Visas, immigration and CAS
In order to study in the UK you'll need to meet the various visa and immigration conditions outlined by the Home Office.
Understanding your visa
If you're an international student, you must fully understand and comply with the conditions set out in your visa. Breaching the visa rules could have serious consequences for your immigration status and could affect your right to study in the UK.
To make things easier for you, we run down the requirements you need to fulfil before starting your studies, including securing your CAS and Student Route visa.
We also provide information on the limitations of your visa, so you know how many hours a week you can work and whether or not you can progress to a Student Work Route visa. Plus, there's guidance on how to add a placement year into your studies.
Student Route visas
In order to study in the UK you'll need to meet the various visa and immigration conditions outlined by the Home Office. But before you apply for your Student Route visa, you must request a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
Once you have received a CAS, you can then apply for a student visa. Before making your application, read the information on the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website. You'll also guidance from our specialist international team on the following CAS and Applying for your visa pages.
Placement year FAQs
It is possible to add a placement year into your degree. However, there are some rules you must follow.
If you would like to add a placement year, you must first secure the placement by the relevant deadline. The placement office must then approve the course transfer.
You will need to apply for a new CAS as a continuing student to obtain a new visa that will cover the remaining length of the course.
You are permitted to work full time hours for your approved placement employer.
In addition to this, you can work a maximum of 20 hours per week for any other employer.
Your faculty will transfer you off the placement route and you will be awarded the one-year master’s at the next exam board. Once this is completed, the compliance team will report your change of course to the Home Office and your visa will be cancelled.
After you receive the email confirmation of your visa curtailment from the UKVI team, you will have about four months of extant leave.
Please obtain a course completion letter from your faculty student office after your new course end date. You can provide this to your employer as proof of your course completion.
For more details on working requirements, read our advice on working in the UK on a Student Visa. Or contact our immigration advice team for more details on ImmigrationAdvice@Kingston.ac.uk.
Students who are transferred off the placement year and complete the one-year masters are reported to the Home Office by the compliance team. They are then required to report your early completion and new end date. Your visa is then cancelled, and you will have 4 months extant leave.
If you travel outside the UK after your new end date has been reported to the Home Office, you risk not being eligible to apply for the Graduate Route.
The advice from the Home Office is not to travel outside the UK until your Graduate Route visa has been granted.
Graduate route FAQs
A Graduate visa gives you permission to stay in the UK for at least 2 years after successfully completing a course in the UK.
You must be in the UK when you apply for a Graduate visa.
The Graduate Route is only open to those who have successfully completed their course and who have valid Student Route permission when they apply. You must be fully awarded before you can apply. Therefore, if you are required to use your extant leave to complete failed modules, you may not have enough time left on your visa to apply for the Graduate Route.
Whether you are still eligible will depend on your individual circumstances.
You must wait until your degree has been officially awarded, which will be following the exam board.
Assuming you have been awarded your full degree, you will be automatically reported for the Graduate Route.
You will receive an email confirmation of this with your CAS number and further details on the application process.
Work Visas FAQs
Find out when or if it's possible to switch from a Student Route visa to a Student Work Route visa.
The main purpose of the Student Route is to enable applicants to undertake a course of study within the UK. We want to ensure applicants are coming to the UK to study rather than to work. There are other routes available for those whose primary focus is to work.
Students must come to the end of their course before they are permitted to switch to the Skilled Worker Route. The start date on their Certificate of Sponsorship for the work route must be no earlier than their course completion date. They can apply to switch up to three months before their Certificate of Sponsorship start date.
PhD students will be permitted to switch into the Skilled Worker Route after they have completed 24 months towards their PhD.
Got a question?
Our international team is always happy to help. Send us a message and the appropriate department will email or call you back.
