After Arrivals

Attendance Requirement

Students at Chester are required to maintain attendance over 80%. International students’ attendance is monitored from the day after they arrive in the UK. Even if there is some delay to fully completing your enrolment, you must attend any class that is timetabled for you from the day after you arrive in the UK. Low attendance will result in your student visa being cancelled.

The student visa is closely linked to attendance in class, especially your classes that are timetabled on campus. The UK government does not permit student visa holders to study online only or via distance learning. If you know of any reason why you might miss some in-person classes at any point during your course, you must tell us before you travel to the UK. For example, if you are expecting a baby, or if you have ongoing health issues that limit your ability to attend face-to-face classes. If this applies to you, please email studyvisa@chester.ac.uk before you travel to the UK and before you enrol on your course of study.

Do not assume that because your circumstances are genuine that your visa will be able to accommodate your absence.

Recording Attendance

Download the Chester App before your course start date. It has your Chester email account, your timetable, and you will also use it to record your attendance via the "check-in" process.

In your first class your tutor will show you how to record your attendance. For a check in to remain on your record you will need to be on-time to class, and stay for the whole class.

If you are late to class, or if you leave the class early, this is treated as "absent" for visa compliance purposes. You should not ask your tutor to check you in to a class if you were late, even if you attended most of the class. It should stay as an absence on your record. This should be a rare occurrence, it is your responsibility to put yourself in a position where you are on-time to your classes.

If you do check in but you do not attend the whole class, your attendance in that class can be revoked and it will also show as absent on your record.

If the class is on-campus, do not attempt to check in until you are in the classroom.

Low-Non Attendance

If your attendance slips below 80%, you will start to receive warnings about your attendance. If your attendance remains at that level or drops further, your visa is at risk of withdrawal.

The rules that require Student Visa holders to attend their classes are set by the UK government (Home Office), and are part of immigration law in the UK. The University of Chester is required to uphold these rules and report students who fail to attend enough of their classes after they arrive in the UK. Please do not come to the UK on a Student visa unless you are sure you will be able to attend all your in-person classes at Chester. Even if you have a genuine reason for absence, your visa can be withdrawn if your attendance goes too low.

If you know of any reason why you cannot attend all your classes, please email studyvisa@chester.ac.uk as soon as you realise. If you have not yet reached the UK, please also email international@chester.ac.uk. You may be asked to provide evidence of your circumstances. Please know that even in cases where there is a genuine reason for absence, the University of Chester may need to withdraw sponsorship of your visa.

UK Address

To enable you to maintain good attendance, please live as close as you can to your place of study. Extended travel times are not accepted as a reason for lateness or absence. You need to make sure you are putting yourself in a suitable position to attend all your classes on-time and have the best opportunity for academic success.

Before you choose your term-time address please research your travel options carefully. For example, Liverpool and Warrington are both approximately 20 miles away from Chester. But, a train from Warrington Bank Quay station takes around 22 minutes to get to Chester train station, while the train from the central stations in Liverpool takes around 44 minutes.

If your commute is affecting your attendance in class, you should consider moving closer to your place of study . If you ever change your UK address you must go to eVision and update your Chester student record within 7 days.

Tuition Fee Payments

You should not enrol or re-enrol on any academic year if you are not confident in your ability to pay the tuition fees for that academic year on time.

Failure to pay your tuition fees on time will result in you being placed on a financial suspension of studies. You will lose access to your classes, university systems, and buildings. Within 10 working days of your financial suspension, we will be required to inform the Home Office about your suspension by formally withdrawing sponsorship of your Student visa. You will be required to leave the UK within 60 days or less, and we would not be able to sponsor you for any new visa in future.

Term-time Travel

There is no scope for authorised absence from the UK in term-time if you are in the UK on a Student visa.

You should plan for any overseas travel to take place within the official holidays. Please see the “International Students Vacation Dates” section.

If you have an emergency and need to travel overseas in term-time please email studyvisa@chester.ac.uk with the details. We do not give any official permission for term-time travel for any reason, and that extended absence from the UK may affect your Student visa and/or your Graduate visa eligibility.

After the course end date on your CAS, you are deemed to be outside of term-time. So you can travel in and out of the UK at that point without risk to your visa sponsorship.

Work Restrictions

All visa holders in the UK must take care to follow the work restrictions on their visa. Student visa holders are generally restricted to working only 20 hours per week in Term Time (10 hours per week for students on the International Foundation Year).

Even if your last class is a while beforehand, you must always wait for the official vacation start date before you start any work full time. And you must stop working full time before the official vacation ends, even if your next class is not for a few days. Official vacations are detailed on our Term Dates page. 

In addition to the limit on working hours, there are additional rules which prevent you from doing certain types of work. For example, you cannot be self employed, or a professional sportsperson, or conduct any "business activity" whilst you have a valid Student visa. You also cannot hold a permanent full-time job, even if your course has ended. For full details, and answers to many of the frequently asked questions, please see https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student-advice/working/student-work/.

The UK government and the University of Chester will take any breach of your work restrictions very seriously. Breaking these rules is a criminal offence, even if you didn't understand the rules. Take your time to familiarise yourself with your work restrictions before starting any work in the UK.

Please also know that if you work in the UK, your rights as a worker are protected by UK law. You must be treated fairly and lawfully, and be protected from exploitation. Details about your Workers' Rights are on these leaflets, available in 23 languages. If you would like advice, assistance, or to report an issue, you can call the GLA on their free, confidential helpline on 0800 432 0804.