For students applying inside the UK...2 . Tier 4 (General) Visa: guide to the online application form INSIDE the UK Tier 4 (General) Visa: guide to the online application form INSIDE

Student Advice Service Your immigration and funding specialists

For students applying inside the UK

Tier 4 (General) – guide to online application form

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Tier 4 (General) Visa: guide to the online application form INSIDE the UK


2. Select Yes, then click Save and continue

1. You must first create a unique online application form.

Go to:

https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/product/tier-4-student




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3. Most students would select No. Only select Yes if you have already made a visa application and you have not received a result. You cannot apply to extend your Tier 4 (General) visa from within the UK if your existing Tier 4 (General) visa has expired

4. Select No, then click Save and continue.

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5. Enter your email address. When creating a password, ensure it meets the criteria.

Avoid using qq.com email addresses as these sometimes have problems with receiving emails.

6. Select You. Then click Save and continue.

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7. Check your answers to the previous questions, and click Change if you need to amend them.

Once your answers are correct, click Continue to move to the next section.

8. To continue with your application, click on the button answer questions about this applicant.

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9. Enter the required information, then click Save and continue.

10. Select No if you have always had the same name, or Yes if you have ever changed your name. Only include names by which you have legally been known (e.g. those in your current and previous passports). Do not include nicknames.

Click Save and continue

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11. Please use your own personal email that you have access to as you will receive important information from UKVI regarding your visa application.

Avoid using qq.com email addresses as these sometimes have problems with receiving emails.

Then click Save and continue.

12. A verification email will be sent to you which you will need to open when you log into your email account.

You will then need to click on the verification link to continue with your application.

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13. Enter your password that you used to sign up with for your visa application.

14. This is optional. If you would like to add an additional email then do so here.

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For your current address, be sure to include your room number, if you have one. For example: Room 12c, Walt House 47 Disney Street London N1 7WD

Your new visa (BRP) will be sent to you by mail. If you want UKVI to send your visa to a different address, select I want to receive mail at a different address and enter this address in the boxes that appear.

If you may be moving to a different address soon, you can use the Student Advice Service address, as long as you tell us by e-mail before you submit your online visa application form. Use the following address

c/o Atif Butt, Student Centre (1st floor) UAL, 272 High Holborn London WC1V 7EY

If you move to a different address after submitting your online visa application, you must do both of the following: • Inform UK Visas & Immigration of your new address using their online form at: https://visa-address-update.service.gov.uk/ • Ask the Student Advice Service to check if UK Visas & Immigration have sent anything to you by mail, and request that they resend it to your new address.

https://visa-address-update.service.gov.uk/

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17. Enter the required information, which is usually found on the same page as your photograph in your passport, then click Save and continue.

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18. Select the relevant option, then click Save and continue

If you do not have your passport, seek advice from the Student Advice Service.

19. Enter the required details, using information which is usually found on the same page as your photograph in your passport. Then click Save and continue.

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20. If you have a valid national identity card present with you, click Yes. Then Save and continue.

21. Enter the correct details from your national identity card, then click Save and continue.

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23. Most students will have a current valid visa so you should click Yes, then enter your visa type e.g. Tier 4 Leave to Remain.

Press Save and continue.

If your visa has expired then speak to the student advice team immediately.

22. You must click Yes if you have any other nationalities or previously held any other nationality. If you haven’t had any other nationality then click No. Then press Save and continue

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24. Enter the start date and expiry (end) date of your current visa, as they appear on your visa. Then click Save and continue.

25. Answer the question honestly, then click Save and continue.

If you answer ‘Yes’ to this question, seek advice from the Student Advice Service before submitting your online application form.

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26. Select Yes if you have a valid Tier 4 visa, Then click Save and continue.

27. Select Yes if your current visa requires you to register with the police. Select No if it does not. Then click Save and continue.

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28. A biometric residence permit (BRP) is a visa in the form of a small card. Some people are given a BRP, other people are given a vignette sticker in their passport. Select the option relevant to you and click Save and continue. (BRP)

(Vignette sticker in passport)

29. Not everyone has a National Insurance number. You will only have one if you applied to the UK Government for one because you were looking for a job in the UK. If you have one, enter it. If you do not have one, tick the box and click Save and continue.

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30. Most students would select No for this. Only select Yes if you have successfully completed a course with a Tier 4 (Child) visa, and the course was at least six months long, and ended no more than two years before the date on which your new CAS was assigned. See your CAS statement for the date on which it was assigned. Click Save and continue.

31. If you will be starting a course that is at ‘degree level or above’ (e.g. BA, MA), select Yes. If you will be starting a course that is lower than ‘degree level’ (e.g. Foundation Diploma, FdA, International Preparation or International Introduction), select No. You will then have to enter details about your English language test as listed on your CAS.

