We liaise direct with the Home Office regarding immigration compliance procedures for our students who apply for visas to study at BU. Immigration compliance requirements are monitored and enforced by the Home Office's UK Visa and Immigration Service (UKVI). Please read the following important information about your visa responsibilities, how we monitor your attendance and engagement with your studies and what you need to do if you interrupt your studies, do not enrol, fail your assessments, or withdraw from your course.
Student visa responsibilities
It is important that you understand the responsibilities that come with your Student visa. There are immigration rules set by the Home Office that you must follow. Bournemouth University (BU) holds a Student Sponsor licence and therefore there are also certain immigration rules that we must follow. Please read this information very carefully and refer to it while you are studying with us.
Your responsibilities
Visa
If you are granted a new Student visa during your studies or granted a visa in a different immigration category you must email a copy to [email protected].
Passport
You must have a valid passport while you are a BU student. If your passport expires before the end of your course, you must apply for a new one before its expiry date, and email a copy to [email protected].
Contact details
You must keep us updated with your local address and phone number – even if you only live somewhere for a short time. You can update this yourself on MyHub or contact [email protected] if you have any problems.
Attend classes/exams/appointments and submit assignments
You must attend your classes in-person (online study is not permitted) and submit your assignments on time. If you are going to miss a deadline or a class, you must tell your Programme Support Officer (PSO) in advance. If you do not engage with your studies, you could be reported to the Home Office and withdrawn from your course. You can contact [email protected] to find out the name of your PSO.
Leaving your course
Your Student visa ties you to BU. If you withdraw, suspend or are withdrawn from your BU course, you must let us know what you decide to do.
If you decide to stay in the UK and study at a different University, your visa will not be valid for your new course and you will need to apply for a new visa. If you decide to leave the UK, you must send us evidence that you have left the UK. You can find more information about leaving/interrupting your BU studies on our Thinking of interrupting your studies or leaving BU? page, and the immigration implications information as below.
Study on a full-time course
Your Student visa only allows you to study full time. You are not allowed to change to a part-time course.
Police Registration Certificate (PRC)
Some nationalities need to register with the police once they arrive in the UK. If you need to register, it will clearly state on your visa “register with the police within seven days”. You can find out all the information you need about where to register, what documents to provide and how much it costs on the Dorset Police website.
It is very important that you update your PRC if:
- You extend your visa, or change to a different type of visa
- You move address
- You change your institution.
Visa correction
If you think there is a mistake on your visa, for example a spelling mistake, wrong work conditions, or if you think the visa expiry date is wrong, you should try to get your Entry Clearance sticker corrected before you travel to the UK.
If you are already in the UK and you think there is a mistake on your Biometric Residence Permit, you can find out how to apply for it to be corrected on the Gov.uk website.
BU's responsibilities
Enrolment
We will not be able to enrol you until you have uploaded evidence of your Student visa as part of Online Enrolment. This will be a copy of your Student visa (Entry Clearance sticker and decision letter) if you got your visa from outside the UK. If you applied from within the UK, you can either upload a copy of your BRP or evidence you have submitted your visa application.
If you do not show us these documents before the enrolment deadline, you will not be allowed to enrol this year and will be reported to the Home Office. BU is not allowed to let you enrol on your course if your visa is tied to another institution. In this case you must apply for a new visa, using your BU Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) before you come to enrol.
Monitoring and reporting
BU must report you to the Home Office if:
- You do not enrol on your course
- You do not engage with your course. This means you have not been attending classes or submitting your work (this will lead to you being withdrawn from your course)
- You withdraw or are withdrawn from your course
- You complete your course earlier than expected (this is based on the course end date noted on your CAS)
- You take a break (interrupt) from your studies
- You have a gap of 60 days or more with no studies
- If you fail any units on your course:
- There may be a gap between the date you get your results, and when you start the re-sits
- There may also be a gap between when you complete your re-sits, and when you can continue with the course
(If either of these gaps are more than 60 days long, you will need to leave the UK until your course restarts).
You can find information about the action the Home Office will take after receiving these reports as below.
If you have any questions about any of the information above, please contact AskBU on [email protected] or 01202 969696.
Engagement monitoring
Why are we monitoring your engagement?
There are a number of reasons why we monitor the attendance of all students at BU.
We know that students who attend classes do better and are more likely to succeed in their studies. Low engagement can be a sign that you are having difficulties. We follow up on low engagement because we need to make sure that you are OK and can access the right support. We want to make sure that you can make the most from your time at BU and succeed in your course.
There are also legal responsibilities we have with regards to Student Visa holders which mean we must monitor your engagement with your course. One of the conditions of your student visa is that you must be engaging with your studies, and this requirement includes attending classes on campus. As your visa sponsor, we must retain records of your attendance and report to the UKVI if the level of engagement is below our required level.
