Some international students have reported that their visa will expire on 26.01.11, the day before the University’s January 2012 degree ceremony. 

Student visas are issued to cover the entire course length plus an additional four months where the course is more than twelve months in length.  For many postgraduate courses the official course end date is 26.09.11 therefore the additional four months gives the expiry date of 26.01.12. Graduation has been organised for 27th January 2012, this is a long-standing arrangement and unfortunately it cannot be changed.

The options that international students have are as follows:

1. Apply for the Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa after their degree is awarded. Degrees are awarded in October/November. Whilst the Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa application is with the Home Office students are able to stay in the UK legally until their application is decided. If the application is successful the student would be granted a two year visa therefore would be able to attend the Graduation ceremony.
2. Leave the UK and apply for the Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa outside the UK after the degree is awarded and attend the Graduation ceremony using this visa. Individuals would then be able to stay in the UK for up to two years for work purposes.
3. Leave the UK before the student visa expires and apply for a General Visitor Visa in their home country. Graduands will be able to attend the Graduation ceremony with this visa; they will not be able to ‘switch’ from this visa to the Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa category in the UK. For more information see the Home Office Website

Students can obtain advice over applying for the Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa at an information session/lecture on applying for this visa. These lectures are delivered by one of the International Student Advisors and take place regularly throughout the year.

Dates of future information sessions can be found on the Student Welfare Service website