Immigration Guidance for International Students

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Immigration Information

It is very important that you find out about UK immigration procedures and how they may affect you. You will need to allow plenty of time to prepare all of the necessary documentation and apply for a visa, if needed.

Please note that you must have English language competence at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) or level 4 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

EU and EEA Nationals

The European Economic Area (EEA) consists of the European Union countries (see list on page 6) together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Switzerland is not part of the EU or EEA but does have a bilateral agreement with the EU which provides certain rights to students.

Before Arrival

You must have either:

• a valid passport or
• nationals of Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain may use a national identity card.

Entry to the UK

If you are an EEA national and have been accepted onto a programme of study, you are entitled to enter the UK freely and have the right of residence for the duration of your programme. You may also want to apply for a residence permit during your stay in the UK.

A residence permit is not compulsory but it is advisable and will be particularly useful if either:

• you intend to stay in the UK to work after your studies, or
• you are married to a non-EEA national or have non-EEA national children who wish to live with you in the UK. If you hold a residence permit this may make it easier for them to apply for a family permit.

Residence permits are issued free of charge. Even if you do not intend to marry or work in the UK the permit can be useful as evidence that you have the right to reside in the UK. To obtain a residence permit you can complete the application form EEA1 available from www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk.

Dependants

If your spouse and children are EEA nationals they are free to join you in the UK. If they are not EEA nationals then your spouse and dependent children under the age of 21 years will usually be able to join you but will need to apply for an EEA family permit from the British Embassy or High Commission where they are living.

Employment

All nationals of EU member states prior to 1 May 2004 as well as Cyprus and Malta are free to work in the UK without restriction. If you are a national of another EEA state and wish to work during your time in the UK you may be required to obtain a registration card from the Home Office within a month of starting work. Further details will be available from your employer.

For further information regarding EEA students and studying in the UK check the guidance notes at www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/eea.php

All Other International Students

The British Government has introduced a new Tier 4 points-based system which applies to students from outside the EEA. All non-EEA students are required to obtain entry clearance to enable them to enter the UK and in most cases you will have to get this before you travel.

To be able to travel to the UK on a general student visa you must pass a points-based assessment and score 40 points before you come. You score:

• 30 points for a confirmation of acceptance for studies from a licensed sponsor and
• 10 points if you can show you have enough finances to cover your programme fees and monthly living expenses for up to nine months (known as maintenance).

Visa Nationals

If you are a visa national (see list on page 6) then you must apply for a visa at your nearest British Embassy or High Commission before you travel to the UK. As a visa national you need to make sure that you obtain entry clearance as a general student. If you definitely only want to come to the UK for less than 6 months, do not wish to work while you are in the UK and are aged 18 or over then you also have the option of applying for a ‘student visitor’ visa. This visa cannot be extended so you need to be sure that you will not want to stay in the UK for longer than 6 months.

Non-visa Nationals

If you wish to stay in the UK for more than 6 months you will need to apply for entry clearance prior to entering the UK. If you do not do this you may be refused entry and forced to return home to obtain the required entry clearance.

If you are a non-visa national and are intending to stay in the UK for less than 6 months you are not obliged to apply for student entry clearance prior to coming to the UK. However, you should ask for ‘student visitor’ leave to enter upon arrival in the UK. This will permit you to study in the UK for up to 6 months. You will not be able to extend this leave from within the UK and you will not have permission to undertake employment.

How to Apply

You should contact your nearest British Embassy or High Commission and explain that you would like to apply for student entry clearance. Some countries allow visa applicants to apply online.

Further information can be found at www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

Make sure you apply in plenty of time as you may miss the start of your course if your visa application takes a long time to be processed.

You will need to provide the documents listed below but check the actual procedure with the Embassy or Commission in your country as it can vary. The cost for a general student visa is £289 in local currency. 

Make sure you check your visa is correct as it is difficult to alter it once you have left your home country. If you are not planning to travel to the UK immediately after the visa is issued you may ask for the visa to come into effect up to three months after its date of issue.

You should still bring the documents listed below with you as you may need to show these upon entry with your visa.

