• Who can we help?
• Reporting duties - when we are required to pass your information to the UKBA
• Our services
• Queries we can advise on
• Queries we cannot advise on

Who can we help?

We can provide immigration advice and limited advice on financial hardship to:

• Current students

• Prospective students whose applications are in process (you should have correspondence or an application number to confirm this)

• Staff that need advice on where to refer international students for immigration related queries.

Please note we do not give appointments to academic or support staff unless they want to change to student status at this university. For referrals please see the ISAS staff advice page.

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Reporting duties

Due to the changes made to the immigration system, all universities have a responsibility to report to the UKBA if students have breached their student visa conditions.  As ISAS is a service provided by the University of Birmingham, this means that advisers also have a duty to report any breaches.  At present we are waiting for further clarification on this policy.  Please note that the following may amount to breach of your student visa conditions:

• Not leaving the UK during a department approved leave of absence from your course.

• Deferring the start of your course AND staying in the UK until the new course start date eg visa granted for course start date in September and staying in the UK until deferred start date in January.

• Not keeping your police registration up to date.

• Working more than your visa allows or working if your visa does not allow work.

If you are worried that you may have breached your visa conditions and would like to speak to an adviser that does not have reporting responsibilities you can seek advice from UKCISA.  For further information about the University's monitoring and reporting duties see the Points-Based System pages.

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Our services

• Batch Scheme - we submit Student visa and Student Dependant visa extension applications to the UKBA for you.
• Workshops on student visa extensions and applying for Tier 1: Post Study Work.
• Online advice service - submit your query online.
• Visa correction scheme - contacting the UKBA to try to correct mistakes on your Entry Clearance visa.
• Appointments with trained advisers who can deal with students' immigration queries.
• Online guides about immigration, visas and other issues.
• A website with information on immigration and other issues relevant to international students in the UK.
• Interlink - an email service used to update students on upcoming events and changes to the immigration rules.
• International students newsletter - a termly newsletter specifically for international students.

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Queries we can advise on

We provide advice on the following issues:

• Student visa applications (inside or outside the UK).
• Student dependant visa applications (inside or outside the UK).
• Immigration issues during your studies such as: deferring the start of your course, taking a leave of absence and being withdrawn.
• Entry Clearance Correction Scheme (ECCS).
• Financial problems including applications for the international student hardship loan or award.
• Workshops and email advice on Tier 1: Post Study Work (appointments are not available for this).

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Queries we cannot advise on

We cannot provide advice on:

• Working after Studies Schemes with the exception of Post Study Work workshop and email advice.
• Lodging an immigration appeal (ISAS can provide initial advice on your options).
• Applications for Asylum.
• Applications for visas to travel abroad, ie Schengen visas to Europe.
• Careers advice.
• Legal issues.

Help for the above issues can be found on on our sources of help page.

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