Tier 4 Visa for International Students

Tier 4 Student Visa Overview

The United Kingdom's points based immigration system, broken into five tiers; A very small number of highly skilled migrants who come under the Exceptional Talent visa, entrepreneurs, investors, Tier 4 students and a few other categories of people.

Students coming to the UK under a Tier 4 student visa require a university or other UK educational institution on the register of sponsors to sponsor them. They also need to score enough points to be accepted as an international student in the UK.

The following table is how the points system works for Tier 4:

The current system grants student visas for an initial period which varies depending on the length of the course. In general, a Tier 4 student can stay in the UK for the length of the course plus 4 months (for courses lasting one year or more) or one or two months (for courses between six months and a year). For shorter courses, international students are only granted a week to stay in the UK once the course has finished.

Work

Students who are in a course at or above NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 at a UK higher education institution are allowed to:

• work for up to 20 hours per week during term time;
• work full-time during vacations;
• do a work placement as part of your course;
• work as a postgraduate doctor or dentist on a recognised Foundation Programme.
  

If you are on a course below this level at a UK higher education institution, you are allowed to:

• work for up to 10 hours per week during term time;
• do a work placement as part of your course;
• work full-time during vacations.
  

If you are on a course at any level at a publicly funded further education college, you are allowed to:

• work for up to 10 hours per week during term time;
• work full-time during vacations;
• do a work placement as part of your course, provided your education provider is a Highly Trusted sponsor or the course is at or above NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9.
  

After your course is completed, you can use the remainder of your visa time to look for work in the UK so you can transition into another visa category if they wish. Otherwise, you must leave the UK once their visa period ends.

Dependents

In some cases, you can bring your partner or children (under dependent visas) with you during your studies but you must show that you have sufficient funds to provide for them. They will be able to apply under the Tier 4 student visa as a dependent. From 4 July 2011, you cannot bring your dependents to the UK unless:

• you are sponsored by a higher education institution on a course at NQF level 7 or above which lasts 12 months or more or;
• a new government-sponsored student following a course which lasts longer than 6 months.
  

Please also note that Tier 4 student visa applicants may be required to complete an English test if they are not nationals of an English-speaking country or have not completed any academic courses in English.

Documentation

Eligible Tier 4 student visa applicants can qualify for an exception because they are considered to be "low risk" and will normally be required to provide fewer evidential documents.

A Tier 4 student visa applicant qualifies for this exception if they are:

1. sponsored by a Highly Trusted Sponsor; and
2. applying for entry clearance in his/her country of nationality or for leave to remain in the UK; and
3. a national of:

Switching into another UK visa category

You may be eligible to switch into another visa category once you graduate. Check here to see the other visas the UK has to offer.

If you would like to apply for a UK visa, WorkPermit.com can help. WorkPermit.com is a specialist visa consultancy with over twenty years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice. Please feel free to contact us for further details.