EU/EEA/Swiss students without pre-settled or settled status

Courses of 6 months or longer

Students coming for a course/period of study that is more than 6 months long will require a CAS to be able to apply for and secure a Student visa before they travel into the UK.

Please see our Student visa information for more details on how to apply for a Student visa.

Courses of less than 6 months

Students coming for a course/period of study that is less than 6 months long do not require a CAS and are not required to apply for a visa prior to travel. They will be granted 6 months under the 'Standard Visitor' route with permission to study by showing their University offer letter at the border to prove that they will study in the UK.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As an EU citizen who is not Irish, if you enter the UK from Ireland there will be different immigration restrictions for visiting the UK, for example you will only be able to visit the UK for up to three months.

Please see our website for further details regarding the Standard Visitor route.

EU Settlement Scheme

The deadline for applying for EU settlement was 30 June 2021, if you have not yet applied see the Apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to see who may be able to apply late. 

If you have been granted pre-settled or settled status, you are able to study in the UK.  You will be required to provide the University an immigration share code as part of the Right to Study checks.  

Pre-settled status - if you were granted pre-settled status you can apply to change this to settled status once you have 5 years’ continuous residence in the UK.  If you have been out of the UK, you risk not meeting this requirement. Whilst those with pre-settled status can spend up to 2 years in a row outside the UK without losing their pre-settled status, you would lose your continuous residence if you want to qualify for settled status. Continuous residence means that for 5 years in a row you live in the UK for at least 6 months in any 12 month period, please see the gov.uk website for exceptions to this, as well as well as for specific information related to absences due to COVID-19.

Please ensure that you are familiar with these rules so that you can be clear how absences from the UK will affect your residence under the scheme if you take:   

• Absences due to study commitments - e.g. fieldwork overseas, study or work placements
• Absences due to suspension of study - and you return home leaving the UK.  When you return to study you will be asked to complete a Right to Study check to ensure that you hold a valid status allowing you to study in the UK.  If your absence affects your status and you lose your pre-settled status you will need to obtain a student visa before returning to the UK to resume studies 

If you are unsure if absences will jeopardise your status please seek advice from the government helpline (at the bottom of their webpage).

Settled status - if you are granted settled status and are Swiss you can spend up to 4 years in a row outside the UK without losing your status or up to 5 years for everyone else. 

Further information regarding EU Settlement Scheme

• EU Settlement Scheme application information
• UKCISA regarding the EU Settlment Scheme and where to obtain further advice

• There is a dedicated government helpline that may be able to help you with any scheme eligibility queries. You can find the contact details at the bottom of this webpage.