Visit our important information webpage to read our policy and procedure on Academic Engagement and Attendance.
What does this mean for you?
We run regular Engagement Reviews throughout the academic year to look at your attendance and overall engagement. At each review point we look at your engagement for the period since the last review. If during that period you have failed to submit an assessment, missed an exam or mandatory teaching session or had a total attendance below 40% for that period, we will contact you.
We will then ask you to increase your engagement if you can and, if necessary, we'll ask you to work with us to agree a plan to support you and increase your engagement.
If your engagement stays low and we can’t agree an appropriate plan with you after we've contacted you several times, we may need to agree an interruption (pause) to your studies or withdraw you from your course. If this happens then your Student Visa will be affected as you will not be able to meet the visa conditions. We will have to withdraw our sponsorship of your visa and the UKVI will then usually cancel your visa.
We follow a similar process to monitor and follow up on engagement of all BU students, but the process for student visa holders is different where necessary to ensure that you and BU comply with immigration compliance requirements.
What you must do:
The most important thing you can do is fully engage with your studies. Please let us know as soon as possible about any circumstances which are making it difficult for you to engage. This is important so that we can support you to succeed in your studies and get the most out of your time at BU, as well as being necessary for student visa compliance.
We will be monitoring your attendance in classes, your submission of work, your level of access to Brightspace and any events that your faculty state as mandatory for attendance.
You must make every effort to attend all your timetabled classes. We understand that sometimes events happen and you may not be able to attend a particular session, but if you are going to be absent from classes for longer than one week you must let your Programme Support Officer know. You can find contact details for your Programme Support Officer on your programme area on Brightspace.
You must make sure that you submit all your work on time, if you think you will not be able to meet a deadline then please speak to your Programme Support Officer or Programme Leader for advice before the deadline.
You must make sure you are logging into Brightspace regularly, this is where all your course study information is provided so regular access is vital.
If your course has stated that attendance at a specific session or event is mandatory, you must make sure that you attend or otherwise let your Programme Support Officer or Programme Leader know in advance of reasons why you cannot attend. Mandatory sessions can include an exam, a fieldtrip, a practical or skills session, a seminar or any other event deemed mandatory for your course.
Finally, if we contact you about your level of engagement on your course following an Engagement Review you must follow the instructions in the email and contact us if requested. If you do not do this, it could lead to further action being taken and could result in you being withdrawn from your course.
Managing absences
If you’re a student visa holder, significant absence from your course could affect your visa and eligibility for the Graduate Route. This is due to the Student visa having conditions on engagement with your study and the Graduate Route having rules on study in the UK.
Your visa conditions require you to study on the campus named on your CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies). This means you are not allowed to study remotely or from outside the UK after you have enrolled with us in Bournemouth.
If you have circumstances that will impact your attendance on campus for more than seven days, please log the absence with your Programme Support Officer. You will need to include the dates of your absence and whether your plans will involve leaving the UK during that period. We will then consider your circumstances, and our Immigration team will contact you with advice as to whether this might impact your visa status.
We do not authorise or agree absences, but we will need to tell you if an absence is likely to affect your visa status because it will prevent you from complying with your visa conditions. When we are considering your circumstances, we may consult with your teaching staff about the impact of an absence on your studies and academic progress. However please note that faculty staff are not able to provide advice on the impact of an absence on your visa, only the Immigration team can advise you on this. If you are planning a possible absence, please make sure you have advice from the Immigration team before you proceed with your plans so that you can make an informed decision.
If you interrupt your studies
Why will we need to report you to the Home Office?
When you received your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from BU, you were informed that any changes to your course would be reported to the Home Office. If you interrupt your studies we will need to report this to the Home Office according to the current Immigration Rules and published guidance. If you interrupt your studies for more than 60 days, the Home Office rules require that you leave the UK during this time. Please read the detailed information below.
What does this mean for you?
BU gave you the CAS, and we will need to report on your CAS if you are not studying. The Home Office granted you the Student Route visa, and it will be the Home Office who will curtail (cut short) the visa and contact you regarding this; BU will not be informed. Therefore we cannot tell you what your new visa expiry date will be, or when you should leave the UK. For this reason you should make plans to leave the UK as soon as possible.
If we need to report your 60 day non-engagement to the Home Office, when you leave the UK your Student Route visa will automatically expire. This means that even if the Home Office have not contacted you with a new visa expiry date, your visa will be invalid from when you leave the UK, so you will not be able to re-enter the UK on this visa.
You can find out how to make a new visa application on the Home Office website.
What you must do:
- Complete the CAS Request Form and email it to us at [email protected], confirming that you have understood the information we have given you
- Send us the curtailment letter when you receive it from the Home Office
- When you have left the UK, send us evidence of that. Acceptable evidence is the entry stamp to your country in your passport or if your country does not stamp in your passport, a copy of your boarding card (flight booking confirmation is not acceptable).
