Tier 4, Date of Planned Arrival, and Date of Loan Disbursement... oh my!

Hello all – 
What a wonderful forum this is! I'm thrilled to have found so many questions asked and answered. Unfortunately I have one more:

I am applying for a Tier 4 visa for my program starting on September 23. Unfortunately, my loan under a US educational loans scheme is only being disbursed to my university ON September 23 – and as far as I read them, the Tier 4 restrictions are pretty explicit that a loan can only be proof of funds if it's being disbursed to your school BEFORE or ON your date of arrival. So seemingly, I'd need to enter my Date of Planned Arrival as September 23 for this proof of loan to be used with my application.

Of course, I don't want to arrive ON September 23 with my program starting on that date! I'd prefer to arrive early by a day at the very least, but ideally a week or more.

So if I go by that guidance, it seems my options are:
1) State an earlier date of planned arrival than September 23 and risk getting my visa denied, or
2) State Sept. 23 as my date of arrival and risk my visa only being marked as of that date, so I'm late to my course.

I just can't imagine those are my only options. Has anyone else dealt with this or have any advice?

Thank you!

Can you talk to the program about late arrival?  Can you contact the loan issuer about disbursing the funds earlier?  Looking at the guidance, the funds have to be disbursed on or before your arrival to the UK, so option 1 will certainly be refused.

Welcome to the forum.

The university you want to attend will have an international advisor. They are the best person to ask questions like these to as their job is to help their international students.

Extra context here that all of documentation states that it’s the school, not the loan provider, that set the disbursement dates - so why would my school set that date knowing it was the first date of term and knowing the guidance rules?? Surely they’ve dealt with this before!

I did reach out to the international team asking about this and they replied with the text of the visa guidance and that’s it...

So overall I’m not thrilled with their assistance here.

I could ask them about late arrival but I’m not sure they’ll be helpful, given the above. I suppose I’ll have to if I do the visa application by-the-book and the visa I receive really only is valid from September 23, versus something in the 7-day earlier range.

My other hope would be that I can get a flight arriving as early as possible the day of the course.... and arrive with all my bags, hoping that any delays don’t make me too late to the first day! Oy vey.

I imagine the answer to this will be, “You’re joking right?” But I wonder if I were to apply with all of the by-the-letter dates and such and then added a cover letter kindly asking if they could date my visa any earlier to ensure ease of start to term.... I’m sure it wouldn’t be actually part of the assessed application and wouldn’t distinctly harm it? But perhaps it would encounter a kind ECO.

Any other thoughts from the community?

Have they changed the start dates of Tier 4 visas then?

It used to be that your visa would be granted starting 30 days before your course start date (and presumably 30 days before your loan disbursement)... so you could enter up to 30 days early.

Actually, it still says this on the Tier 4 guidance:

How long you can stay
You can arrive in the UK before your course starts:

-up to 1 week before, if your course lasts 6 months or less
- up to 1 month before, if your course lasts more than 6 months

How long you can stay depends on the kind of course you’re doing and what study you’ve already completed.

So presumably, you put your course start date on the application form (which should be the date on your COS and on your loan) and then your visa should be granted to allow you to arrive either 7 days or 30 days before that date.



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As far as I can tell this is the added dimension: that I can put the start date of my course but I also have to put my planned date of arrival, and that has these extra stipulations mentioned above when it comes to showing the financial evidence of having a loan to support my studies.

Oh and to clarify: certainly they MIGHT grant me a 7-day earlier or even 30-day earlier date for my visa,  but my understanding is they’re likely to give you the date you state you plan to arrive and that’s it.  So I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to request any earlier date without getting denied, based on that extra loan letter/date of arrival/disbursement guidance.

I don’t know how it works anymore, because they changed the system when they introduced the BRPs but until 2015, ALL Tier 4 visas valid 6 months or less started 7 days before the course start date, and ALL Tier 4 visas valid more than 6 months started 30 days before the course start date - that was automatic.

I’m not sure what they do with the 30-day vignettes now though. It could be that your BRP will start on your course date and your 30-day vignette will start either 7 days before that (if your course is less than 6 months) or 30 days before (if your course is more than 6 months).

Actually, just found this on the Warwick University website:

For a Tier 4 visa application made outside of the UK: if you are pursing a course that is six months or longer, or for a pre-sessional course that is less than six months, leave will be granted up to one month before the start date of your course, or, 7 days before your 'intended travel date' (this is the date you put on the visa application form), whichever is later.

https://warwick.ac.uk/study/international/immigration/tier4/length/

And from Edinburgh Napier University:

When will my visa be valid from?
For Tier 4 visa applications made outside the UK, if you are undertaking a course of study that is 6 months or longer, your visa will be valid up to 1 month before the start date of your course, or, 7 days before your “intended travel date” (this is the date you put on your visa application form), whichever is later.  If your visa is granted very close to your course start date, it will be valid from the date the decision is made on your application.

https://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/international-students/visas-and-immigration/new-students/tier-4-general-visa/length-of-visa-granted



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Also see the UKCISA website which has more detail:

https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Information--Advice/Visas-and-Immigration/Making-a-Tier-4-General-application-outside-the-UK#layer-3915

From that page:

If your application was for leave for six months or less then your vignette will be valid for your whole stay in the UK.  However, in most other instances the vignette in your passport will only be valid for 30 days.

This 30 days will start 30 days before the course start date on your CAS or seven days before the date that you specified on your application as your intended date of travel to the UK, whichever is later.

It's important to realise that if the intended date of travel that you state on your application form is less than one month before the course start date listed on your CAS then you will not be granted the maximum period of leave possible before the start of your course.  Instead your visa will start seven days before the intended travel date on your visa application; you will not be able to travel to the UK before this date.


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Thanks, all! I appreciate the time and thoroughness in reviewing the guidelines and in sharing your past experiences. I think I'll just have to hope the visa they give me is valid before Sept. 23. Fingers crossed!

Hello all –
What a wonderful forum this is! I'm thrilled to have found so many questions asked and answered. Unfortunately I have one more:

I am applying for a Tier 4 visa for my program starting on September 23. Unfortunately, my loan under a US educational loans scheme is only being disbursed to my university ON September 23 – and as far as I read them, the Tier 4 restrictions are pretty explicit that a loan can only be proof of funds if it's being disbursed to your school BEFORE or ON your date of arrival. So seemingly, I'd need to enter my Date of Planned Arrival as September 23 for this proof of loan to be used with my application.

Of course, I don't want to arrive ON September 23 with my program starting on that date! I'd prefer to arrive early by a day at the very least, but ideally a week or more.

So if I go by that guidance, it seems my options are:
1) State an earlier date of planned arrival than September 23 and risk getting my visa denied, or
2) State Sept. 23 as my date of arrival and risk my visa only being marked as of that date, so I'm late to my course.

I just can't imagine those are my only options. Has anyone else dealt with this or have any advice?

Thank you!

Are they specifically asking for these documents?
If not, do not include them. They will then be considered, even though the US applies for the differentiation agreement.

If it helps, when I did my Tier 4 visa last year (I'm also from the US) I put the planned date of arrival as September 13th and the start date of the course as September 24th.  The visa was approved and gave me a month before my planned arrival date, so August 10th.  I also had student loans and they were disbursed by the school on the start date of the course, September 24th.  I had to go pick up a check for the remainder after tuition and then open a bank account to deposit it somewhere.  I wasn't using student housing, but I think the international advisors mentioned that student housing is available earlier for international students, maybe like a week before classes start?  There were also a bunch of international student events the week before classes started.