The Home Office will take action with this information to curtail (shorten) your current visa. You cannot stay in the UK on a student visa which has been issued for study at Imperial if you are not required to attend.

The UKVI will bring forward the end date of your visa to 60 days from the date they take action on the report from the College. You should assume this will be around 60 days from the date the College notifies you that a report has been made. If you have less than 60 days remaining on your current student visa, you will need to leave the UK before your visa expires. 

The Home Office should serve you with a Cancellation Notice. They will send this to you by email to the last-known details that they hold. If you are not sure whether your visa has been curtailed, we can check for you with the Home Office if you send an email to international@imperial.ac.uk  with your name, your CID number and confirming your permission for us to contact the Home Office on your behalf.

You will need to leave the UK and return to your home country. You will then apply to come back to the UK as a Visitor in order to attend your exams. The Student Records team can provide you with a letter confirming your details and exam dates for the purpose of returning to the UK as a visitor. Please email student.records@imperial.ac.uk with your CID number and with confirmation from your academic department of your exam dates. See our guidance for more information about applying as a visitor.

Once your exams are over you should leave the UK again to await the results. If you subsequently progress into the next year of your course at that stage, you will be given a new Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) in order to apply for a new student visa.

No. Even though you have a valid student visa for another 60 days, if you leave the UK once curtailment action has been taken, your permission to be in the UK will lapse immediately. If you try to re-enter the UK you will be refused entry and will be returned home. This refusal to allow you to enter the UK will form a permanent part of your immigration history and you will have to disclose it on all future visa applications you make.

Once you have passed your resit and are required to progress into the next year of your course, you can request a new CAS for a student visa application. You will need to make this application in your home country if you have entered the UK as a visitor for the resit exam. If your course requires ATAS clearance you should ensure you have a new ATAS certificate issued before requesting a new CAS. See our guidance for information about applying for a student visa.

I have to resit without attendance and the exam is after my visa expires, but I want to be eligible for the Graduate Route visa. what can I do?

The rules concerning re-sit exams are complex. It is likely that you will need to contact us for individual visa advice. The key question to ask, is whether you will be awarded your qualification before your current Student visa expires.

If your re-sit is within 60 days of your visa expiry date:

If your resit takes place within 60 days of your current visa expiry date, you can extend your student visa to cover the resit exam plus an additional 4 month wrap up period. It is your responsibility to check with your department when your results will be expected and your degree awarded – if it cannot be awarded within this timeframe you will not be eligible for the Graduate Route visa.

If your re-sit is more than 60 days after your visa expiry date:

If there is more than 60 days when you are not required to be engaged in formal study at the College you cannot be sponsored for a visa by the College as we are unable to meet our monitoring and reporting obligations to UKVI. You would need to leave the UK and then apply to come back for the resit period.

How you come to the UK for your resit depends upon what you intend to do after your studies. You have two choices:

1. You come to the UK as a general visitor for the exam. This will let you stay in the UK for up to 6 months, but you will not be permitted to work in any capacity. You will need to leave the UK once your exams are over.

1. You obtain a CAS and come back under a student visa for the exams. This would be required if you intend to move into the Graduate Visa route to work in the UK. You would need to ensure that you can obtain your formal results for your degree within the validity of the visa, which will expire 4 months after the end of the exam period.

If you want to come back under a student visa please let us know.