You can find more details here about the current Immigration Rules and published guidance.
If you have any further questions please email [email protected] for immigration advice before interrupting or withdrawing from your studies.
If you do not enrol
Why will we need to report you to the Home Office?
When you received your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from BU, you were informed that any changes to your course would be reported to the Home Office. If we are informed that you use the CAS issued from Bournemouth University to apply for your Student visa, but you do not enrol on your course, we will need to report this to the Home Office according to the current Immigration Rules and published guidance. Please read the detailed information below.
What does this mean for you?
BU gave you the CAS, and we will need to report on your CAS if you do not enrol on your course. The Home Office granted you the Student Route visa and it will be the Home Office who will cancel your visa and contact you regarding this:
- You will not be allowed to enrol at Bournemouth University
- If you have travelled to the UK, you must either apply for a new visa using a CAS from your new institution, or you must leave the UK
- If you have not travelled to the UK, you will not be allowed to travel to the UK on your Student Route visa, if it was granted.
What you must do:
- Email [email protected] as soon as possible to confirm:
- if your visa was granted - if refused please send us the Refusal Notice
- if you travelled to the UK or not
- if you did travel to the UK, what are you doing now.
- If you travelled to the UK and have since left, send us evidence of that
- An acceptable evidence is the entry stamp to your country in your passport or if your country does not stamp in your passport, a copy of your boarding card (flight booking confirmation is not acceptable).
You can find more details here about the current Immigration Rules and published guidance.
If you have any further questions please email [email protected] for immigration advice before interrupting or withdrawing from your studies.
If you fail your assessments
Why will we need to report you to the Home Office?
When you received your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from BU, you were informed that any changes to your course would be reported to the Home Office. If you fail your assessments and there is a gap of more than 60 days from when you failed, until when you will begin studying again, we will need to reported this to the Home Office according to the current Immigration Rules and published guidance. The Home Office rules are that if the gap is more than 60 days, students on a Student Route visa are not allowed to stay in the UK during this time. Please read the detailed information below.
What does this mean for you?
BU gave you the CAS, and we will need to report on your CAS if you are not studying any more. The Home Office granted you the Student visa, and it will be the Home Office who will curtail (cut short) the visa and contact you regarding this; BU will not be informed. Therefore we cannot tell you what your new visa expiry date will be, or when you should leave the UK. For this reason you should make plans to leave the UK as soon as possible
If we need to report your 60 day non-engagement to the Home Office, when you leave the UK your Student visa will automatically expire. This means that even if the Home Office have not contacted you with a new visa expiry date, your visa will be invalid from when you leave the UK, so you will not be able to re-enter the UK on this visa.
You can find out how to make a new visa application on the Home Office website.
What you must do now:
- Complete the CAS Request Form and email it to us at [email protected], confirming that you have understood the information we have given you
- Send us the curtailment letter when you receive it from the Home Office
- When you have left the UK, send us evidence of that. Acceptable evidence is the entry stamp to your country in your passport or if your country does not stamp in your passport, a copy of your boarding card (flight booking confirmation is not acceptable).
You can find more details here about the current Immigration Rules and published guidance.
If you have any further questions please email [email protected] for immigration advice before interrupting or withdrawing from your studies.
If you withdraw from your course
Why will we need to report you to the Home Office?
When you received your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from BU, you were informed that any changes to your course would be reported to the Home Office. If you withdraw from your course, we will need to report this to the Home Office according to the current Immigration Rules and published guidance. Please read the detailed information below.
What does this mean for you?
BU gave you the CAS, and we will need to report on your CAS if you are not studying any more. The Home Office granted you the Student visa, and it is going to be the Home Office who will curtail (cut short) the visa and contact you regarding this; BU will not be informed. Therefore we cannot tell you what your new visa expiry date will be, or when you should leave the UK. For this reason you should make plans to leave the UK as soon as possible.
If we need to report your withdrawal to the Home Office, when you leave the UK your Student visa will automatically expire. This means that even if the Home Office have not contacted you with a new visa expiry date, your visa will be invalid from when you leave the UK, so you will not be able to re-enter the UK on this visa.
What you must do now:
- Update all your contact details with the Home Office
- Send us the curtailment letter when you receive it
- If you make a new visa application to stay in the UK, send us evidence of this
- If you leave the UK, send us evidence of that. Acceptable evidence is the entry stamp to your country in your passport or if your country does not stamp in your passport, a copy of your boarding card (flight booking confirmation is not acceptable).
You can find more details here about the current Immigration Rules and published guidance.
If you have any further questions please email [email protected] for immigration advice before interrupting or withdrawing from your studies.
