You must enter the UK with your valid Student Route visa to complete your enrolment at UAL.
If you attended a Visa Application Centre (VAC), you’ll be given a sticker (called a vignette) in your passport with a 90-day entry clearance.
To activate your visa, you must travel to the UK between the start and end dates of your vignette, no earlier or later.
If you enter the UK before the start date of your vignette you may be asked to leave the UK (and anywhere in the Common Travel Area) and re-enter.
Only once you have returned to the UK with an activated visa, you will be able to participate in your studies.
Collecting your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)
Your entry vignette will be accompanied by a letter. Keep the letter and bring it with you to the UK. After you arrive in the UK, if your immigration permission is for more than 6 months, you will need to collect your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) card from the Post Office you selected in your application. You must upload a copy of the front and back of your BRP card to your UAL Portal.
BRP cards expire on 31 December 2024
All BRP cards are currently valid until 31 December 2024. From 1 January 2025 you will not need a BRP. You will be able to prove your immigration status online.
You do not need to tell UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) if your BRP expires on 31 December 2024, but your immigration status allows you to stay longer. However, if your UKVI visa decision letter states the wrong end date of your visa, please contact our Student Advice Service.
Please ensure that you also upload your UKVI visa decision letter or email to your UAL Portal. (See an example of a UKVI decision letter and email.)
UKVI will update its BRP guidance in early 2024. Your immigration status will not be affected.
UK Immigration: ID Check app
If you are an EU, EEA, Swiss or Non-Visa national and you used the UK Immigration: ID Check app, you will not receive an entry vignette. Instead you will receive your visa in the form of an online eVisa/digital status. This digital status can be shared with anyone who needs to check your visa.
To get a PDF of your share code, use the view and prove your immigration status tool. For step-by-step instructions, read our guide on how to get a share code. You must upload the PDF of your share code to your UAL Portal.
Check your visa for errors
You must check your entry vignette and BRP card for errors. If you have received your visa in the form of an online eVisa/digital status, you must check your decision letter or email for errors.
You must check that the following are correct:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Place of birth (back of BRP)
- Nationality
- Expiry date
- Visa type
- Working hours
- The correct sponsor license number: for UAL, this is ERJ0405C4
Expiry date
You must check that your expiry date is correct as soon as your visa is granted.
Your visa should cover the full duration of your studies, plus an additional 2-4 months leave at the end of your course. This is known as the ‘wrap-up period’.
Check whether your expiry date is correct:
- For a course of 12 months or less in length: course end date plus 2 months
- For a course of more than 12 months in length: course end date plus 4 months
Working hours
You must also check your visa for confirmation of the number of working hours you are permitted to carry out during your studies.
Your work conditions will depend on the type of course you are studying and the level of study.
Does it have the correct work conditions?
- 10 hours per week for further education
- 20 hours per week for Undergraduate and Postgraduate
- No work for part-time Postgraduate
Who to contact
If you identify that your visa has been issued with an incorrect endorsement before you arrive in the UK, you must immediately contact your Visa Application Centre (VAC).
Once you are in the UK, if you think your visa has an error or if your visa is lost or stolen, read our Student visa guidance and contact our Student Advice Service.
Be aware that if there is a problem with your BRP, it must be reported to UKVI within 10 days from the date that you receive your BRP.
Entering the UK through an eGate
If you're a national of an EU or EEA country, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea or the USA, when you arrive in the UK you may use an eGate instead of seeing a UK Border Force Officer.
Even if you enter the UK via a UK Border Force Officer, you may not get a date of entry stamped in your passport. That’s because, as a national eligible to enter the UK through an eGate, there’s no requirement for you to receive a date of entry stamp.
Although you may not receive a date of entry stamp in your passport, you will still need to evidence your date of entry to the UK. It is possible to enter the UK by air, rail, by road via the Eurotunnel or by ferry. You should retain your ticket and/or boarding pass and any other evidence of your date of entry. You must upload this to your UAL Portal. We need to see proof you entered the UK during the validity of your visa.
UAL Portal upload checklist
Upload the following documents to the ‘my Online Registration’ section of your UAL Portal. You should upload good quality photos or electronic copies of them.
If you visited an overseas Visa Application Centre (VAC):
- Your passport ID page
- 90-day entry clearance vignette, with a stamp if you received one
- Your travel ticket and/or boarding pass if you are eligible and entered the UK via the eGates, did not receive a date of entry stamp or arrived via the Republic of Ireland; this should show the date of your arrival in the UK and your full name
- Front and back of your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) card
- UKVI visa decision letter (see an example of a UKVI decision letter)
If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss national and you used the UK Immigration: ID Check app:
- Your passport ID page
- UKVI visa decision letter or email (see an example of a UKVI decision letter and email)
- Share code so we can verify your digital visa status (read our guide on how to get a share code)
- Date of entry to the UK stamp in your passport if you received one
- Your travel ticket and/or boarding pass if you entered the UK via the eGates and did not receive a date of entry stamp; this should show the date of your arrival in the UK and your full name.