Student Blog

Produced by Guest blogger

If you’re an international student considering Bournemouth University as your study destination, it’s important to know the ins and outs of the UK’s Student Route visa process. As an international student, you may be required to apply for a Student Route visa in order to study at Bournemouth University.

But what exactly is the Student visa, and what are the next steps you need to take as an international student interested in studying at Bournemouth University?

We asked some of our current international students for their top tips for any new students hoping to come to the UK and study in September 2023:

Hi I am Odin, I applied for BA (Hons) Business & Management. Went through the process of applying for my visa when living across Portugal and Norway.

Student wearing pink hoody smiling at camera

Current student Odin from Portugal

How long did it take for you to get your visa from the start to end? After applying I think it took either 2-3 weeks

Is there anything you would have done differently 2nd time around? No, only because I did it well in advance to make sure I had time

Is there anything you wish you had known before applying? Not that I can think of

What advice would you give other people from your country who are planning on applying this year? If going through IELTS, it’s super important to know to take the right exam. I know someone who couldn’t come in September because she did the IELTS academic instead of the other one.

What help did you get during this process? Had family helping with the process, I attended webinars from UCAS that explained things and I called the university whenever I wasn’t sure about something.

Male standing on a bridge in Bath city centre smiling to camera

Hem, current student from India

Hi, my name is Hem, I am a current student on placement at the moment. I study MSc in Management with Business Analytics and am from India.

How long did it take for you to get your visa from the start to end? As I applied through normal route, my visa took approximately 3 weeks to arrive.

Is there anything you would have done differently 2nd time around? Yeah, I would apply for visa quite early.

Is there anything you wish you had known before applying? No, all the information is available on internet for reference.

What advice would you give other people from your country who are planning on applying this year? I would suggest applying for the visa quite early and keep ample of buffer time between the university start dates and visa procedure dates.

What help did you get during this process? My dad helped me with the visa application process and then virtual BU India conversation events helped me a lot especially when I came in September 2021, the country had just opened up and there were strict rules about the quarantine , travel requirements, RT-PCR tests etc.

Male student looking to camera smiling wearing pink hooded jumper

Current student Meet from India

Hi, my name is Meet and I am a current student in my first year studying BA (Hons) Marketing Communications with Digital Media. I am from India.

How long did it take for you to get your visa from the start to end? I got my visa in 1 week as I applied for priority services which is after applying you get your visa within 7 working days.

Is there anything you would have done differently 2nd time around? No, Just make sure all your documents are correct and relevant for HMRC.

Is there anything you wish you had known before applying? No, every information is available to read before applying.

What advice would you give other people from your country who are planning on applying this year? Apply for your visa for about 4 weeks before to your course start because one of my friend applied his visa 3 weeks before The course start date but he didn’t get his visa for about 5 weeks. So make sure you apply for visa 4-5 weeks prior to your course start date.

What help did you get during this process? I had my counsellor who helped me, and even the virtual open days and Q&As helped me a lot. Knowing about University, travel requirement, Documents.

If you have any questions for Odin, Hem or Meet find them on Unibuddy and ask away!