Student visa holders are required to attend and engage with their course in order to maintain their Student visa and remain registered on their programme. The conditions of your visa do not permit you to study your programme entirely online and so you must attend your course's in-person teaching and supervisory sessions.
Prolonged periods of non-attendance without sufficient justification, confirmed with your school or department, may result in the withdrawal of sponsorship for your Student visa and your withdrawal from your course.
Term-time dates for taught students are set out on the University’s Key Dates webpage. Undergraduate students are expected to be studying on campus during term-time and should limit travel to official vacation periods.
Reading weeks and non-teaching weeks are still considered term-time and are not vacation periods for travel outside the UK.
Guidance on reporting absences, requesting absence corrections, and resolving technical issues with SEAtS can be found on the SEAtS FAQs webpage.
If you do not have the option to use SEAtS to check-in to timetabled sessions, you will need to contact your School Attendance Team to confirm the alternative arrangements for monitoring your in-person attendance.
Term-time dates for PGT students are set out on the University’s Key Dates webpage. Additionally, the summer dissertation / project period is also term-time and not a vacation period.
PGT students are expected to be studying on campus during term-time and should limit travel to official vacation periods. This is to ensure that you maintain your Student visa status and protect your eligibility for the Graduate visa following successful completion of your course.
Reading weeks and non-teaching weeks are still considered term-time and are not vacation periods.
Guidance on reporting absences, requesting absence corrections, and resolving technical issues with SEAtS can be found on the SEAtS FAQs webpage.
If you do not have the option to use SEAtS to check-in to timetabled sessions, you will need to contact your School Attendance Team to confirm the alternative arrangements for monitoring your in-person attendance.
If you are studying on a Student visa, you should plan to be based in the UK during your summer dissertation or project period.
There will be mandatory attendance and engagement requirements during June and July 2027. You should plan to be in the UK to meet these requirements, although this does not prevent you from taking holidays around them.
The specific requirements and dates have not yet been finalised. Further information will be published early in 2027. Until then, you should avoid making extended travel plans that could prevent you from meeting these requirements.
Exceptions can be expected to apply if you if you are undertaking fieldwork or a period of study abroad that is a required part of your degree programme.
If you intend to spend an extended period outside the UK during June and July 2027, you should discuss the possibility of completing your studies remotely with your academic School. You should expect this to affect your Student visa sponsorship and your future eligibility for the Graduate visa.
The standard University vacation periods do not apply to postgraduate research students.
PGR students are only considered to be outside term-time during:
Annual leave must be approved by your supervisor and recorded by your Doctoral Academy.
Unless you are enrolled on a split‑site PhD, you are expected to remain based in the UK for the duration of your programme. The only exceptions are approved periods of overseas research or fieldwork, and periods of annual leave.
The University has recently introduced a new process allowing PGRs who have formally entered Submission Pending to complete their write-up from outside the UK while keeping their Student visa, provided this request is confirmed with your Doctoral Academy and you intend to return before your current visa expiry.
If you plan to spend any part of the Submission Pending period outside the UK, you must request this through My Placement. You will need to confirm the full address you will be writing up from and provide your expected return date so this can be recorded. If your plans will involve you leaving the UK for more than 4 weeks, the University will also notify UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) of a temporary change of study location. If your location changes, or if you decide to stay outside the UK for a longer or shorter period than originally planned, you must inform your Doctoral Academy so that your record can be updated accordingly.
The University cannot continue to maintain sponsorship where a student leaves the UK without prior confirmation, so it's important that you request this through My Placement before making any arrangements to leave. Requests to write-up remotely should be submitted at least 6 weeks before you plan to leave the UK and should be discussed with your supervisor first.
No new CAS will be issued to obtain a Student visa to cover periods spent outside the UK during Submission Pending. However, where required, a new CAS may be issued to enable a PGR to return to the UK for their viva and/or to complete their corrections.
Student visa holders who have been granted permission to submit late (i.e. after their submission deadline) or who have been examined and are completing corrections must remain in the UK and continue attending and engaging with their programme until their final thesis submission is approved, or until our sponsorship of their visa ends, whichever comes first. There is no requirement for PGRs to stay in Manchester once they have submitted their thesis and are awaiting their viva. However, if a viva is set to take place in person, PGRs will need to return to Manchester for this.
There is further guidance available in the PGR Submission Pending Policy.
What if I plan to leave the UK and complete my PhD entirely remotely?
If your intention is to leave and complete your studies remotely, the University will not be able to maintain sponsorship for your Student visa, even if this has been permitted by your supervisor and school. In this case, you must notify the Student Immigration Team once you have left the UK. We will then report to UKVI that we have ceased sponsorship of your Student visa and they will take curtailment action against your visa, resulting in its early cancellation. This means that you will not be permitted to return to the UK on your Student visa and will instead need to apply for a new visa to return to the UK.
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