Check your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) and visa for mistakes

Report a mistake on your BRP

You must check the information on your BRP is correct and report any mistakes within ten days of collection. This includes:

• personal details (name, sex, place of birth, date of birth, nationality)
• the University of St Andrews sponsor license number: V63Q719H2
• working restrictions (20 hours a week for degree level, 10 hours a week for below degree level)
• expiry date (all BRPs expire on 31 December 2024, this is not an error – after that date, you will be able to prove your status online). Please check your permission expiry date on your decision email. Your permission should be granted for the full length of your course plus a ‘wrap-up period’.

If your name is long, only part of it will show on your visa. This is not a mistake. There’s limited space on the BRP.

You must report any mistakes, including misspellings, by scanning your BRP and emailing it to advint@st-andrews.ac.uk within ten days of collecting it. The University’s Student Immigration Service will advise you what to do next.

Report a mistake on your visa vignette

A visa vignette is the printed visa on your passport. Contact your visa application centre immediately to report any mistakes. 

If you noticed the mistake after arriving in the UK, you must report it to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) within three months of arriving or you’ll need to apply for a new visa.

Course duration and validity times

Your visa will be valid for a specific amount of time after the end of your course depending on the duration of your course. Read the immigration rules on the UK government’s website for full details. 

• Courses of 12 months or more: your visa ends four months after the end date of your course.
• Courses between 6 and 12 months: your visa ends two months after the end date of your course.
• Pre-sessional courses of less than six months: your visa ends one month after the end date of your course.
• All other courses of less than six months: your visa ends seven days after the end date of your course.

If you have an exam resit or a thesis resubmission, and the end date of your course changes, you will need a visa extension.