extension visa between masters and PhD?

Hi all! I'm currently doing a one-year masters. Since the post-study work visa will be gone by the time I graduate in September, I will have to go back to the States in January. However, I plan on applying for PhDs in the UK in the fall and I think its very likely I will be able to get accepted somewhere. Funding may be hard, but hopefully I can get at least part-funding.

Anyway, I assume this means I will have to stay in the States in  between the two degress- from January to August 2013. My friend mentioned maybe after April there will be an extension degree so I wouldn't have to go back home in between? I haven't heard anything about this- is there something like that? Thanks!

There is the Prospective Student visa. However it's a max of 6 months and you would need to return to the US to get it as it is not issued in the UK.

It is a special visitor visa so you would not be allowed to work, however it would allow you to attend interviews & explore your options in regards to location of where you would complete your program. Once you are accepted into a program you would then apply for another Tier 4 and you can do that from within the UK as it does allow you to switch into that category only.

If you went back to the US in January you could apply for it almost immediately and ask for it to be valid starting in March (as you can ask for the visa to be dated up to 3 months from the application date)...so you would have to be in the US for a couple of months until the visa is process & you can enter the UK after the 'valid from' date.

You can find the page on Prospective Student Visas here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/visiting/prospective-student/

Silly question - why do you need the year between the MA/MSc and the PhD?  I did mine right on top of each other.  No break, no hassle.  I'm in the humanities, though, so I can see if that sort of one right after the other approach doesn't work in the sciences...

I'm in the humanities, though, so I can see if that sort of one right after the other approach doesn't work in the sciences...

I did my masters in the sciences, and doing a PhD immediately after would've been no problem at all.  In my case, at the time I would have needed to apply for the PhD course/funding, I was undecided as to whether I really wanted to go for one or not. I can't answer for the OP, but it may be just be more of a logistical thing rather than actually having to take the year off.

It's a logistical thing, yes. Its already past the deadlines for applying to many programmes, and even the  ones you can still apply to, the funding deadlines are past. I need more time to figure out a research proposal as well. I don't have  research background so its going to take some more preparation to get ready to apply!

The prospective student visa isn't an option for me- it'd essentially be a 6 month money drain. I'll have to go back to the States where I am allowed to work, so that I can at least break even on living expenses. Too bad there isn't some sort of extension/break between degrees visa that allows you to work-  but then again, I didn't really think there would be. My friend just seemed to think there was so I thought it was worth asking!

It's a logistical thing, yes. Its already past the deadlines for applying to many programmes, and even the  ones you can still apply to, the funding deadlines are past. I need more time to figure out a research proposal as well. I don't have  research background so its going to take some more preparation to get ready to apply!

Do you actually need to write a research proposal?

I know it differs from university to university, but many UK science PhDs already come with the research proposal, project title and funding included (i.e. the professor already has the project ready to go, they just need a PhD student to carry it out) - so often all you have to do is chose which project you want to do and apply... plus a lot of programmes take year-round admissions and some have flexible start dates.

I've applied for 2 UK PhD programmes in the past (in physics and in seismology). In July 2005, I applied for one at Durham University (just after my undergraduate graduation), to start that September - I was offered it in August, fully funded and everything, and had I accepted it, I would have started the PhD a few weeks later. The other, I applied for in July 2009 - it already had the project title and funding included, although after emailing the professor, I discovered that it wasn't due to start until October 2010 (as it was, I didn't get offered it anyway).

I know it differs from university to university, but many UK science PhDs already come with the research proposal, project title and funding included (i.e. the professor already has the project ready to go, they just need a PhD student to carry it out)

Funding is much easier to come by as a UKC than it is for a USC in the UK.  Apart from some sort of International PhD Studentship Scholarships (which is probably the deadline solstince is referring to), most funding I've seen for PhD projects just looking for students who can start on a rolling basis follows these restrictions:

9. The residence eligibility criteria are satisfied in full if  all three of the following
conditions are met:
(a) the candidate is  settled in the UK i.e. is ordinarily resident in the UK without
being subject under the immigration laws to any restriction on the period for
which they may stay in the UK (see paragraph 10);
(b) the candidate has been  ordinarily resident  in the UK and Islands for three
years immediately prior to the date of start of their course;
(c)  no part of the period of residence in (b) was wholly or mainly for the purpose of
receiving full-time education

(taken from BBSRC Studentship eligibility guidelines)

Funding is much easier to come by as a UKC than it is for a USC in the UK.  Apart from some sort of International PhD Studentship Scholarships (which is probably the deadline solstince is referring to), most funding I've seen for PhD projects just looking for students who can start on a rolling basis follows these restrictions: (taken from BBSRC Studentship eligibility guidelines)

Yeah, exactly. And most of the programmes I'm considering DO require well-thought out research proposals and connections with faculty. I didn't have enough time to pull off applying this fall/early winter, so now the funding deadlines are past and since I can't afford to do a degree without funding, I have to wait until next year. Believe me, I don't want to have to go back to the States and get some random job and leave my life here for 6 months in between the degrees, but it looks like that's what's going to happen.