UKVI Reporting and Curtailment of Student Permission
Section 1: Purpose and Contents of this page:
Curtailment of permission means that the expiry date of your Student Visa is cut short (brought forward) by the Home Office, effectively giving you a new visa end date.
This is done when the Home Office consider it is no longer appropriate for you to hold a Student Visa.
Once curtailment action has been taken it is not usually possible to reverse.
Curtailment action is taken by the Home Office when they deem that is no longer appropriate for an individual to hold UK Student immigration permission. This is usually the result of the University making an official report to the Home Office UKVI, against a specific CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) number which has been used to apply for a student visa.
As a sponsor of your Student Visa, we are obliged to make reports regarding any change of circumstances affecting our students.
The Home Office may also use its own discretion to curtail a Student Visa where it considers that:
- you made 'false representations' or did not 'disclose material facts' in order to obtain leave to enter/remain in the UK
- you have not complied with the conditions of your leave (e.g. you have worked more than the number of hours permitted)
- you no longer meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules under which you were granted leave
- you have not maintained and accommodated yourself and any dependants without claiming public funds
- it is not desirable to let you remain in the UK because of your character, conduct or associations (usually connected with a criminal offence or a connection with terrorist groups)
- you are a danger to national security
Section 4: Which reports made to the UKVI by the University will result in the curtailment of my visa?
The following activity, when reported to the Home Office UKVI, would normally trigger curtailment action:
- Early Completion of a course of study
- Permanent withdrawal from your course of study
- Temporary withdrawal from your course of study (including 'Resit without Residence' status)
- Failure to enrol (start) on a course
- Re-starting on a different course
Section 5: Which reports made to the UKVI by the University will NOT result in the curtailment of my visa?
The University is obliged to report the following activity to Home Office UKVI but it should not result in curtailment of leave for these reasons alone:
- Change of course (if you are not required to apply for a new visa straight away)
- Re-starting on the same course (for immigration purposes, this is treated as repeating a year)
- Change of study location (periods of study which are 3 months or longer and take place away from the Warwick campus)
- Delayed arrival date
- Completing your course in line with the qualifying criteria for the Graduate Route Visa
The University does not report the following circumstances to the Home Office and therefore curtailment action would not be triggered by one of these events alone:
- Authorised absence
- Resit with Residence
Section 7: How will I know if a report has been made to the Home Office or if my Student Visa has been curtailed?
If the university makes any kind of report regarding your circumstances to the UKVI, you will automatically be sent a copy of this report by to the email address(es) we have for you on record. It is very important that you keep your contact details up to date with the UKVI so that you can receive this information.
The UKVI will normally notify you by email if your visa has been curtailed but you may also receive a letter if they hold information about your UK address. This postal or email notification, or its attachment, will let you know what your new visa expiry date is.
Please be aware that the Home Office deems a curtailment notice as having been served as soon as the email/letter is sent, regardless of whether it reaches the recipient, therefore you should assume that curtailment action may be taken at any point following the date of our email notification to you.
Once you have left the UK following our report you should not attempt to re-enter the UK on your Student Visa, even if you have not received any notification from the Home Office about curtailment of your leave.
The University cannot predict when the UKVI will take curtailment action and we do not receive notification of curtailments, so the safest option is for you to leave the UK/switch visa category within 60 days of the date of our report to the Home Office.
If there are fewer than 60 days remaining on your Student Visa on the date of our report, then no curtailment action will be take but you will still need to switch visa categories or leave the UK before your visa expiry date to avoid becoming an illegal overstayer.
If you have already left the UK, curtailment should take immediate effect and you should not attempt to re-enter the UK using your Student Visa.
If you paid the Immigration Health Surcharge as part of your Student visa application, you will continue to be eligible for free NHS hospital treatment until the date which your current leave is curtailed to by the Home Office, or the date you leave the UK, whichever is sooner.
If you are unable to leave the UK within 60 days of the date of our report to the Home Office then you should seek specialist independent visa advice to explore your options.
If you have received email notification of a report made the Home Office which you believe is incorrect, contact the Immigration Service immediately.
If, after reading the guidance above, and you are still unsure of what you should do next, please contact Student Immigration to discuss your situation via the following methods:
Please click on the following links for more information
University of Warwick:
UK Government:
Other contacts: