Extending your Student visa from within the UK
As a sponsored international student with a Student visa, you are only permitted to extend your Student visa from within the UK in the following situations:
If you have successfully completed your studies:
You are permitted by the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to extend your visa within the UK if you have successfully completed your studies and meet all of the following criteria:
- You must have successfully completed the course you were last granted permission under the Student route - This means you must have achieved the qualification for which you were studying; and
- You must be applying to progress to a higher-level course; and
(This also applies if you are doing a fully integrated masters degree course, and are moving from the lower level to the higher level of an integrated masters degree course or an integrated masters degree and PhD degree programme)
- Your new course start date must not be more than 28 days from your current visa expiry date.
If you do not meet all the above criteria, you will not be permitted to extend your Student visa from within the UK. This means you would need to return to your home country to make your visa application.
In certain cases, you may be able to study a course at the same level as your previous course. Please email the Visa and Compliance team at visa@yorksj.ac.uk for further advice on this.
If you meet any one of the following exceptions:
Exceptionally, you will also be permitted to extend your Student visa from within the UK if any of the following applies to you:
- If you are making your first Student visa application from another qualifying immigration category.
- If you are making an application to resit an examination, repeat a course module or repeat an academic year, or you have previously re-sat examinations, repeated modules or repeated an academic year and require leave to remain to complete the course in respect of which those examinations were re-sat, modules repeated or academic year repeated.
- If you are making an application to complete the PhD or other doctoral qualification for which study was undertaken in the last grant of permission under the Student route.
- If you are making an application to undertake a role as a Student Union Sabbatical Officer, or to complete the qualification for which they were last granted permission as a Student after a period as a Student Union Sabbatical Officer.
- If you are making an application in order to undertake a study abroad programme or work placement or you have previously completed a study abroad programme or work placement and require a further period of permission to complete your course.
- If you are undertaking an integrated master's or PhD programme and you are making an application to continue studying your course but at the level of the lower level qualification (for example, an integrated master's student continuing on the bachelor's programme)
Please note that unless you meet the above criteria, you will not be permitted to extend your Student visa from within the UK.
If you would like further clarification on any of the above information, please submit a case through the Student Hub online portal and the Visa team will be able to assist you.