Click Save and continue.

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32. Answer this question honestly.

If you select Yes, seek advice from the Student Advice Service before submitting your online visa application form.


If you select Yes, seek advice from the Student Advice Service before submitting your online visa application form.

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34. This question relates to UK Government funds, often called ‘state benefits’ or ‘welfare’. Answer this question honestly. Most likely this will be No. If you have ever received public funds in the UK, seek advice from the Student Advice Service before submitting your online visa application form.


If you select any of the answers apart from the last one, seek advice from the Student Advice Service before submitting your online visa application form.

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36. Enter UAL’s sponsor licence number: ERJ0405C4 (note that 0 is a number, not a letter) Enter the following details • Sponsor’s address: 272 High Holborn • Town/City: London • Postcode: WC1V 7EY

Click Save and continue.

37. Select Higher education institution, then Save and continue.

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38. Select No

Enter the address of your primary site of study as shown on your CAS. This is the address of the UAL College at which you will be studying. Click Save and continue.

39. If you applied for your course using the UCAS online application system, select Yes. If you applied directly to UAL, through an agent in your home country or by another method, select No. Click Save and continue.

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40. None of the courses at UAL require ATAS approval so click No. Then click Save and continue.

41. Answer the question then click Save and continue. For the definition of ‘official financial sponsor’, see our other guide

https://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/international/immigration-and-visas/tier-4-visa

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42. This question is asking if your studies in the UK are being funded by an official financial sponsor. Only certain types of financial sponsors are acceptable for visa purposes. Visit our guide to understand who can be an official financial sponsor. For example, parents are not official financial sponsors even if they are paying for your study in the UK.

43. If you are being officially financially sponsored and your sponsor is providing all your tuition fees and your required maintenance, then you should tick ‘Letter of official financial sponsorship.’

If you are being officially financially sponsored but your sponsor is only providing part of the required funds, then you must answer ‘I am not being wholly sponsored’.


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44. The name of the sponsor institution is University of the Arts London. Enter your course name as listed on your CAS and the qualification level is also listed on the CAS.

Make sure to pick the correct level as listed in your CAS. Don’t get confused between the RQF and SCQF numerical level.

Your CAS statement may list the level as NQF. NQF is the same as RQF.

45. Enter the details as shown on your CAS statement, then Save and continue.

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46. Click No. UAL does not offer the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

47. All students must select No. Even if you have paid for UAL halls of residence, you must still select No, because these are not owned by your sponsor, UAL. Then click Save and continue.

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48. Enter your total course fees as listed on your CAS.

Enter if you have paid any of your course fees or not and the amount that has been paid.

You cannot use receipts as proof of payment, your CAS must confirm the amount of fees that you have paid.

If your CAS does not confirm the correct amount of fees that you have paid, you must reply to the email address that emailed your CAS to you and request that they update your CAS. You must also email proof of your fee payment and you must wait for confirmation that they have updated your CAS before submitting your online visa form. You will not receive a new CAS, only an email to confirm your CAS has been updated in the CAS system.

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49. Only select Yes if you have a student loan provided by your national government, state or regional government, a government sponsored student loan company, or an academic or educational loans scheme.

For more information about this see the guide on our website by searching ‘immigration and visas’ at arts.ac.uk

Once you have selected the applicable answer click Save and continue.

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50. Select the applicable answer for you.

If the funds are in your own bank account then select Yes.

If the funds are held in your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) bank account select Yes and then select Yes if you have permission to use this money.

You must be able to prove with a legal document that they are your parents. Select the document applicable from the list. Then click Save and Continue.

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51. Select Yes and enter your CAS reference number as shown on your CAS. Then click Save and Continue.

52. You can check all of the answers that you have provided.

If you need to change your answer to any question, click Change next to the relevant question

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53. If you are a national of a differential arrangement country, you will see this screen. Say Yes to this question and skip to section 55 of this guide.

See page 14 of our Tier 4 guide to fully understand this question.

If you don’t see this screen then move to section 54 of this guide.

54. If you do not come under the differential arrangement, you must provide evidence that:

a) your required funds are in a bank account or

b) your required funds are being provided by an eligible educational loan, or

c) you are receiving official financial sponsorship which only partly covers the required amount of visa funds.

You should enter the name of the financial institution where your funds are held and indicate the type of document you can provide. You will be able to enter the details of more than one financial institution if required. If you are receiving an eligible educational loan, then you should enter the name of the lender e.g. FAFSA, Sallie Mae. You should click letter from bank, building society or other recognised financial institution. Our guide explains this further and what evidence you can provide.


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55. Tick every box to indicate that you will be providing these documents to UK Visas & Immigration, then scroll down and click Save and continue. Your screen will look different to our example. If you are being asked to provide a document which you do not have, you may have answered a question incorrectly in your form. Click on ‘Application’ at the top of the screen to review your form again.

