New students

Tier 4 General sponsorship

When you apply for your Tier 4 General student visa, your name is added to the University’s sponsor licence number.

If you are a Tier 4 student, you cannot study at the University of Edinburgh unless you have a Tier 4 General visa with the University’s sponsor licence number on it.

If you have a Tier 4 visa already and it does not have the University of Edinburgh’s sponsor licence number on it (23CYGN5K3) then you must apply for a new Tier 4 visa before enrolling at Edinburgh and bring evidence of that to your enrolment.

The visa application you make does not need to be decided by the time you enrol. However, evidence such as proof of postage, letter of acknowledgment from UKBA or a receipt from the International Office Visa Application Service confirming you have made an application, will be accepted.

Arranging to change the license number on your visa

If you need to change your Tier 4 visa to being sponsored by the University of Edinburgh, what you need to do depends on when you made your most recent visa application.

The UKBA have various regulations depending upon when you last applied for your visa. Details can be found on the UK Border Agency website:

Switching to a different sponsor (on the UKBA website)

We strongly recommend that regardless of your situation, you should make a fresh visa application to switch to University of Edinburgh sponsorship before you enrol, to avoid any complications.

Our role as your Tier 4 Sponsor

The University as your Tier 4 sponsor has a legal duty to ensure that we - and as far as possible, you - comply with UK Border Agency (UKBA) requirements.

We are required to report to the UKBA if a student listed on our sponsor licence:

fails to enrol on their course;
is absent for a prolonged period or misses 10 expected contact points;
withdraws from or suspends their studies, including withdrawal or suspension resulting from overdue tuition and accommodation fee payments;
defers studies after arrival in the UK;
changes their programme of studies.

In addition, the University must keep an up-to-date copy of your passport and visa page/UK ID card with your student records.

If the UK Border Agency receives a report from the University for any of the reasons above, your visa may be curtailed or cancelled.

Your role as a Tier 4 Student

As a Tier 4 General Student in the UK, it is essential that you comply with the conditions of your Tier 4 general student visa:

Registering

You should be fully registered and enrolled on your course, including relevant payment of tuition and accommodation fees to ensure continued registration.

Attendance and progress

You need to be in satisfactory attendance and making progress on your course within the University’s academic rules.

Police registration

If your visa requires that you register with the Police, you must do so within 7 days of arrival in the UK.

Work

You may be permitted to work up to a maximum of 20 hours in any one week during term and full time during recognised University holidays.

Your responsibilities

Full details about your responsibilities as a Tier 4 student at the University of Edinburgh, including information about circumstances under which the University may decide to end your sponsorship as a student can be downloaded in the following PDF.

Tier 4 compliance [PDF, 195kb]

Further advice

If you are concerned about your ability to comply with your student visa conditions, please contact us by email for confidential advice.

immigration@ed.ac.uk

This article was published on Feb 28, 2012