Visa gap before course start

The 28-day rule

If you are applying for a new Student visa from inside the UK, the Immigration Rules require that the start date of your new course must be no more than 28 days after your current permission (visa) expires. This is a hard eligibility requirement. If the gap between the expiry of your current permission and the start of your new course is more than 28 days, an in-country Student application will not meet the rules and would be refused. There are no exceptions or discretion to waive this rule in an in-country application.

For example, if your current visa expires on 1 December, your new course must begin by 29 December at the latest for you to switch or extend from within the UK.

It is worth being precise about what “starts” means here. The relevant date is the official course start date shown on your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), not enrolment week, induction, or the day teaching actually begins. So the answer turns on the start date the institution records.

What happens if the gap is too long

If the course genuinely begins more than 28 days after your permission expires, you have a few realistic routes rather than a simple in-country extension.

1. Ask the education provider whether the CAS can show an earlier official course start date, or whether there is an earlier intake or a pre-sessional element that would bring the start date within 28 days of your current expiry. Universities and colleges often have some flexibility over recorded start dates and intakes, and this is usually the cleanest fix.

2. Consider applying from outside the UK. The 28-day rule is specifically an eligibility requirement for switching or extending inside the UK. If you apply for entry clearance as a Student from your home country (or another country where you are lawfully resident), the 28-day limit does not apply in the same way, although you must still leave the UK before your current permission expires or otherwise avoid overstaying. You can apply from overseas up to six months before the course starts.

3. Check whether you can remain lawfully in the UK during the gap on another basis. Your current permission determines what you can lawfully do until it expires; you must not overstay. Overstaying, even briefly, can have serious consequences for future applications, so do not simply let your visa lapse and wait for the course to start.

Points to confirm before deciding

The right course of action depends on several facts that you have not yet given, and these materially change the answer:

The exact expiry date of your current permission and the exact official course start date on the CAS, so the size of the gap can be calculated precisely.

Which route you currently hold. The 28-day rule applies whatever your current permission is, including where you are switching from another route such as Skilled Worker, so identify your current visa type.

Whether you are inside or outside the UK when you intend to apply, because that is the single most important factor here.

Whether the institution can issue a CAS with a start date, or an earlier intake, that closes the gap.

Practical next steps

1. Speak to your university or college international student advice team and sponsor. They deal with this regularly, they issue the CAS, and they can often adjust the recorded start date or suggest an earlier intake.

2. Calculate the precise gap between your current expiry date and the CAS start date. If it is 28 days or fewer, you can apply in the UK in the normal way, applying before your current visa expires and after you have the CAS.

3. If the gap cannot be reduced to 28 days or fewer, plan to apply for entry clearance from outside the UK instead, and make sure you leave the UK before your current permission expires so you do not overstay.

4. Keep evidence of the course dates, your CAS, and your current visa expiry, and do not let your current permission lapse while you wait for the new course to begin.

If you tell me your current visa type, its exact expiry date, and the official start date on the CAS, and whether you would be applying from inside or outside the UK, I can tell you specifically whether the in-country route is open to you or whether you need to apply from abroad.