🛂 Update for Education Sponsors: UK eVisa Changes for Students

Heads-up about the next step in the move from physical visa vignettes to eVisas. From mid-July 2025, main applicants for Student/Child Student visas will start to receive eVisas only, instead of getting a visa vignette (entry clearance sticker) in their passport. They’ll still go to the visa application centre (VAC) to enrol biometrics and present documents, but after that, their immigration status will be online only. Most students from the EU, EEA or Switzerland already have the convenience of not needing to attend a VAC if they can use the ID Check App.

For dependents (including the Parent of a Child Student visa), nothing changes just yet, they’ll continue to receive both a visa vignette and an eVisa, and will still need to leave their passport at the VAC, or use the ‘keep my passport’ service if available.

Final dates and technical details are still being worked out, but I thought it important to flag this now so everyone can review their processes ahead of the summer application rush. There will also be further updates to the eVisa ‘view and prove’ service in response to feedback from schools and sponsors.

🚨 Top Tip - Important Note for Sponsors:

Ensure you keep flight details/flight stubs of arriving students, since they do not always receive an entry stamp from border control.