Applying for a visa extension from outside the UK

When to begin your visa extension 

Check your BRP card or E-visa for your student visa’s expiry date. Please get in touch with our team at least 3 months before your student visa expiry date to begin the CAS request process. A CAS for an in-country visa extension can’t be guaranteed to students who wait until their visa validity period has 28 days or fewer remaining. 

The earliest you can submit your visa extension application is 3 months before your current visa’s expiry date. You must apply before your visa expires to avoid breaching your visa conditions by becoming an overstayer. 

Your Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) will be calculated based on the date you apply for your student visa. Applying very early could lead to an increase in your IHS surcharge. 

Applications made from inside the UK to extend your visa will take up to 8 weeks to process. If you exit the UK while your application is pending, your application is automatically withdrawn by UKVI. If you need to travel urgently, you could apply for priority service to get a decision within five working days, or the super priority service to get a decision within one working day. These options carry significant additional cost. 

Preparing your financial evidence

You will be exempt from needing to provide financial evidence to UKVI as part of your visa application if you have been living in the UK for 12 months or more. However, our team will still ask you to confirm you meet the financial requirement before we begin your CAS request. This is to ensure that you are able to provide this evidence to a Home Office case worker if they request it. 

Those who are not exempt will need evidence to provide evidence that they meet the UKVI financial requirements for a visa extension. 

Students from certain countries don't need to provide financial evidence or evidence of academic qualifications with their visa application, but you must still have this financial and academic evidence in the required format in case you are asked to submit evidence later. The following UK government website has a list of countries this applies to.

Please see the guidelines below for demonstrating financial evidence: 

Bank statements

• Bank statements are originals, not photocopies.
• Bank statements show the bank’s letterhead on each page.  
• Bank statements are no more than one month old.
• Bank statements show that you have held the required funds for no less than 28 consecutive days.
• Bank statements are in English, or accompanied by a stamped, certified translation.
• Bank statements show that the main applicant has £1023 for each month required for study, up to a maximum of £9207 (£1023 x 9 months). 
• Bank statements show £680 per dependant for each month required for study, up to a maximum of £6120 (£680 x 9 months). 

Parent Letter & Birth Certificate

• A supporting letter from the main applicant's parent (if relying on funds in a parent’s account)
• The main applicant's original birth certificate. This must be in English or accompanied by a certified English translation.

Additional Notes

• Multiple bank accounts can be used in conjunction to prove this requirement. These accounts must be in your name or in your parents or legal guardian’s names only. 
• The money doesn’t need to be in pounds sterling, but should equate to that amount when using the currency converter 

Sponsorship letters

• If all or part of your studies will be funded by an official sponsor, you must provide an official sponsorship letter. Official sponsors may include your home government or an employer. Your parents do not count as an official financial sponsor. 
• The sponsorship letter must include the sponsor's name and contact details, the validity dates of your funding, and the amount of money you will receive.
• Scholarships from the University of Dundee don’t require you to have a sponsorship letter. 

Tuition that you’ve already paid will be confirmed on your CAS letter. 

Supporting documents you’ll need

The supporting documents you need for your application will depend on your situation. The following documents are needed when you apply for your student visa extension: 

• current valid passport
• BRP card
• ATAS certificate (if applicable)

Some students may need extra documents, including:

• official translations of any evidence which isn't in English.
• A TB test may be required. 
• documents for your dependants
• a letter of consent from your parent or legal guardian stating that they consent to you using their funds for your studies. A template of this letter can be provided upon request. 
• your birth certificate if you are using relying on a parent's or guardian's bank statements.
• evidence about any changes to your name
• A letter of no objection from your financial sponsor to your continued studies. 
• If you have lived in the UK or other country that doesn’t require TB testing for the past 6 months or more and haven’t been away from that country for more than 6 months when you apply for your student visa, you will not need a TB test. 

Request a CAS letter 

You will need a new CAS letter for making your student visa application. Please complete our form for initial queries here.

After you complete our online form, we will verify your supporting documents and request a new CAS for you from our Registry team if you’re eligible. CAS letters take about 2 weeks to process. 

Near the end of the process, you will receive a CAS checklist from the Registry team. Verify that your details are correct on the checklist and then return this to studentrecords@dundee.ac.uk 

Afterward, you will receive a CAS release agreement from our team which asks you to confirm your understanding of the conditions of receiving a CAS and include your signature. Once this agreement is returned, our team will email your CAS letter to you. 

Submit your visa application

Begin your visa application form on the UK government website

Our team is happy to help advise you at all steps of the process and to meet with you to check over your visa form before you submit it. 

The date you pay the visa application fee is your official date of application. You will need to pay: 

• the visa application fee of £490 
• the Immigration Health Surcharge, at a cost of £470 per and £235 for periods of time that are under 6 months long. 
• Fees for your biometric appointment. These fees vary depending on the date and time of your appointment. 

You can confirm how you will collect your BRP card when you submit your application. To have your BRP delivered to the University of Dundee, enter our alternative collection location (ACL) code:  3HE297. 

If you don’t use our ACL code, your BRP will be delivered to the Whitehall post office for collection.

If your visa is for a period of time lasting six months or less, you will not receive a BRP. Instead you will receive only a visa vignette in your passport. 

Any dependants applying with you will pay the same fees as above. 

Once your application is submitted, email a copy of your completed application to internationalsupport@dundee.ac.uk 

Submit your documents and biometrics

If you’re eligible to use the UK Immigration: ID Check app 

Using the app, you will upload your supporting documents via mobile device. You can use any mobile device to apply, no personal information is stored on the app. You are not required to attend any appointment to submit biometrics. This is available to applicants from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. 

If you’re not eligible to use the UK Immigration: ID Check app 

After paying for your visa application, you’ll be directed to the 'Book an Appointment' page of the application. 

First, create your Sopra Steria (UKVCAS) account. Afterward, use the Sopra Steria website to book your biometric appointment. On the Sopra Steria website you can upload scans of your immigration and other supporting documents.

There are biometric appointment locations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. Take all your supporting documents with you to your appointment. At the appointment the staff members will scan your fingerprints and take your photo.  
 
Once you have attended your biometrics appointment, you should then wait to receive a decision within 8 weeks.

Receive your entry vignette

When your application is successful,  your passport will be sent back to you with a vignette applied to a blank page. The vignette allows you to enter the UK within certain window of time, usually 30 days. If your visa is for six months or less, the vignette will your student visa for the duration of your studies.  Students studying courses lasting more than 6 months will receive a BRP instead. 

You will receive email confirmation when your application is successful. You will receive either an E-visa or a BRP card. In either case, you must be sure to provide the University of Dundee with a copy of your visa. 

BRP or E-visa Issued

If you were eligible to use the UK Visas and Immigration: ID Document Check app, you should receive an E-visa. You will need to generate a share code to share this status with us. 

If you did not use the app, you should receive a BRP card. Your BRP card will be delivered to the University of Dundee if you used our ACL code.  Your student record will be updated by our colleagues who will email you to collect your card. 

If you opted to have your BRP delivered to the post office, you will need to collect your BRP from the post office and bring your BRP to the Global Room on campus for scanning as soon as you receive it. If you are aged 17 or under, you will need to be accompanied to the post office to collect your BRP. Please contact internatioanalsupport@dundee.ac.uk in this instance.