New 5 years limit for student visa, resit examination?

Hi, I have a question about about this new rules which will be introduced soon. They going to introduce 5 years overall limit for BA, MA courses.

Border Agency (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... dent-visas):

We will limit the overall time that can be spent on a student visa to 3 years at lower levels (as it is now) and 5 years at higher levels. At present, there is no time limit for study at or above degree level.

I studied 3 years on BA course. Then I studied on 1 year MA course. However I had to rewrite my dissertation, so I extended my visa for 1 more year as resit examination visa. Now I wonder, will it mean that I have 5 years in total limit already and I will not be able to study anymore or will my resit examination visa not be included in 5 years limit and I have 1 more year to study until I reach the limit.

In other words, did I study 4 years in total now from the point of view of new immigration rules or did I study for 5 years? Cheers.

Ukba has not released the full details of this proposal and is unlikely to do so until closer to the time however i would imagine that spent repeating will be included in the limit.

Thank you, and when do you think these new proposal will come into force. I suppose nobody knows exactly but if you can guess... on the website they write that colleges will need something in april 2012 and then implement it by the end of 2012. So the big question for me is - will these new rules come intro force before september 2012 or after. I would like to start new course in september 2012... maybe they will give 1 year transition arrangements, like they gave for post-study...? Cheers!

JohnM wrote:Thank you, and when do you think these new proposal will come into force. I suppose nobody knows exactly but if you can guess... on the website they write that colleges will need something in april 2012 and then implement it by the end of 2012. So the big question for me is - will these new rules come intro force before september 2012 or after. I would like to start new course in september 2012... maybe they will give 1 year transition arrangements, like they gave for post-study...? Cheers!

its April 2012 the changes are due to come in.

When were you be awarded your masters and when were you awarded your bachelors?

I don't understand either from an academic or sponsorship point of view why a university would give you an additional year just to re do a dissertation for a one year masters degree. Inadvertently this is probably not going to do you any favours in the long run.

They may well have transitional arrangements particularly for migrants to complete existing courses but my guess is that these will not apply for someone wanting to do a new course if this will take them over the limit. This really is speculation though. I suggest you prepare for the worst case scenario.

I got MA 2 years ago and BA about 4 years ago. I did not plan to make resit. It's not standard, it was an accident of course, it is rare. Would they really implement such radical changes in April? Universities already start to get applications for September 2012. Oxford and Cambridge have deadlines by the end of this year. It would be messy if they don't give transitional arrangements, I suppose. Sure, there are not many people who get over limit but even if there are 5% of applicants, it would be messy...

JohnM wrote:I got MA 2 years ago and BA about 4 years ago. I did not plan to make resit. It's not standard, it was an accident of course, it is rare. Would they really implement such radical changes in April? Universities already start to get applications for September 2012. Oxford and Cambridge have deadlines by the end of this year. It would be messy if they don't give transitional arrangements, I suppose. Sure, there are not many people who get over limit but even if there are 5% of applicants, it would be messy...

I am not talking about having to resit at all but the fact that they gave you a whole year just to do a dissertation for a master's

They have already announced the intention to introduce this change in March this year - by the time it comes in in April 2012 this will be over a year - so my bet is this will be their justificate for little or no transitional arrangements.

Yea. They could do it, I agree. Well, thank you.

Regarding 1 year for resit, well it was kind of accident. I was kind of surprised myself and never planned to do it in advance. It was quite serious dissertation anyway, so time well spent... I was not cheating or anything... Cheers!

JohnM wrote:Yea. They could do it, I agree. Well, thank you.

Regarding 1 year for resit, well it was kind of accident. I was kind of surprised myself and never planned to do it in advance. It was quite serious dissertation anyway, so time well spent... I was not cheating or anything... Cheers!

i was not suggesting you were cheating- but a repeat dissertation for a masters should not require an extra year - sometimes universities allow students more time than is necessary to complete courses - i was merely commenting that due to the rule change this will mean many students will be over the new limit whereas if the university had just given them a few months to repeat the work they would not be in this position.