56. You can check all of the answers that you have provided.

If you need to change your answer to any question, click Change next to the relevant question.

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57. If you complete this part of the online visa application system, you will not be able to change any of your answers. If you would like for the Student Advice Service to check your answers, do not go any further. Once you have read and understood the information on this page, select I am the applicant, then click I accept the above

58. You are now directed to the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) website to get an IHS number. Click Go to IHS website

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67. You will need to add some details before you can proceed to the payment page.

You will need to click ‘Add where you are planning to stay’ and on the next screen (not shown), confirm that you are not applying in the UK and that you are not planning to live in Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey.

You will then need to complete the rest of the missing information using the information listed on your CAS.

You must carefully read and answer these questions correctly. Failure to do so may mean that you have to restart your application as you will have paid the incorrect IHS fee

60. Read the information, and once you understand it, click I agree.

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61. Before paying for HIS check that all the details are then click Pay Now.

62. After you have completed your IHS application you can return to your visa application.

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63. After you have successfully paid for your visa application you must book an appointment to get your documents checked and biometrics completed. This is with a partner company called Sopra Steria. You must now download a copy of your supporting document checklist and a copy of your application form.

Save these somewhere safely such as your computer or print them out and keep them in your immigration file.

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64. To book your visa application appointment click continue, and this will then redirect you to another website called Sopra Steria, where you will complete your booking.

[Grab your reader’s attention with a great quote from the document or use this space to emphasize a key point. To place this text box anywhere on the page, just drag it.]

65. Check carefully that the email address stated is correct and then click on email my access code.

An email will then be sent to your account with a code. This code will allow you to log into your account to make your appointment booking and it will also allow you to scan and upload your documents.

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65. Select Book an Appointment.

66. On the Sopra Steria website you can enter your postcode and select the most suitable appointment list shown.

Croydon location is the only location where you can find free appointments.

All other locations charge extra as they are in more convenient central locations.

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67. The appointments available can either be free of charge or there will be a charge for the appointment. You can limit your search to the free of charge appointments only but there may not be many of these.

Croydon location only offers free appointments between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. Outside of these times, you are charged extra.

68. There are various services that you can pay for. Such as document checking (this only checks that documents have been correctly uploaded, it does not check if the documents meet the requirements). There is also a translation service which is charged by page. You don’t have to choose any of these services.

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69. Once you have booked your appointment you can then upload the mandatory documents onto the SOPRA Website. These should be PDF documents if possible.

These documents will be:

1. your passport 2. your current visa 3. your supporting document

checklist which you downloaded at the end of your online form

4. Other documents listed in your ‘supporting documents checklist’, this could be your qualifications, translations etc.

You will receive a confirmation email of your appointment booking, which you must take with you to your appointment. So make sure you keep that email safe.

It would be a good idea to bring all your supporting documents with you to your appointment in case some of the documents were not scanned correctly.

Once you attend your appointment, you must wait for UKVI to make a decision on your application. This will arrive by email. Read our guide to understand the next steps in full.


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Further help and guidance:

UK Visas and Immigration: Tier 4 of the Points Based System – Policy Guidance

www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-application-for-uk-visa-as-tier-4-student

University of the Arts London Checking Service

If you are studying on one of the following courses, you will be contacted by email with information about how your documents can be checked and when to attend workshops for completing the online application form.

Presessional English

EPIC

Preparation for Foundation, BA and MA

Orientation to Foundation

FAD+

Pre-Foundation English

If you are not studying on one of the courses above and would like the Student Advice Service to check your form and documents prior to paying for your visa application, please complete the document check request form at the link below. Please ensure that you plan your visa application with enough time to arrange a document check, don’t leave it until the last minute!

https://artslondon.wufoo.com/forms/r1a6xe0t12sc8tq/

Contact us:

[email protected] – always include your UAL student ID number

+44 20 7514 6900/6590

Search ‘immigration’ on www.arts.ac.uk to access our application guides.

If you have any queries about your CAS, you should email the person who sent your CAS to you. The Student Advice Service do not have access to your CAS.

UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA)

UKCISA provide up-to-date immigration, fees and international student experience information for students and colleagues working with them. www.ukcisa.org.uk

Published July 2019. University of the Arts London has taken every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy and currency of this document. Information can change at very short notice, so we ask that you seek further advice from us before acting on its content. University of the Arts London does not take any responsibility for the content of external websites. Front cover illustrations by Ewelina Skowronska, Camberwell College of Arts, MA Illustration, 2015



mailto:[email protected]

http://www.arts.ac.uk/

Documents

For students applying inside the UK...2 . Tier 4 (General) Visa: guide to the online application form INSIDE the UK Tier 4 (General) Visa: guide to the online application form INSIDE