ESSENTIAL INFORMATION - PLEASE READ PARAGRAPHS 1 TO 9 BELOW
- Certificate of Acceptance
- Advance Payment of Tuition Fees
- Maintenance Funds and Accommodation Fees
- Official Financial Sponsors
- Immigration Healthcare Surcharge (IHS)
- Visa Application Process
- Registration
- eVisas
- New Students' Website
Please check the Certificate of Acceptance carefully: If you find any mistakes, you must let us know IMMEDIATELY so that the Certificate of Acceptance and CAS can be amended BEFORE you apply for your visa. The University of Aberdeen will not accept any responsibility for visa refusals resulting from incorrect data contained within the CAS or Certificate of Acceptance.
English Language Profiency: You will note that the Certificate of Acceptance states in Section 4 'Documents Used to Make Offer' that the University has used its own methods to assess your English language ability. Although you may have submitted an IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL, Cambridge Proficiency or Cambridge Advanced test to the University as evidence of your proficiency in English, you are not required to submit that test document with your visa application for degree study.
Latest Start Date: You must arrive before the latest start date stated on the Certificate of Acceptance. You will not be allowed to register if you arrive late. The University must report all students who do not arrive by the latest start date to the UK immigration authorities.
2- ADVANCE PAYMENT OF TUITION FEES
If you choose to send a tuition fee payment before you apply for your Student Visa, please email cas@abdn.ac.uk with a copy of your payment receipt to let us know that you have sent a payment. It is important that you do this so that the University can update your electronic CAS record. Please include your student ID and in the subject line of the email write 'URGENT CAS UPDATE REQUIRED'.
If your electronic CAS record does not show the amount of tuition fees that you have paid, the Visa Officer will expect you to demonstrate that you hold the correct amount of funds in your bank account for the required period (full tuition fees for the first 12 months of study and £9,207 for maintenance held for a minimum of 28 consecutive days).
Tuition fees can be paid by bank transfer. Details of the University's Tuition Fees Bank Account and other payment methods can be found here.
We require a minimum of 7 days to receive your payment into the University bank account and to update your CAS. If you send a tuition fee payment to the University, please do not submit your visa application until you have received confirmation that your CAS has been updated.
If you send a tuition fee payment after you have applied for the visa, the University cannot update your CAS.
3- MAINTENANCE FUNDS AND ACCOMMODATION FEES
In applying for your Student Visa, the UKVI will expect to see evidence that you hold the required funds for maintenance. This is currently set at £9,207 and is to cover your living costs and expenses while you are a student. This amount, as well as full tuition fees (if you have not paid these in advance), will need to be in your bank account for 28 consecutive days. Please refer to the Policy Guidance for full details.
Please note that whilst you can pay tuition fees in full in advance, you must not send any amount greater than £1,265 in advance for accommodation fees. If you send more than £1,265 for accommodation fees, the Visa Officer will ignore the additional amount and you will still be expected to hold maintenance funds of £7,942 (which is £9,207 minus £1,265) in your bank account for 28 consecutive days (as well as full tuition fees if you have not paid these in advance).
4 - OFFICIAL FINANCIAL SPONSORS
Please note that UK Visas & Immigration will only recognise specific types of organisation as Official Financial Sponsors. Therefore, if you are not being financially sponsored by an organisation type that will be accepted by UKVI as an Official Financial Sponsor, you should make alternative arrangements to demonstrate funds available to you. Further information about Official Financial Sponsors and how you should demonstrate funds available to you can be found in the Policy Guidance.
5 - IMMIGRATION HEALTHCARE SURCHARGE (IHS)
You should note that in addition to the visa application fee , all Student Visa students dependents coming to the UK with the student) who are entering the UK for a period of 6 months or more will be required to pay a surcharge for healthcare. Further information can be found at on this website. DO NOT PAY ON THIS WEBSITE. The payment will be taken during the online visa application process.
Information about Student Visas, the visa application process and the documents that you are required to submit with your visa application can be found here - Policy Guidance.
Please note that some visa applicants will be required to take a TB (Tuberculosis) test before a visa application can be submitted. View further information on TB test for visa application.
If your programme needs ATAS clearance (this is detailed in your offer letter and CAS letter), make sure that you have applied in plenty of time and that your ATAS clearance certificate is still valid when you submit the visa application. Information about ATAS can be found here.
Some applicants will be invited to a 'credibility interview' as part of the visa application process. The interview forms a critical part of the decision whether or not to issue a visa.
Applicants who are invited to a credibility interview should be prepared to give very detailed and extensive answers to the questions they are asked. The Visa Officer who reviews your answers along with your visa application form and other documents is trying to assess whether or not you are a genuine student. For example, students who do not speak in detail about the research they undertook before selecting the programme, University and country of study will not be considered to be genuine. In addition, students should be prepared to speak knowledgeably about the subjects they will study, the facilities at the University and details of where they plan to live and how they will travel to the University each day. Students are also asked about the source of the money being used to fund their studies and living costs.
Further information about credibility interviews can be found here .
Although we recommend that you apply for a visa as soon as possible, you must not apply for a Student Visa any more than 6 months before your programme start date. Every Student Visa application submitted globally is processed in the UK. Because of this, the visa application process can be very slow and some students will have to wait 6 weeks or more before they get their passport back. You should not arrange travel until your passport has been returned to you. Therefore, you must allow sufficient time for the visa to be processed because there are likely to be delays. If there are delays, the University cannot give an extension and you will not be admitted to the University if you do not arrive by the latest start date.
Additional Advice and Guidance, to enable you to prepare your Student Visa application can be found on UKCISA web pages. UKCISA (UK Council for International Student Affairs) offers extensive guidance with regard to Visas and Immigration. Find out more about Student Immigration and the Eligibility and Requirements.
Once you have received your joining instructions, you should start the University's Online Registration process. A Step-by-Step Guide and answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be accessed here. Please start Online Registration before you arrive in Aberdeen.
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) have replaced Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) with digital proof of visa status, called an eVisa. This will apply to all students coming to study a programme of longer than 6 months. At present, you will still receive a 90-day entry clearance visa vignette in your passport, to enable travel to the UK. UKVI plans to phase out entry clearance visa vignettes in 2025, but a date has not yet been announced.
Once your visa has been granted, you will be able to access your eVisa. To do so, you will need to create a UKVI account and complete several steps. Please note that you will need a smartphone. More information about accessing your eVisa
To ensure you do not experience delays when entering the UK, we recommend you set up your UKVI account and access and check your eVisa as soon as your visa has been granted. It is important to check there are no errors with your eVisa details, and that the passport number on your UKVI account matches the passport you will be using to travel to the UK. View a helpful video on what to expect when travelling to the UK.
Once you have been able to access your eVisa, please generate a share code. You will need to provide this code to the University as part of our Right to Study check process, for which you will receive further instructions on how to do so by email shortly before the Registration period opens. When generating your eVisa share code, please select the reason for generation as ‘for everything else’; this should create a share code that begins with the letter ‘S’.
You may also view frequently asked questions and further information via the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA)
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries but, before doing so, we suggest that you refer to the New Students' pages of the University's website where you will find most of the information you will need to help you to prepare for your arrival in Aberdeen.
PGT Orientation information can be found here
School specific Orientations and further information can be found here