Notice for Continuers – MPhil at Cambridge to PhD at Cambridge

Any students who have completed an MPhil at Cambridge this year and intend to continue to a PhD, also at Cambridge, commencing in October 2013, must consider whether they are required to return to their home country in order to apply for an extension to their visa. 

The Home Office states:

“If you are applying to continue your studies in the UK, your new course must start within 28 days of the expiry of your permission to say (sic) or, if you have overstayed, within 28 days of when that period of overstaying began.”                                                                                                                                                                                                 (Tier 4 of the Points Based System- Policy Guidance, Version 07/13)

Therefore, if your current immigration permission expires on 30 August, for example, you are not eligible to apply for a new Tier 4 visa from inside the UK. If you apply from inside the UK, your application will be refused. This information was previously provided to you by the University in the “Information Notes for new graduates and continuers applying for a Tier 4 visa 2012-13”.