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Your Right to Study Check

If you're not British or Irish (or from the Channel Islands or Isle of Man), you're required to complete a Right to Study check before starting your course and after any changes to your permission to live in the UK and study at Durham.

The check is required by the UK Government and is part of your University registration process. If you don’t complete it, you won’t be registered on your course, and you’ll lose access to IT and other facilities.

The Student Immigration Service will contact you if you're required to complete a Right to Study check.

You will need to complete the RTS check if one of the following applies to you:

  • You have a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) or a visa in your passport, including:
    • Student; Dependant, spouse or family member; Skilled worker or another type of work visa; Visitor; any other type of visa; or
  • You’ve been granted a ‘Digital’ Student visa:
    • If you used the ID check app when applying for a visa and you received your visa by email
  • You're resident in the UK with one of the following permissions:
    • Indefinite Leave to Remain; Right of Abode; Settlement; Ancestry; any other type of permission
  • You're an EU/EEA national with Settled or Pre-settled status
  • You've applied to extend your stay in the UK but have not yet received a decision*
  • Your course at Durham is less than 6 months and you entered the UK without a visa
  • If you hold a British or Irish passport
    • You may not need permission to study in the UK, but we'll need to update your record 

*If you currently hold a Graduate Route visa, you will only be able to enrol once you have obtained a Student visa or another type of visa that permits full-time study. A pending visa application is not acceptable in this instance. 

 

Durham University makes every effort to ensure that the information published on this page is accurate. However, the University cannot guarantee the information may not be altered owing to circumstances beyond the University’s reasonable control. Such circumstances include (but are not limited to) change in Government policy, or change of law. Any changes will be incorporated into the University’s website as early as possible.