International Student Support

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Withdrawing Immigration Sponsorship

From the time that you apply for your Student visa until the time you finish your studies, the University of Exeter acts as your Student visa sponsor.  When we issue you with a CAS we are confirming to UK Visas and Immigration that we have offered you a place to study at Exeter and we wish to act as your Student visa sponsor.  We continue to sponsor you throughout your studies, as long as you maintain regular attendance.

There are certain circumstances in which we are required to withdraw immigration sponsorship.  These are:

  • You are required to withdraw from your programme (this could be due to academic failure, unsatisfactory attendance or for disciplinary reasons)
  • Your choose to withdraw from your programme 
  • You complete your programme earlier that the end date stated on your CAS
  • You take an interruption of study 
  • You are required to re-sit without attendance 
  • You fail to register at the beginning of the academic year
  • You move to a different immigration category (e.g. Skilled Worker or dependant)
  • You choose to change to the distance learning version of your programme

If we are required to withdraw immigration sponsorship, we will always contact you to let you know that we have done this, and to advise you on what you need to do.  If you have the right to make an academic appeal we will always wait until this process is finished before we withdraw immigration sponsorship.

If we withdraw sponsorship of your Student/Tier 4 visa, UK Visas and Immigration will curtail your visa.  This means that the end date will be shortened to reflect the fact that you are no longer studying.  You will need to leave the UK or submit a new visa application within 60 days of the date that we withdraw immigration sponsorship.  UK Visas and Immigration should always contact you by email to confirm that they have curtailed your visa and to inform you of your new visa expiry date.

Once your visa has been curtailed you should not leave the UK and attempt to re-enter, as your visa will be deemed to have expired at the point you leave the UK.