Attending your graduation

• If you stay in the UK between your course end date and your graduation date, you can remain in the UK on your Student visa to attend your graduation ceremony. 

• If you leave the UK between your course end date and your graduation date 

Your eVisa should allow you to travel in and out of the UK until it expires. Please generate a share code before boarding the plane.

If however you return to the UK shortly before your eVisa expires and after your study end date has passed, the border officers may ask you some additional questions to understand why are you returning to the UK so close to your visa expiry date. You should be prepared to reply to these questions. To support this, you may choose to prepare some paperwork and carry it with you when re-entering the UK:

• • If you have received email invitation or any related communication from the Graduation Office about your graduation ceremony, this evidence could also prove to be useful when re-entering the UK on your Student visa for your graduation;
  • A copy of your return ticket home (if available).
  • A copy of your Graduate Route reporting email from student-visas@bristol.ac.uk if you plan to apply for the Graduate Route  

Please do not forget to leave the UK or apply for another visa if eligible before your current visa expires to avoid overstaying. 

If your Student visa expires before your graduation ceremony, your visa options to attend the graduation are as follows:

1) leave the UK and re-enter on Standard Visitor visa but re-entry would have to be after your Student visa has already expired. This is to ensure you are not admitted on a Student visa which would cause the risk of overstaying. If you arrive during your Student visa validity, you would automatically be admitted on your Student visa as it is more favourable leave.

Visitor visa allows to remain in the UK for up to 6 months. Some nationalities would be able to gain entry at the border on arrival for free, but will be required to apply for electronic travel authorisation (ETA) prior to travel. Other nationalities must apply for and obtain the Standard Visitor visa from a visa application centre in their home country for a fee. Please see our Standard Visitor visa webpage for more information. 

2) Apply for the Graduate visa which allows students to remain in the UK for further 2 or 3 years (depending on your course) to live and work in the UK. This would require paying the IHS and the visa application fees. You should be able to apply for Graduate Route visa from inside the UK after you have been made successful and whilst you still have a valid Student visa.

If you are exiting with a lower award or downgrading in your third year after your final exams (for example, MEng to BEng, MSci to BSc etc), the University will have to report this change in your circumstances to the UKVI and as a consequence your visa will be shortened. 

The below guidance applies if you are not staying in the UK to apply for the Graduate Route visa or any other type of visa.

If you downgrade / exit with a lower award shortly after your third year exams and:

• if you stay in the UK between your results release date and your graduation date, you can remain in the UK on your Student visa to attend your graduation ceremony. Please make sure you read all email / post communication about visa cancellation sent to you by us or the UKVI and do not overstay the 4-month period stated in our email communication.

• if you leave the UK between your results release date and the date of graduation ceremony, we do not generally advise you attempt to re-enter the UK on the same Student visa during your visa curtailment (shortened) period. After we have notified the UKVI about you exiting with a lower award, you can normally only leave the UK once and, depending on where the UKVI are with processing the University's report, may not be allowed to re-enter on the same visa, even if the 4-month period has not yet elapsed. The visa may also lapse if you are already outside the UK when the report is made. Please see our early completion of studies webpage for more details.  In these scenarios it is usually advisable to apply for a Standard Visitor Visa to re-enter the UK for your graduation but this may depend on a few factors - please contact us for further advice.