1. Book Accommodation

Moving to Chester to start your studies?  It is essential that you have accommodation booked before you arrive in the UK.

2. Complete online enrolment

Online enrolment enrolment is a mandatory process that you should do before you travel to the UK.

Please note the following:

• The online enrolment form will ask you to provide your Home address, by which it means your Overseas address. The form will move on to Term Time address, and will autocomplete this with your Overseas address. You must go to the bottom of the screen and click “Edit Term Time” and put your UK address. It is OK if you don’t know your long-term UK address, you can put wherever you will sleep in the UK for the first couple of nights. But you must put some kind of UK address in the “Term-Time Address” section, do not leave it as your overseas address. If you have already completed online enrolment and think you have done it wrong, you can go back and edit your term-time address.
• When you get to the section about previous study, if you completed all your previous study overseas your institution will not be listed. Instead you should select “Non UK Institution”

3. Upload your photograph

All new students must upload a photograph for their student ID card in advance of their arrival.  

4. Pay your fees

You must have paid at least £8,000 of your tuition fees before you can enrol. You must have started this transaction before you leave your home country. You cannot enrol or open a UK bank account before making this payment, and it can be very problematic to try and access your overseas account once you are in the UK. Make sure you have started the transfer BEFORE you travel to the UK. Failure to pay the enrolment fee before you arrive in the UK is the number one reason for visa cancellation and termination of studies at the start of the course. You can find information about how to pay your fees here. You cannot be enrolled before we have received £8,000 of tuition fee, no payment plans can be arranged for the enrolment fee.

Find out more information about fee payments. 

5. Check your VISA decision letter

The Home Office will have sent to you, along with your passport after, your visa application was processed. It should have instructions on there about whether you will have a digital visa, a BRP, a vignette sticker in your passport, or some combination of those three! If you have a BRP (visa card) to collect from the UK, the letter will tell you where to collect that from. You need to go and collect that yourself and bring it to the International Enrolment Day along with your passport. If it has been sent to the University of Chester, you can collect it when you attend the enrolment day, just bring your passport and make sure you have done your online enrolment and paid your enrolment fee.

6. Read our international support resources

To assist you in preparing for your arrival and studies in the UK, please read our International Handbook and International Toolkit, containing information on how to open a bank account, travel and transportation, local international food stores, registering with a doctor and more! Please note, that you will not be able to access the toolkit until after you have completed online enrolment. Please note! You will not be able to access this until after you have completed online enrolment!

7. Present your passport and collect your BRP

Present your passport, share code, UK address, UK contact number, and email address:

Once you have arrived in the UK, you will then need to attend an in-person enrolment event to submit the following documents to the Visa Compliance Team:

• Passport
• Share code and flight details (upload these to CAS Shield now to save time)
• Your UK address, UK contact number and email address.

These documents must be presented in person at one of our International Enrolment Events in Seaborne Library (Exton Park, Parkgate Road, CH1 4BJ). The Study Visa Team will provide you with further details about the event. If you have any questions, you can email the team at studyvisa@chester.ac.uk.

8. View your timetable

Learn how to view your academic timetable and find out when your first induction session is. 

9. Find out when to arrive and collect your student ID

Discover your arrival day and the location to collect your student ID card. It is essential to collect your Student ID card and wear your lanyard while on campus. This helps our Security team to identify you as a student, ensuring campus safety. If you’re not wearing your lanyard, security may request that you put it on. If you have applied for Student Finance, collecting your student card is vital for confirming your attendance, which is necessary for receiving your maintenance money.

10. Register with a GP and Dentist

General Practitioner (GP), which is the term used for local or family doctors in the UK. You should complete this registration as soon as you know your term-time address. GPs offer a wide range of non-emergency services by appointment, including examinations, medication prescriptions, vaccinations, and referrals to other medical specialists.

You can easily find a list of GP practices near your address by visiting the NHS Find a GP website. This will guide you to the respective GP websites, where you can discover the process for becoming a registered patient.

Locating a local dentist is made simple through the NHS Find a Dentist website. It is important to note that there may be a small additional charge for NHS dental services and not all dental procedures are covered by the NHS. You will be able to do this after you have arrived in the UK.

11. Download the UoC app

The app displays your timetable, deadlines, alerts, and more on one page. Download it after you have completed online enrolment.