If you are in the UK with immigration permission as a dependant (for example, your partner has a Student visa or a Work visa) then you can usually work or study while you are in the UK. You will be allowed to study part time or full time as a dependant. If you study part-time you will not be eligible to apply for a student visa if your dependant visa expires unless your Academic School will permit you to switch to full-time student status; this is because most courses must be studied full-time on a Student visa.

If you need to switch from a Dependant visa to a Student visa then you can apply from inside the UK but you will not be eligible to apply for the Graduate Immigration Route after completing your course unless you have spent at least a year studying your course with a Student visa.

If you have obtained any form of work or family visa (e.g. Tier 5: Youth Mobility Scheme, Skilled Worker, Ancestry, Spouse/Partner visa) then you are allowed to study either full or part time in the UK. However, the immigration rules state that in order to obtain immigration permission in a work category you “must intend to work” therefore when you applied you did so on the understanding that your main intention in the UK was work, not study.

If you do undertake study while holding a work visa, it is advisable to continue working in the UK, and if you are unsure of your situation, you should seek advice from the Student Immigration Team before starting your proposed course of study. It is acceptable to study part-time whilst holding a visa in one of these categories. Remember, however, if your visa runs out before the end of your course you cannot obtain an extension as a student in order to complete your studies unless your School agrees to switch your status to full-time, since most courses only allow full-time study with a Student visa. We would not expect students on a skilled worker visa to be working full-time and also studying full-time due to the academic requirements of the course.

If you have been using a skilled worker visa to study you will not be eligible to apply for the Graduate visa as to be eligible you must have studied at least 12 months of your course with a student visa.

Two additional visa routes have been introduced: BN(O) Status Holder route and the BN(O) Dependant route.

If you are eligible to apply under this route, you can choose the 2.5-year route or the 5-year route at the point of application. This leads to settlement after 5 years.

You need to read the information on the UKVI website about how to apply for a BNO visa. Study is permitted whilst holding this visa but you would be subject to the ATAS condition. If you currently hold the 6-month BNO (Leave outside of rules), you will be permitted to switch to the new routes.

The Global Talent visa is a work visa for people with a PhD or equivalent research experience who have been endorsed as an internationally recognised leader (“exceptional talent”) or potential leader (“exceptional promise”) in their field of science, humanities, engineering, medicine, digital technology, or the arts, or awarded a prestigious prize recognised by the Home Office as demonstrating exceptional talent. Studying is also permitted, subject to the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) conditions. If you are seeking to study a full-time degree in the UK, then the Student route visa is expected to be the most appropriate visa route for you. 

In most cases if you have an ongoing visa application with UKVI and have yet to receive a decision you will still be able to study a course at the University. However if you have a graduate visa and you apply for a student visa from inside the UK you must not start studying your course until you have obtained your student visa.

To complete Right to Study and start your course you would need to provide evidence of your ongoing visa application and provide evidence that the application was made whilst you still had immigration permission in the UK. You must provide evidence of when you applied for your visa and evidence that your application is still in progress. The evidence must be a document checklist from UKVI confirming the immigration category that you have applied in or evidence that you have paid for a visa application eg. UKVI payment receipt. We cannot accept a letter from your solicitor as evidence of an ongoing visa application.

If this evidence is not dated within the last month, or you are unable to provide this, you must provide the Student Immigration Team with your consent for them to contact UKVI directly to check your current immigration status in the UK.  Your email simply needs to contain your name, date of birth and nationality, and a sentence stating “I consent to the University of Manchester contacting UKVI to check my immigration status in the UK”.

As an asylum seeker you can study at the University, which is a University of Sanctuary.

To complete Right to Study and start your course you will need to give us written consent to contact UKVI to check that you have an asylum application in progress. Your email needs to contain your name, date of birth and nationality, and a sentence stating “I consent to the University of Manchester contacting UKVI to check my immigration status in the UK”. We will then conduct monthly checks with UKVI to check that you are still classed as an asylum seeker.