Finishing up the thesis - student visa or Tier 1?

[bhavikbuzz]

Hello,
My wife is doing Doctor of Education (EdD) with recognised UK University (A rating under new rules of 22/02/2010). She got student visa from 12/2005 to 31/05/2010. She started the course in Feb, 2006 and her course was of three years, so she was supposed to finish in Jan,2009, but she took two suspensions in between for marriage and for illness in the family. Her studies are extended till June 2010.
We applied for her Tier1(General) dependent visa from within UK when I was doing my HSMP extension, I got extension, but her dependent visa got rejected.We learnt from Tier 1 forum that we need to apply for dependent visa from country of residence. As she is on crucial stage of thesis submission, it's difficult for her to go to India now for dependent application.
As she might need only 1-2 months to finish her thesis after May2010, should we apply for student visa extension or can we apply for Tier 1(Post-Study Work) student finishing the thesis category. What we are confused about is that to get necessary points one of the clause is the award from recognised UK university, which she won't have until she submits and is granted the award.
We are quite confused about the new policy after 22/02/2010. Can someone please guide us regarding CAS number for student visa or do we need CAS for Tier 1 (PSW) extension as well and exactly what documents would we require, also do we need to show her progress (she has assignments and have got grades for them), a letter from her professor or just the letter from university saying her extension request is approved will be enough?
We are just worried that her dependent application is rejected once, her case will be scrutinised very closely anyway.
Any reply would be gratefully received.

[arsenal49]

your first and foremost help resource should be ukba website. go there, use calculator to see if SHE will have enough points for post study scheme. My guess is she probably wont.(Decide, if she is gonna apply on her own or as a dependent, its your decision)

So, two options now left. Either tier 1 general OR extension of student visa. Tier 1 is out of quesion because she can not possibly show that she earned atleast 20,000 pounds in lat 12 months. So, you are only left with choice of applying for extension of student visa. This, also, will be very difficult to obtain as she took the break from her studies without letting HO know about it and obviously she is now unable to finish the course on time.

My advice is, apply for extension of student visa, she probably will get refused BUT what you can do is buy her some time to finish her thesis. Apply on the day before your current visa is going to expire. HO will probably take 4-6 weeks to process her application/ biometric data etc. If she get refused, then they will give her around 28 days to leave the country or appeal.

So, hopefully you will have around 2 months even after your visa expired and now able to finish thesis.

This is ofcourse risky situation and might affect her future applications so make sure you do your research if this is indeed right way to do it.

Regards

[arsenal49]

CAS is issued by university. Go talk to them and they will give you a number/cerificate. Should not take more than 2-3 days to get CAS certificate from uni

EDIT: PSW is ONLY relevant ONCE you have finished your course and awarded degree. They do not accept anything else BUT certificate so this is not an option for you.

Concenterate on extension of student visa. This is my advice based on info you have provided here

[fooltruth]

You have to renew the student visa as arsenal49 suggested. I had to do the same thing during my thesis write-up period. PSW is not an option at all. Hope this helps.

[marivic45]

I think the best thing you two could do is to apply for extension of student visa. She probably will get refused but what you can do is buy her some time to finish her thesis. Good luck to her thesis and I know she can do it!

[Angelica]

I was once in that dillema.

It will be very expensive for you to do another course in the same university.

In my opinion, register with a college(Any course!), get CAS and applied. While that is going on, finish up your dissertation.

After getting the Tier 4 visa, you can later apply for PSW.