Applying for a Visa to travel to the United States (US)
There are many types of visa available for travelling to...
Source: www.glos.ac.uk. All Rights Reserved. 2025 University of Gloucestershire
Last updated: 5 September 2025
Welcome to the University of Gloucestershire. We’re excited to welcome you to the UK and support you as you begin this important new chapter.
Moving to a new country can be both thrilling and challenging, and we’re here to make your transition as smooth as possible. Whether you’re preparing for your journey, arriving in the UK for the first time, or getting ready to complete your enrolment, this information will guide you through each step of the process.
Jump to:
Plan your travel to the UK
Accommodation
Setting up your University Network Account
Your enrolment
Finance
Your immigration permission
Your student ID card
Living and studying in the UK
We recommend reviewing our guidance on preparing for the UK, to make sure you are ready to travel and can quickly adapt to life in the UK.
Before you travel, we also recommend reading our guidance on arriving at the UK border. It explains which documents you should carry and provides helpful information on navigating immigration and customs controls.
Having arrived in the UK, travel to the University of Gloucestershire should be straightforward. Both Cheltenham and Gloucester have strong transport links to international airports. We are approximately an hour from Birmingham and Bristol airports and less than two hours from London’s Heathrow Airport.
View our guide on how to get to us from the main UK international airports.
You are advised to plan your onward travel from the airport to the University before you arrive in the UK. For information on transport links and campus maps, please visit our ‘How to find us‘ webpage.
We have a range of accommodation options available to international students. You can choose to live in our halls of residence in Cheltenham and Gloucester, or explore university-approved private housing and lodgings.
It’s vital that you arrange your accommodation before you arrive in the UK, whether this is short-term temporary accommodation in a hotel, or a confirmed reservation with university halls, private housing, or lodgings. If you wish to secure halls accommodation you should confirm your booking before arriving.
For international students bringing family with them to the UK, it’s important to note that it can be very difficult to quickly secure family accommodation, with very limited local options available. As such, we advise students to arrive ahead of their family and secure appropriate accommodation, before inviting family to join them in the UK.
For information on halls of residence, private housing and options for you and your family, please visit the international accommodation sections of our ‘Accommodation‘ webpage.
Please note, if you will be studying an undergraduate or postgraduate taught programme (including the first year of Professional Masters by Research programmes), you are required to secure accommodation in the Cheltenham or Gloucester areas, or at the very least within a reasonable, commutable distance, no more than one hour away from your home campus. If the location of your chosen accommodation negatively impacts your ability to meet the university’s attendance requirements, your visa sponsorship may be withdrawn.
We are aware that, in some rare cases, students are being targeted by scams when seeking to arrange accommodation. The University has an approved registered housing list available that may help you to avoid such issues, and we can also offer a contract checking service. Please contact [email protected] for assistance with either service. Alternatively, the UK Government has an online service to help with validating property ownership and preventing rental fraud, available through the RentProfile website.
Accessing the University network is an important first step in enrolment, as it allows you to use our online systems and view personalised content on MyGlos, your personalised mobile app or desktop portal for everything you need at the University. Setting up your University account also gives you access to the full suite of Office 365 apps, from Outlook to Teams.
Please visit our ‘Setting up your university network account‘ webpage for guidance on the steps necessary to access the network for the first time.
Please ensure that you setup you network account before arriving in the UK.
You will receive an email notification from the University when enrolment is open. This is typically three weeks prior to the course start date, and may not necessarily coincide with when you first enter the UK. Please wait for the University’s email to confirm your enrolment record is ready to complete.
Enrolment is an entirely online process, accessed through Student Records Online. During enrolment you will need to confirm your personal details, provide your current UK term-time address, and pay any remaining fees required for enrolment.
The deadline to enrol is listed as the ‘Latest date a student can be accepted on to the course’ on your CAS. You need to ensure that you have arrived on campus and enrolled by this deadline. Students not enrolled by the deadline may be withdrawn from their programme and their visa sponsorship withdrawn.
Watch our short video for a quick guide to the enrolment process.
