Post
by Hanafarina » Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:11 pm
Hi, i'm a full time student studying a bachelor's degree. I applied for my visa in september 2009. As of june 2013, i am on a gap year. I travelled to the uk on august 2013 to resit my exams and left in november 2013. I flew back in in february 2014 thinking that i could stay on until june to resume my course. In the middle of march i attended a meeting with my immigration adviser at my uni and i was told to leave the country as i shouldn't be in the uk because i have no academic obligations. She however, did say i can either apply for a new tier 4 visa extension in my home country or come back to the uk and apply. So i flew back at the end or march and applied for a new tier 4 visa in may. Unfortunately, my visa application has been delayed and i don't know why. I have a feeling my double entries to the uk in august and february may have something to do with it.
I have a few concerns:
1) according to ukvi, if a student is on a gap year, the visa will be curtailed. However mine wasn't. I asked my uni, and they said that because i applied for my visa in 2009 using a visa letter and not cas, they were not obliged to report. I asked ukcisa and they said the same thing. I just want to clarify this information. Is this true? Does anyone have any thoughts?
2)when i travelled to the uk in august and february, did i travel illegally? My uni didn't say anything about any curtailment so i assumed my visa was still valid.
3) does anybody know why students who applied for a tier 4 visa using a visa letter are not obliged to be reported to ukvi? This is the part that i find most confusing. If this is really the case, then my visa is really valid and i didn't breach any laws here. If my visa is supposed to be curtailed, but it didn't, then my university have somehow overlooked this situation and i have been travelling and staying in the uk illegally?
Please help. I can't shake the feeling that my uni is sweeping under the rug here and i'm paying for it! Many thanks