5-year Cap breached or not?

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some help regarding the 5-year cap rule as to whether I would be able to be granted another tier 4 general visa for a one year master's course in the future.

I have completed a bachelor's degree in England with an original duration of 3 years but I took a year out between year 2 and year 3 to study abroad in another country, so it took me approx. 4 years to graduate from university.

The thing is, all the extra months before and after the official course dates given on the visa are counted as far as I know when you calculate the time spent on tier 4 visa in regard to the 5-year cap rule, and if I add up all those months in my two tier 4 visas (the original 3 year one and the 1 year extension after I came back from the year abroad), it comes down to approx. 4 years and 3 months, which is only 9 months short of 5 years. However, I did not spend the last year of my first tier 4 visa in the UK as I was away in a different country for the year abroad and my university made this clear in the CAS that I was issued to apply for the extension of tier 4 visa to complete my degree.

Does it still not matter that I was away from the UK for the last year on my first tier 4 visa and is it likely that they would reject my visa application to do a one year master's course in the future (probably in about 2 years' time) because I'd already been granted two tier 4 visas that were 4 years 3 months long in total?

I am quite confused because two of my friends who also took a year out did not get told anything from the university when they applied for master's and one of them even got issued a CAS without any problem. However they did not attempt applying for the visa as their plans changed. Does the fact that they got issued a CAS mean that it would be ok for me to apply as well or is it possible that they may have got rejected at the visa application stage?

The exact dates of my visas are as follows:

First visa 02/09/13 - 30/11/16 = 3 years 3 months
Extension 05/08/16 - 30/11/17 = 1 year 4 months
minus the overlapping 4 months in the middle = 4 years 3 months

I greatly appreciate your help in advance.

Thank you.

abcdef09 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:09 am

The exact dates of my visas are as follows:

First visa 02/09/13 - 30/11/16 = 3 years 3 months
Extension 05/08/16 - 30/11/17 = 1 year 4 months
minus the overlapping 4 months in the middle = 4 years 3 months

I am not quite clear why you are counting the whole of your first visa. It should have been curtailed when you interrupted your studies, prompted by your university reporting your interruption to the Home Office. On the date your leave is curtailed, the clock stops because there is no longer any leave to count.

If you do not know when exactly your leave was curtailed, for example because you did not receive notice of the curtailment, I advise you check with the university when exactly they reported your interruption, and when your leave was curtailed. They may need to check the curtailment date via their Premium Account Manager at the Home Office. Be warned -- sometimes the Home Office takes a long time to curtail leave, which may mean you have breached the cap anyway.

If your university never reported your interruption, your leave was never curtailed. But if so, then the clock never stopped and the whole of the first Tier 4 visa is counted, whether you were in the UK or not.

Hi sah10406,

Thank you for the reply.

I was actually completely unaware that the university was to report my interruption to the Home Office and that's why I was counting the whole of my first visa. I am going to email my university to ask whether they reported it or not but I am not sure as I never received anything regarding the curtailment.

So if they hadn't actually reported it and the whole of my first visa does actually count, would there be a problem with applying for a master's degree because I've already spent 4 years and 3 months in the UK on tier 4?

Thanks,

sah10406 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:16 pm

abcdef09 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:09 am

The exact dates of my visas are as follows:

First visa 02/09/13 - 30/11/16 = 3 years 3 months
Extension 05/08/16 - 30/11/17 = 1 year 4 months
minus the overlapping 4 months in the middle = 4 years 3 months

I am not quite clear why you are counting the whole of your first visa. It should have been curtailed when you interrupted your studies, prompted by your university reporting your interruption to the Home Office. On the date your leave is curtailed, the clock stops because there is no longer any leave to count.

If you do not know when exactly your leave was curtailed, for example because you did not receive notice of the curtailment, I advise you check with the university when exactly they reported your interruption, and when your leave was curtailed. They may need to check the curtailment date via their Premium Account Manager at the Home Office. Be warned -- sometimes the Home Office takes a long time to curtail leave, which may mean you have breached the cap anyway.

If your university never reported your interruption, your leave was never curtailed. But if so, then the clock never stopped and the whole of the first Tier 4 visa is counted, whether you were in the UK or not.

Hi sah10406,

Thank you for the reply.

I was actually completely unaware that the university was to report my interruption to the Home Office and that's why I was counting the whole of my first visa. I am going to email my university to ask whether they reported it or not but I am not sure as I never received anything regarding the curtailment.

So if they hadn't actually reported it and the whole of my first visa does actually count, would there be a problem with applying for a master's degree because I've already spent 4 years and 3 months in the UK on tier 4?

Thanks,

abcdef09 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:38 pm

So if they hadn't actually reported it and the whole of my first visa does actually count, would there be a problem with applying for a master's degree because I've already spent 4 years and 3 months in the UK on tier 4?

It depends how much Tier 4 leave you would get for the new course. You need to add together the Tier 4 leave you have already had, plus the Tier 4 leave you would get for the new course. If the total exceeds 5 years, it is still fine to study for a fifth academic year as long as the total is no more than 5 years 11 months. See the Tier 4 Policy Guidance for details, especially paragraph 128, example 2:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -4-student

It is your new Tier 4 sponsor that decides whether you are within the cap, so I advise you give them all the details and see what they say.

sah10406 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:02 pm

abcdef09 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:38 pm

So if they hadn't actually reported it and the whole of my first visa does actually count, would there be a problem with applying for a master's degree because I've already spent 4 years and 3 months in the UK on tier 4?

It depends how much Tier 4 leave you would get for the new course. You need to add together the Tier 4 leave you have already had, plus the Tier 4 leave you would get for the new course. If the total exceeds 5 years, it is still fine to study for a fifth academic year as long as the total is no more than 5 years 11 months. See the Tier 4 Policy Guidance for details, especially paragraph 128, example 2:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -4-student

It is your new Tier 4 sponsor that decides whether you are within the cap, so I advise you give them all the details and see what they say.

Ah I see, now I understand what they mean by the fifth year of study. I misunderstood it to be the fifth year of study of a 5 year course or something. Looking at the example helped clearing my doubts.

Thank you very much!!