Rules

What happens to your visa if your sponsor loses its licence

By Daniel Hartley, rules desk · Published 16 October 2026 · Facts checked 9 October 2026 · Register figures to 16 October 2026

If your university, college or school stops being a licensed sponsor, what happens to you depends on two things: why it left the register and where you are in your own application. Home Office guidance sets out each case. This article follows that guidance paragraph by paragraph; the references are to section 6 of the Student sponsor compliance guidance.

It matters more often than most students assume. Since 30 November 2024, 192 institutions have stopped being listed on the register. Some of those changed their name and are listed again under a new one. For the rest, the register does not say why.

First: a sponsor missing from the register has not necessarily lost its licence

The guidance describes two different situations, and the register looks the same in both.

Removed pending investigation. The Home Office can take a sponsor off the public register while it investigates. In that case, the guidance says, the sponsor’s current students “will not be affected while they continue to have valid permission” (6.1).

Licence revoked. The sponsor is first given a period to make representations. The consequences below apply once that period has ended and the revocation is confirmed (6.4).

A sponsor can also vanish from the register because it changed its name or merged. So the first step is always to ask the sponsor, in writing, which of these has happened.

While the sponsor is under investigation

• You are already studying in the UK: nothing changes while your permission remains valid (6.1).
• You have applied for a visa from abroad: the application is held and will not be granted until the investigation ends. You may be asked for more documents or an interview (6.2).
• You have applied to extend in the UK with a CAS assigned before the sponsor was removed: the Home Office decides case by case whether to grant it or hold it (6.2).
• You have a visa but have not travelled: the guidance says you travel “at their own risk” should the licence later be revoked (6.3).

If the licence is revoked

You are in the UK with a valid visa and no application pending

If the Home Office believes you were not a genuine student, or took part in whatever led to the revocation, it may cancel your permission immediately (6.5).

Otherwise it considers whether to let the sponsor carry on teaching its existing students for a limited time. It weighs, among other things, the sponsor’s compliance record, how many students are affected, how soon their courses finish and whether the sponsor will stay solvent (6.6). The longest it will allow is six months or the end of your current academic year, whichever is longer (6.7).

If it does not allow that, it writes to each student cutting their permission to 60 calendar days from the date of the letter. In those 60 days you can find a new sponsor and apply for further permission. If your permission runs out first, you have to leave (6.8).

You have an application pending

Your CAS becomes invalid. If that is the only problem with the application, the refusal is delayed to give you 60 days to obtain a new CAS from another sponsor or to leave. If there are other grounds, the application is refused (6.9). This follows from the Rules themselves: a CAS must come from a sponsor “whose licence is still valid on the date on which the application is decided” (Appendix Student, ST 7.1) — not the date you applied.

You have a visa but have not yet travelled

The visa is cancelled, and if you travel anyway you will be refused entry (6.10).

What the guidance does not cover

Your money. Nothing in the immigration guidance deals with tuition fees, deposits or refunds. That is a contract question between you and the provider, which is why it is worth having refund terms in writing before you pay.

Your Graduate visa. The Graduate route requires that you were last sponsored by a higher education provider with a track record of compliance on the date you apply (Appendix Graduate, GR 4.1). If your sponsor’s status changes before you apply, that paragraph is the one to read; see our article on track record status.

What to do in practice

1. Confirm the facts with the sponsor. Ask whether it has changed name, been removed pending investigation or had its licence revoked, and ask for the answer in writing.
2. Check the register yourself on GOV.UK, and our change log for the date the listing changed.
3. Do not travel on assumptions. If you hold a visa and your sponsor is no longer listed, find out why before you fly.
4. Watch for a letter from the Home Office and keep your contact details with the sponsor and UKVI up to date. The 60 days run from the date of the letter.
5. Start looking for another sponsor early if revocation is confirmed. A new sponsor must issue a new CAS before you can apply.
6. Get regulated advice if your permission is being cut short. This article describes the guidance; it cannot tell you how your own case will be decided.

Sources

• Home Office, Student sponsor guidance: Student sponsor compliance
• Immigration Rules, Appendix Student
• Immigration Rules, Appendix Graduate
• UK Student Sponsors register archive and change log

This article explains published rules and data. It is not immigration advice, and it cannot tell you how an individual application will be decided. Found an error? Tell us; corrections are recorded in the corrections log.

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