UK Student visa concession extended to A level-equivalent courses

June 08 2009 by Bryan Palmer

UK student visa holders

A concession to allow foreign students to apply for UK student visas to do their A levels in the UK, before they receive their final GCSE results, is being extended. This move is expected to help more foreign students to study in the UK.

Earlier this year, a concession was introduced, for this year alone, which entitled students applying from abroad to study their A levels in a UK school or college to do so based only on their predicted GCSE results.

This concession was introduced because GCSE results are not usually released until the end of August and some A level courses start from the beginning of September. This left an unrealistically short period in which foreign students could supply their actual GCSE results and gain their UK study visa.

The UK immigration department has now announced that it will extend this concession to cover any foreign student applying for A level-equivalent courses, such as higher diplomas, as these courses can also begin in early September.

The concession applies to applications made from outside the UK and the student visa will only be awarded once an unconditional offer is supplied to the UK Border Agency.

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