If you are coming to the UK to study on a Student visa for the first time, you must apply for your visa in your home country before you travel.

If you are already studying in the UK, you may be able to apply for your Student visa from inside the UK. If you do not meet the conditions for applying from inside the UK, you must apply from outside the UK.

If applying outside the UK, please remember that you must arrive in the UK before your course start date, hence it is important to allow enough time for your application to be processed. Applications should take about 3 weeks to be decided and up to another 10 days to receive the entry clearance sticker in your passport.  Most countries offer a premuim 5 day service if you pay an additional fee, please see the VFS Global website for more details. Please also use this tool to learn about the approximate processing times in your country. 

The earliest a Student visa can be valid from is one month before the CAS start date, or 7 days before the CAS start date if you are doing a course that is under 6 months in duration and is not a pre-sessional course. This is provided you state that as anticipated date of travel on your application form. 

How to apply for your Student visa

• Supporting documents - please familiarise yourself with the list of required supporting documents before you start the visa application process
• Passport requirements - you will need to have a passport that is valid at the point of your Student visa application.  Your passport does not need to be valid for the entire length of your course when you first enter the UK.  Please note, if you apply for and receive a new passport whilst your Student visa application is under consideration, you should inform us so that we can update your CAS (if it has already been issued) with your new passport number.  If you receive a new passport and your vignette (visa sticker in your passport) has been printed into your previous passport, then provided that you have both passports you can travel into the UK bringing both your new and previous passport with the vignette in it. 
• Timing of visa application submission - you can submit your visa application up to 6 months before the start of your course; if you submit your visa application more than 6 months before the start date of your course it will be refused
• CAS - you must have received your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number by email before you apply. Please note that each CAS can be used to apply once.  If you are starting a new course at Bristol, a relevant admissions team will issue your CAS once you have met all the conditions of your offer. If you have already started a course and need another new visa to complete it, please contact Student Visas at student-visa-advice@bristol.ac.uk to recieve up-to-date visa advice and instructions for how to request a CAS
• TB test - have a tuberculosis (TB) test if required. See UKVI tuberculosis tests for visa applicants information for more details
• Online Student visa application - follow the UKVI apply for a Student visa instructions and fill in the online application form
• Visa and IHS fees - As part of the process you will be required to pay the visa application fee, which is currently £490 for Standard service. You will also need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is set at £776 per each year of visa and is calculated in 6-month blocks. Please visit this webpage for information on how the UKVI calculate the IHS payments. Wrap-up time awarded after the CAS end date will be counted as well, so a student taking a 4-year PhD programme for example will be liable for 4.5 years of IHS payments upfront
• BRPs - if you are not a EU, EEA or Swiss national and are coming to the UK for longer than 6 months, you will be expected to enrol biometric information and will have to collect a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) on arrival. This will be delivered to a post office that you choose in the last stages of your application or to the University, please see our Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) information for details on how to collect it from the University. This service and ACL code are for University of Bristol staff and students only. If you are not a member of staff or student at the university, please select another address for delivery and collection. If you do not, you will not be able to collect your BRP and it will be returned to UKVI. If you have previously had a BRP, please be aware that your new BRP replaces your old BRP, so even if you have time left on your old BRP it will no longer be valid and cannot be used for travel.
• EU, EEA and Swiss nationals - you should not need to enrol biometric information and should be able to use the new ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app which will use a chip in their passport to verify an applicant’s identity. If the chip is broken, or someone is unable to use the app, then they will be directed to a Visa Application Centre to enrol biometrics instead. See Using the 'UK Immigration: ID Check' app for information about how to use the app on your phone
• EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and digital status - will receive electronic notification of UKVI’s decision and will be able to check their immigration status and its conditions at any time using the ‘view and prove’ service on the GOV.UK portal. This function will also allow them to prove their immigration status to the University and employers
• Student visa conditions - read our Student visa essential information carefully to ensure that you understand your obligations as a Student visa holder