Overseas Students
Immigration: Visa Applications outside the UK
If you are a visa national you must apply for entry permission before you come to the UK.
Once you have been accepted by SLCC, you will be given a Confirmation of Acceptance for Study. This is what you will take with you to the UK High Commission or Embassy in your country to apply for a student’s visa. Allow at least six months for your visa application to be processed.
UKvisas website gives information on which countries are visa nationals and the procedure for making an application: www.ukvisas.gov.uk. They provide the following guidance:
Guidance - Students (INF 5): How do I qualify to travel to the UK as a student?
You must be able to show that you have been accepted on a course of study or for a period of research at an educational establishment that is on the UK's Department for Children Schools and Families Register of Education and Training Providers. You can search the register website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/providersregister
You must show that you are going to follow:
- a recognised full-time degree course, or
- a period of study and/or research in excess of 6 months where this forms part of an overseas degree course, or
- a course run during the week involving at least 15 hours of organised daytime study each week, or
- a full-time course at an independent fee-paying school
You must also:
- be able to pay for your course and support yourself and any dependants, and live in the UK without going into business or getting a job, or needing any help from public funds
- be able and intend to follow your chosen course, and
- intend to leave the UK when you complete your studies, if your course of study is below degree level.
Source: www.ukvisas.gov.uk
Similar information is on the UK Border and Immigration Agency (BIA/Home Office) website: www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk
For more advice and information, visit the following sites:
www.dfes.gov.uk Department for Education & Skills (formerly DfES), now Department for Universities, Innovation & Skills (DUIS)
www.dcfs.gov.uk Department for Children, Schools & Families (DCSF)
www.ukcosa.org or www.ukcisa.org.uk The Council for International Students Affairs
www.britishcouncil.org The British Council
www.ukvisas.gov.uk UKvisas
Arrival in the UK
Pre-Arrival Information
Before you arrive in the UK, it is important to contact the College office for any other information you might require. The quickest way to get a response is by sending an email to the Administrator at slcclondon@aol.com. Usually everything you need to know is in the Prospectus and your Confirmation of Acceptance for Study will give full details of your study programme.
Students Accommodation
We have a Student Accommodations Service (SAS) which includes helping applicants to secure single room accommodation near the college. An applicant is required to pay in advance one months deposit and one months rent to us in order to secure this. The current average monthly rent for a single room in the area of the college is £350 per month, so a payment of £700 will be required to secure this accommodation. If you fail to arrive and wish to withdraw from the accommodation, you will be refunded less £150 retainer. You will need to ask the college for the SAS Information and Application.
Airport Arrival and Welcome
Your UK contact or relative will most likely be the person to meet you on arrival at London Heathrow or London Gatwick Airport.
If this is not possible, or you have no relative here, then you can utilise the college’s International Welcome Service (IWS). This must be pre-arranged with the college at least two weeks before you arrive. There is a fixed cost of £50 payable for this service. We will need to have the details of your arrival flight, terminal, time and any other information. Ensure that you have the proper address of where you will be going to in London. We will arrange to meet you and get you to your accommodation as long as it is within the London area. You will also get a mini-tour of London and pleasant welcome by the person or couple that comes to receive you.
Alternatively if you wish to travel into London by public transport, go to the airport information desk and ask for directions to take a coach, a bus or the underground train (“the tube”) into central London or elsewhere. Do not take a black London taxi or “black cab” as this will cost you a lot of money. Also, do not take an unlicensed taxi cab (“touts”). This is not a safe way to travel.
Reporting to the College on Arrival
It is imperative that you contact the College as soon as you arrive in the UK. You will be asked to come to the college to meet with the Admissions Staff and Principal as soon as you arrive. It is also helpful for you to make this initial visit to the College as you will get to know your route to the college, as London is rather large!
The immigration authorities do not take kindly to students who fail to report promptly to the college upon arrival. If you get into any complication, it will be difficult for the college to help or represent you, if we do not know you have arrived.
It is an offence for a student to actually arrive in the UK on a student’s visa and fail to join the college to commence their course. Any student who arrives in the UK on a student’s visa but fails to join the college will be reported to the Border and Immigration Agency.
Orientation Week
We arrange a special week at the beginning of the academic year sometime in October to introduce students who are new to the college and the UK to important aspects of life at College and in the UK. It includes a programme of events where you get to meet with staff and fellows students and get information about the range of facilities available to you as a student. The highlight of Orientation Week is the free guided coach tour of London covering the West End, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Common, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, the London Eye, etc. The tour ends with an exquisite lunch in Chinatown in London’s West End. You will be notified of exact details of Orientation Week once you arrive at College.
International Students Employment
This is a guide to working while you are studying. The Government (Home Office) allows international students to work on a part-time basis to contribute towards their own support, but you must not exceed 20 hours a week. If you exceed this legal limit and are caught you will be in direct violation of your student visa restrictions and you may face deportation.
The main restrictions are that you cannot work more than 20 hours a week during term-time; you can however work any number of hours during vacation periods; you must not engage in business or be self-employed; you must not pursue a career by filling a permanent full-time vacancy.
Find more information at the UKCISA website under ‘Working in the UK during your studies’: www.ukcisa.org.uk/files/pdf/info_sheets/working_during_study.pdf