Staff Visas

After you apply

Information on what happens after you submit your visa application.

Receiving your visa and what to do next

If your application has been successful, how you receive your visa will depend on where you applied and how you provided your biometric information.  Your decision letter (usually sent by email) should also confirm this. 

Applying outside the UK

 

Applying inside the UK

Travelling to the UK

Your visa (vignette or digital status) will have a start and end date (valid from/valid to).  It is very important that you travel to the UK on or after the start date.   If you travel to the UK before the start date on your visa then you will be entering the UK as a visitor and will not have permission to work in the UK.

If you have been granted a vignette which is valid for 30 or 90 days, then you must enter the UK during this period otherwise you will have to apply, and pay, for a replacement vignette.

The UKVI advises that you should not book travel to the UK until you have received your visa.

Delayed start date

After the visa is granted, an employment start date cannot be moved forward more than 28 days from:

  • the start date requested on the CoS application or;
  • from the date the visa is approved whichever is the soonest,

Otherwise it will be necessary to cancel the CoS.  This would result in a need to start the visa process again, ie making a new visa application.  If you need to delay your start date please contact your school/department HR or admin contact.

Arriving at the border

Skilled Worker visa holders and their dependants will usually have their passports and vignettes checked by immigration officials when arriving in the UK.  Certain nationalities will receive an ink stamp on their passport which confirms their date of entry.

If you have a biometric passport and are a national of an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA, you will be able to enter the UK using an eGate.  If you are travelling with children under 12 years old, you will not be able to use the eGates.

If you enter the UK through an eGate, you will not speak with an immigration official and your passport won’t be stamped.  It is important that you keep additional evidence of your entry to the UK, for example, a flight ticket or boarding pass.