Terms of advice service

Our commitment

We will always act in the best interests of our students, subject to regulatory and legal restrictions. We will treat you fairly and without prejudice or bias. We will provide detailed and accurate advice to the best of our abilities in a format that is accessible to you and which complies with regulatory requirements. We aim to be a friendly and approachable service, and to make you feel welcome when you seek advice from us. 

We are unable to take any action on your behalf that is illegal, deceptive or contravenes immigration rules, or to recommend that you take any such action. We are also employed by the University of Exeter which holds a Student Sponsor License. We may not, therefore, be able to assist you where doing so would risk that license, but we will make this very clear to you if it is the case and advise you of any alternative options. 

Our role 

While we make every effort to provide accurate and detailed advice, your immigration status, applications and compliance are your responsibility. 

The scope of our role extends to providing advice on your immigration status and communications with the Home Office. These communications may include immigration policy questions or questions regarding the progress of an application. We will also assist with certain documentation processing including scanning documents and uploading these to a visa application. 

The University is not responsible for making decisions regarding your immigration status. 

Costs 

Our service is offered to all University of Exeter students free of charge. All immigration application fees are payable by you directly to the Home Office. 

Regulation and our advisers 

Our immigration advice is regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).  

Our advisers are all trained in student immigration and related immigration categories. We are constantly updating our knowledge through relevant publications, internal and external training, specialist networks, and direct dialogue with the Home Office. We are members of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) and the Association of International Student Advisers (AISA). 

Advisers in International Student Advice are the only University staff legally allowed to give immigration advice to students. We are authorised to provide immigration advice to University of Exeter students and staff only. 

Confidentiality 

All correspondence, documents and discussion of your case is included in your SID Online case file. This can only be accessed by the International Student Advice team and the Immigration Compliance team. If physical documents are held at any time by International Student Advice, these are kept in a locked cabinet. Information will not be shared outside of International Student Advice and Immigration Compliance without your consent, unless we are required to do so because of a legal or regulatory obligation, such as the University’s responsibilities as a Student visa sponsor. If we are inspected by the Home Office or the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, we may be required to disclose some or all of your case  to them.

In exceptional circumstances, we may decide that information should be disclosed without consent, if in our judgment there is a significant risk of imminent harm to you or others.  

Consent and progress of your case 

We will seek your consent in writing before taking any action regarding your case. We will also notify you once we have taken that action and/or when we have received any updates regarding your case, within 3 days.

Conflict of interest 

Where we become aware of a potential conflict of interest regarding your case, we will immediately inform you of this fact so that you can decide how you wish to proceed. 

Note that advisers in International Student Advice are employed by the University of Exeter and cannot take any action that contravenes the terms of the University’s Student Sponsor License. This means that if you reveal to us that you have breached the conditions of your visa, while we will help you to try to rectify the situation if we can, we are required to report the breach to the Home Office. We will always make you fully aware of this fact. In addition, you should be aware that the University’s Immigration Compliance team can access your case file.  

Referrals to other services 

Where the advice that you require is beyond our ability or you decide not to use our service, we will refer you to an appropriate service if we are able to. This will be done impartially and with no gain for the adviser or the University and with no negative effect on your status at the University, provided we are able to continue to comply with the terms of our Student Sponsor License. 

Withdrawal from a case

We will only usually withdraw from a case on the rare occasion that there are legal concerns, sponsor license concerns, or where there has been harassment of staff. If we need to withdraw from your case, we will notify you that we are no longer able to assist you and provide you with details of alternative sources of help. 

Further policies

Our service adheres to the wider University policies including the Equality and Diversity policy and the Data Protection Policy. 

Complaints 

We aim to provide an excellent service at all times, but if at any point you feel that we have dropped below our usual high standards, you can make a complaint in writing or in person to Jim Price, Head of International Student Community and Support. Alternatively, you can make an official complaint via the University’s Students Complaints Procedure. Complaints concerning immigration advice and services can also be made through the OISC Complaints Scheme.