Immigration and visas

A Biometric Residence Permit or BRP is a document issued by the Home Office to students (and their partners and children) as evidence of their immigration permission (also known as leave to enter or remain): this is your full study visa.

It is the size of a credit card and will include:

• Your name, date and place of birth
• How long it is valid for
• Your fingerprints and a photo of your face (this is your biometric information)
• Your immigration status (i.e. a student at Bournemouth University) and any conditions of your stay
• Whether you can access public funds, for example benefits and health services.

For detailed information on what you need to do if your BRP is lost or stolen please visit this Home Office page.

If you are applying for a Student visa from outside the UK for a course which lasts more than six months, you will be issued with a BRP.

You collect your BRP on arrival in the UK. So that you can travel to the UK to collect your BRP, you will be given an entry clearance vignette (sticker) in your passport which will start no more than 30 days before your course start date as given on your CAS.  

We recommend all students choose to collect their BRP from Bournemouth University.

In order to do this, when you are completing your visa application form enter the code 2HE577 in the Alternative Collection Location field on the Biometric Residence Permit section of your application.

January 2023 starters: From Tuesday 10 January, we will be contacting all students whose BRP has arrived at BU to advise you when you can collect it. You do not need to contact us and you should wait to receive our email. Although your Home Office letter says you should collect your BRP within 10 days of arriving, you will not be adversely affected if you collect it later so please do not worry.

If BU is not your BRP collection point, you should go to your nominated collection point directly to see if your BRP has arrived.

If you have asked to collect your BRP from the Post Office, please see your visa decision letter for the address of the Post Office where you can collect your BRP and the date from which it will be available. The Winton Post Office is about a 20 minute walk from the Talbot Campus of the University

You can check opening times on the Post Office's website.  

January 2023 starters: From Tuesday 10 January, we will be contacting all students whose BRP has arrived at BU to advise you when you can collect it. You do not need to contact us and you should wait to receive our email. Although your Home Office letter says you should collect your BRP within 10 days of arriving, you will not be adversely affected if you collect it later so please do not worry.

If BU is not your BRP collection point, you should go to your nominated collection point directly to see if your BRP has arrived.

Collection from the Post Office

If you are collecting your BRP from the Post Office, the letter you receive with your 90-day visa should tell you when your BRP will be ready for collection from the Post Office. 

Whether you are collecting your BRP from Bournemouth University or the Post Office, it is essential that you bring the following with you:

• Your passport – with
• Your visa decision letter.

Collection from the Post Office by someone under 18

If you are under 18 years old and are collecting your BRP from the Post Office, you will also need to be accompanied by a member of Bournemouth University staff.

To arrange for someone to come and collect your BRP with you please contact the Immigration Compliance and Advice Team.

Your BRP can be used as a form of identification in the UK but you are not required to routinely carry it with you and you will not be asked to show it in the street. However, you will need it whenever you need to prove your immigration status in the UK: such as opening a UK bank account, registering with a doctor or renting a property. You must ensure you carry it with you, along with your passport, when you travel in and out of the UK. Please treat your BRP as you would your passport. Keep it safe and secure and try not to lose it!

If you are bringing dependents with you to the UK, they will need to come with you to your BRP collection appointment to pick up their BRP.

If you have checked your BRP and find a mistake with the spelling of your name, visa expiry date or work conditions, you need to apply to the Home Office for this to be corrected. It will depend on where you made your Student visa application:

• If you applied from within the UK, visit this Home Office webpage
• If you applied outside the UK, visit this Home Office webpage.