At enrolment you will be required to pay a minimum of 40% of your outstanding tuition fees (after your deposit and any bursary or scholarship awards have been deducted) and to sign up to an approved instalment payment plan. Instalment plans and examples of how to calculate the fees due at enrolment are outlined in Appendix A of the 2025/26 Tuition Fee and Bursary Policy and can be determined using our online enrolment calculator.
Please note, the University is not able to accept cash payments for tuition fees under any circumstances. Furthermore, we advise that you do not travel to the UK carrying large amounts of cash.
To ensure you’re able to enrol by the deadline, we recommend that funds have been transferred to the University using an approved method in time for them to clear into our account, before you travel to the UK. This is particularly important to consider, as you may not be able to open a UK bank account until you’re able to provide them with evidence of your University enrolment.
If your student record indicates that you are a non-UK national, you will need to submit your passport and immigration documentation to the University before your enrolment can be finalised. This can be completed before or during enrolment, by following the instructions below.
When accessing your eVisa, if you need to update your personal details, passport, or travel document information, please visit the following link. If you need to report an error with your eVisa, please visit the following link.
As a student, you’ll need to carry your Student Card with you at all times while on University premises. In addition to proving that you’re a student, your card also gives you access to university buildings and lets you pay for printing.
To ensure your Student Card is available for collection as soon as you arrive, you will need to upload a good quality passport-style photo as soon as possible. Your Student Card will be available to collect from the Welcome Centre during induction week, depending on when you upload your photo.
Attendance and Engagement
Maintaining satisfactory attendance and engagement is an important condition of your Student visa. All student engagement and attendance is monitored in accordance with the University’s Engagement and Attendance Policy.
If your attendance and engagement are poor enough to breach visa conditions, you may be withdrawn from your programme. Your withdrawal will be reported to UKVI within 10 working days, at which point the Home Office will curtail your visa and you will subsequently be required to leave the UK.
Medical Conditions, Pregnancy, and Maternity
If you have any medical conditions, including pregnancy or plans to become pregnant, you should inform us as soon as possible so that we can provide appropriate guidance. Maternity leave is not permitted under the Student route and students are still expected to meet all attendance requirements. Please see our full pregnancy and maternity policy for further guidance. Please note, children born in the UK are not automatically granted British citizenship.
If you are unable to attend your programme for an extended period of time, for any reason, your visa sponsorship will be withdrawn. If you believe your ability to attend may be affected, please contact International Student Services.
Cost of Living
The cost of living in the UK may be higher than you are anticipating or higher than equivalent costs in your own country. The budgeting pages on our website provide some indicative cost of living guidance and help to prepare your finances, to ensure you have enough funds to pay your tuition fees and ongoing living costs. As a student on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to claim public funds.
Wellbeing
We recognise that studying in the UK can be both exciting and challenging. In making the transition to living and studying in the UK, we encourage you to sign up to the British Council’s free online course on ‘Managing Your Wellbeing When Studying in the UK‘.
The course will equip students moving to the UK to study with an understanding of:
Children on Campus
We understand that situations may arise where children need to accompany you onto campus. However, the University strongly discourages bringing children and babies onto the premises unless absolutely necessary. This is to maintain a safe and professional environment and to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.
If you do need to bring a child onto campus, they must be supervised by a parent or responsible adult at all times. Certain areas, such as laboratories, workshops, and construction zones, are strictly off-limits to children. Other areas, like libraries or lecture rooms, may allow children under specific conditions.
To ensure everyone’s safety, please review the full policy on visitors and children on campus here.
Support
For ongoing help and support, please see our International Student Support webpages or visit the International Student Services offices, located within the Library at FCH campus in Cheltenham or Oxstalls campus in Gloucester.
Timetables
Course and Module timetables are available to view online via our timetables website.
Timetables are subject to change throughout the year so please check your timetables regularly.
Your personal timetable will be available to view on MyGlos, once you’ve chosen your modules and enrolled for the year. You will be notified when module selections open. Please note that your personal timetable will take two to three working days to update online once you’ve chosen your modules.
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