Documents Needed To Make A Visa Application

You will need to fill in the application form, pay your fee and include:

• a current passport and two passport photographs
• your Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS) from Flying Time Aviation
• documents used by Flying Time Aviation when they accepted you onto your course. These will include your qualification certificates or any other education documents you used to obtain your course offer from Flying Time Aviation. When we produce your CAS we will include the list of qualifications used to admit you to your course and you will need to show these when applying for your visa.
• English language test certificate from an approved English language test centre
• documents to show you have the right finances (maintenance) available.

• For courses of 9 months or less you will need the course fees and £800 for each month of the course.
• For courses over 9 months you will need the first year of fees and £7200 to cover the first year in the UK.

• you need to show that this money has been in your account for 28 days before you submit your application and your evidence needs to be less than one month old at the time of application. Alternatively, you can prepay some or all of your fees and accommodation costs.
• acceptable evidence of maintenance include: personal bank or building society statements; building society passbook; letter from bank; letter from a regulated financial institution confirming funds or loan will be released to you when you get your visa; letter of official financial or government sponsorship.
• your biometric details.

Health Screening

Health screening is now a prerequisite for some students applying for a visa or entry clearance to come to the UK for 6 months or more. Students from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand and Zimbabwe will all be required to show a certificate stating that they are free from infectious tuberculosis (TB) at the time of making an application to the Embassy or High Commission. This certificate is obtained by visiting an International Organisation for Migration clinic in your home country and having a chest x-ray. Details of these clinics are available on the website of the British Mission for your country. If you are not a national of one of the above countries and you have been screened for TB, you are advised to bring your certificate or x-ray with you. For more information see www.ukvisa.gov.uk

Length of Visa

For a course of 12 months or longer your visa should be length of the course plus 4 months. If you course is 6 months or longer but under 12 months your visa should be the length of the course plus 2 months.

Monitoring and Reporting

Please note that as a licensed sponsor, Flying Time Aviation is responsible for collecting copies of students’ passports on arrival and for notifying the UK Border Agency if a student does not register as expected, withdraws from their course after arriving, defers or suspends their studies or does not keep good attendance during their studies.

Dependants

You cannot bring your dependants to the UK if you are studying at Flying Time Aviation. Students can only bring dependants if they are sponsored by a higher education institute to undertake a post-graduate course which lasts 12 months or more or are government sponsored on a course of longer than 6 months.

Working in the UK

If you have a general student visa you are no longer allowed to work if you are studying at a private college such as Flying Time Aviation.  Only students at UK higher education institutes or publicly funded further education colleges are allowed to work up to a maximum of either 10 or 20 hours per week during term time, depending on the course level. You cannot work in the UK if you have a student visitor visa.

Further Information

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) publishes a range of information for international students, including immigration advice. See: www.ukcisa.org.uk

For up-to-date information about completing your visa application and the points-based system please check the UK Border Agency website at:
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk
and
www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Flying Time Aviation - Flight Deck Programme - Integrated

Flying Time Aviation is an accredited UK sponsor (tier 4) and has all the required approvals that enable the acceptance of overseas students. If you require a CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies) number in order to apply for a student VISA there will be an administration charge of £2,500.00 inc vat. This charge is to cover approval and administration costs.

This service is only available for students enrolling on the Flight Deck Programme - Integrated.

European Union Countries

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy

Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden UK

Visa National List

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia-Herzegovina Burkino Faso Burma (Myanmar) Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad China1 Colombia Comoros Congo Cuba Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) Djibouti Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt

Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Fiji Gabon Gambia Georgia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ivory Coast Jamaica Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Korea Kosovo Kyrgyzstan Kuwait Laos Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Macau Macedonia

Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Nepal Niger Nigeria Oman Pakistan Palestinian Authority Peru Philippines Qatar Russia Rwanda Sao Tome & Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka Sudan Surinam Swaziland Syria Taiwan2 Tajikistan

Tanzania Thailand Togo Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vatican City Venezuela3 Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe   The territories formerly comprising the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

¹ unless they hold a passport issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or Macao Special Administrative Region

² unless they hold a Taiwan passport which includes the number of the identification card issued by the competent authority in Taiwan 

³ unless they hold a Venezuelan passport which contains biometric information held in an electronic chip