Short-term student visa

First you need to establish whether you are a visa national or a non-visa national. To do this, check whether the country you are a citizen of appears on the visa national list (you will need to open up the heading 'Appendix 2. visa national list'; and if you see an asterisk next to your country, open up the next heading, 'Holders of specified travel documents' to see if you fall into any of the exceptions listed there - for example the one for passports issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Macao Special Administrative Region, or Taiwan passports that show identification card numbers).

If you are a visa national then you must apply for entry clearance as a short-term student before you travel to the UK.

If you are a non-visa national it is not compulsory to apply for entry clearance before you travel, if you wish to come to the UK as a short-term student for up to 6 months. If you choose not to apply for entry clearance then you can apply to enter the UK as a short-term student on arrival at the port of entry. 

If you are a non-visa national and you want to study an English language course which will last for more than 6 months but a maximum of 11 months, you must apply for entry clearance (and if you are from certain countries you will have to pass a tuberculosis screening test before you apply).

Entry clearance as a short-term student can be applied for from within any country outside of the UK (it does not have to be the country where you normally live).

As a short-term student, you have the same conditions, whether you applied for entry clearance or not.

If you have successfully applied for entry clearance, check the vignette (sticker) in your passport for the date that your entry clearance is valid from. Do not enter the UK before this date.

If you applied under the provision for those coming for English language courses of between 6 and 11 months, you will have been given entry clearance showing a 30-day window in which to enter the UK. You will need to follow the instructions on the accompanying letter about how to collect your Biometric Residence Permit within 10 days of arriving in the UK.

As a short-term student, you have following conditions:         

• you cannot work or do work experience while you are in the UK. This includes paid or unpaid work
• you cannot do a work placement as part of your study.  If this is a requirement of your course, you should apply for entry clearance as a Tier 4 student instead, if you are eligible to
• you cannot do any business or professional activities in the UK
• if you have been granted entry clearance for up to 11 months under the short-term student category, you may be required to register with the police within 7 days of your arrival in the UK. If you are required to register with the police, your entry clearance vignette will state this. Not all 11-month short-term students are given entry clearance that is subject to this condition
• you have no recourse to 'public funds'.  'Public funds' are defined in paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules as a list of specific benefits available. When applying for immigration permission to enter the UK, you must provide evidence that there is sufficient money available for your maintenance and accommodation, without having to claim any of these benefits.

You cannot extend your stay in the UK, or switch into any other immigration category while you are still in the UK as a short-term student.