 5 October 2020. You may be able to apply in the UK if you are currently on a type of visa from which switching to Student visa is permitted. There are few conditions in place that you must be able to meet in order to make a Student visa application inside the UK. Read the information below and if you are not sure, contact the Immigration team to check if your current visa allows you to switch from inside the UK

​Current visa expiry date

You must apply for the Student visa before your current visa expires; otherwise, you will become an over-stayer and will not have valid permission to be in the UK. The University will not issue you with a CAS if you are an over-stayer.  

​Current visa type

If you currently hold a visa in another immigration category, you will need to check you are eligible to switch to a Student visa from inside the UK on the Home Office GOV.UK website

For instance if you are switching to the Student route category from a dependant visa or a Short-term study visa, you must apply from outside the UK.

Academic Progression requirements

Students who have previously studied in the UK must be progressing academically or going forward in their study. For example, if you have completed a Masters in the UK, you will not be permitted to study an Undergraduate degree. Similarly, if you were unable to successfully complete the course for which your last visa was granted, you cannot apply for a new visa in the UK to study another course at the same level; you must leave the UK and apply from outside the UK, in your country of nationality or normal residence. Please note the academic progression rules have changed a number of times over the years and can be complex. 

Continuing for further study at Huddersfield

If you have successfully completed the course for which your current visa was granted and are now applying to extend your visa in the UK to start a new course, the start date of the new course must be no later than 28 days of your visa expiry. If this gap exceeds 28 days, you will need to submit your new Student visa application outside the UK, in your country of nationality or normal residence.

Please note due to Covid-19, the Home Office are currently exercising discretion on this requirement, however this concession may not be available in future. 

• Your current visa is for another institution: You must submit a new Student visa application using the CAS issued by the University of Huddersfield before you can commence your new course. Furthermore, if you hold a current visa for another institution, their sponsor licence status with the Home Office will determine if you can apply in the UK or not.
• Your current visa is for University of Huddersfield: If you are a University of Huddersfield student continuing onto a new course, you can start the new course on your current visa, however, you must submit a new Student visa application either within six weeks of enrolling, or before your current visa expires, whichever is the earliest. 

Please note due to Covid-19, the Home Office are currently exercising discretion on this requirement, however this concession may not be available in the future. 

Study time limits (cap)

There are certain time limits set by the Home Office on the length of time that can be spent studying in the UK. The Home Office will take into account all previous time periods spent studying in the UK, at degree level on a Student visa, Tier 4 (General) visa or old style student visa. This includes any time that you spend repeating modules etc.

The Home Office will base their calculation on the length of your previous visas and not the length of the course, so they will take into account the 'valid from' and the 'valid until' dates of each of your previous visas since the age of 18.
Study undertaken on any other visa categories such as Visitor visa, Dependant visa or Short Term Student Visa is exempt from the time limits.

Below degree level:
Students who are aged 18 or above cannot spent more than two years studying in the UK below degree level (RQF 6 or SCQF 9 e.g. Foundation programmes, English language courses or diploma courses).

Degree level:
In general, a maximum of five years limit applies to studying in the UK at degree level or undergraduate level (RQF level 6 or Bachelor’s level).

However, some courses are exempt from the time limit, which are medicine, architecture, dentistry, or veterinary medicine and Music at a music college that is a member of Conservatoires UK (CUK) and certain Law conversion courses.

Postgraduate and above level:
There is currently no time limit on study at postgraduate degree level and above (e.g. Masters and PhD levels). However, the University will take into account the Home Office’s academic progression rule whilst making a decision on admission applications at these levels.

See Time limits section on the UKCISA website for more information. 

​How to apply

​The Immigration & Compliance team can help you and your dependants (if any) to submit a Student visa application for further leave to remain. However, you must start preparing your visa documentation at least 3 months before the expiry of your current visa. 

​Completing the online visa application

You will need to apply for your Student visa online. For completing the online application, you can download our Adobe PDF screenshot guide below: 

New Student Visa Guide