Student visa conditions

Your engagement throughout the full academic year is monitored. You must attend all timetabled (online or face-to-face) sessions and submit all of your work on time.

Reminder: please download MySMU app.

You must record your attendance for all timetabled sessions via a unique access code, presented to you via your lecturer at the beginning of each timetabled session.

Please arrive to your class on-time and record your attendance immediately. If you do not record your attendance there will not be an accurate record.

Unexplained absences will be investigated which may put your visa sponsorship at risk.

Minimum attendance threshold requirements:

• foundation degree 85% per week.
• undergraduate and postgraduate 70% per week (You must check if your programme has a higher attendance threshold, this will depend which degree you study).

If you do not attend or fully engage with your studies, you will be at risk of being withdrawn from the University.

Throughout your studies, you must keep your UK contact details updated via the student portal.

You must update your personal email address, mobile telephone number and term-time UK address if there are any changes during your studies.

Please use the St Mary's student portal to do this.

You must inform the UKVI on certain changes to your circumstances.

• A change of address can be reported through an online form.
• A change of name, nationality, facial appearance, gender, or date of birth requires you to apply for a new biometric residence permit (BRP).
• New passport details and other relevant changes require the MCC form to be completed and posted to the UKVI.

Please read UKCISA's guide for details on reporting changes to UKVI.

You must live as close to St Mary’s University as possible. This is to enable you feel a part of the St Mary’s community and to fully engage with your studies. If you would like assistance to find accommodation please visit our accommodation pages for more information.

If your accommodation is too far away from St Mary’s University and your attendance and engagement are affected because of the distance, you are at risk of being withdrawn.

You must make every effort to live as close by to the University as possible. 

Keep your travel documents in a safe place. Do not leave your home with them in case they are lost - it is expensive and time consuming to replace them, and you are unable to travel without them.

If you apply for a new visa or passport during your studies, you must update your student record via the Student Portal. We must have a copy of any new immigration documents.

If there is an error on your BRP card, such as your working conditions are incorrect or the length of your visa is too long or too short, it must be investigated and sent for correction with the Home Office.

If your BRP or passport are lost during your studies you must apply for a replacement.

For information about correcting a BRP error, or if you lose your BRP, please visit UKCISA's BRP.

Your visa conditions allow you to work a maximum of 10 or 20 hours a week during term time.

You may also be able to work more than 10 or 20 hours per week during recognised vacation periods.

Please refer to the Work During Studies FAQs for more explanations about your visa conditions.

Foundation degree and Undergraduate degree students can work more hours during recognised vacation periods as long as there are no resits or repeats to complete.

Postgraduate degree students at St Mary’s students do not have recognised vacation periods. 

Postgraduate students are unable to work more hours than 20 hours in between the start and end date of your programme.

Letters are not produced at St Mary’s University to provide to employers to explain the work conditions of your visa.

Please show your employer your BRP and print a student verification letter from the student portal to prove your enrolment status and your course start and end dates.

You must not work more hours than stated on your visa, as you would be in breach of your visa conditions and your employer would be breaking the law.

Foundation degree (and below)

Term-time working hours

10 hours of work per week maximum during term-time. You must not work more hours than stated on your visa. If your visa has incorrect working hours you must have your visa corrected.

Recognised vacation periods

• Christmas break
• Easter break
• Summer break

Undergraduate degree

Term-time working hours

20 hours of work per week maximum during term-time. You must not work more hours than stated on your visa. If your visa has incorrect working hours you must have your visa corrected.

Recognised vacation periods

• Christmas break
• Easter break
• Summer break

Postgraduate degree

Term-time working hours

20 hours of work per week maximum during term-time. You must not work more hours than stated on your visa. If your visa has incorrect working hours you must have your visa corrected.

Recognised vacation periods

No recognised vacation periods at postgraduate level.

Postgraduate degree students at St Mary’s students do not have recognised vacation periods.

Postgraduate students are unable to work more hours than 20 in between the start and end date of your programme.

As a Postgraduate student, when you submit your final piece of work at the end of the programme and there are no re-sits or repeats to complete, you are then permitted to work more hours in the last 4 months of your visa called ‘extant leave’. 

Letters for employers?

Letters are not produced by St Mary’s University to provide to employers to explain the work conditions of your visa. Please show your employer your BRP and print a student verification letter from the student portal to prove your enrolment status.

Become a student ambassador

Why not work as a student ambassador? Enthusiastic students are required to assist St Mary's with recruitment events.

National insurance number

If you find work, you will pay tax and National Insurance contributions on your earnings. For information about obtaining a National Insurance Number, please visit the UK government’s national insurance web pages.

Types of work not permitted

You cannot be self-employed, run a business, or work as a professional sportsperson, including a sports coach. In addition, you cannot be employed as an entertainer. You may not hold a permanent full-time job while studying.

UKCISA

Please visit the UKCISA's pages on working in the UK.

Some courses include work placement opportunities.

If you are completing a work placement as part of your course, you can also work 10 or 20 hours per week during term-time in a different job as stated on your BRP.

Your work placement details must be reported to the Home Office. Most work placements are arranged via the workplace learning team.

You will require a letter to provide to your employer before you can start working at the company that explains your visa requirements.

Whilst on your placement your engagement and/or progress will be monitored. If you do not attend your placement as planned because of unauthorised absences, you are at risk of being withdrawn from St Mary’s University.

If your have any questions about work placements and your visa conditions please contact studentvisas@stmarys.ac.uk

Any changes to your studies are likely to have implications to your visa. For example:

• Changing your course
• Withdraw/leave of absence
• Repeat or resit exams
• Transfer of university
• Change of immigration status

Once you have completed enrolment, please contact studentvisas@stmarys.ac.uk with any questions about making any changes to your studies.

Once you have agreed for changes to be made via your Course Lead and the visa team, you will be able to request the necessary changes via the student portal.

The Schengen Visa Scheme allows those who wish to visit certain countries within the European Economic Area (EEA) (and Switzerland) to travel between these countries using only one visa. You should contact the Embassy in London of the country or countries you wish to visit.

The countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

You will require a No Objection letter to apply for a Schengen visa. Once you are an enrolled student, you will be able to request a No Objection letter from the visa team. You should only travel during suitable breaks in studies.

More information about how to apply can be found at: UKCISA’s Schengen web pages. 

There are many requirements for students and their families while studying under a Student visa.

For information about dependants, please visit UKCISA's web pages about dependants.

 The Graduate Immigration Route (GIR) will be open to you if you have successfully completed an eligible course and you have valid student or Tier 4 permission.

Eligibility requirements

 * You must have studied your course in the UK for at least the last 12 months or the full length of your course, whichever is shorter. (Not studying overseas or remotely).

* You must successfully complete your entire course, you are not eligible to apply if you leave St Mary’s University with an Exit Award.

* You must submit your application from inside the UK.

* The UKVI Compliance and Immigration Team will confirm with you via email when you are eligible to apply after the exam board for your programme.

* You will need to pay a new visa application fee and pay for 2 years of IHS costs as part of your visa application costs. Please ensure you have the funds in place before you apply.

* Programmes below degree level, are not eligible. For example, foundation degrees.

 For more information please see our Graduate Visa FAQs.