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BRP Collection

What is a Biometric Residence Permit?

A Biometric Residence Permit (BRP card) is a credit card sized document issued by the Home Office as evidence of your immigration permission. You will receive a BRP if you apply for your Student Route visa in the UK, or if you apply from outside of the UK for a programme longer than 6 months. Your BRP card is your visa and will contain personal and biometric information of your permission to be in the UK.

If you apply for your visa from outside of the UK you will issued with a 90 day vignette in your passport which will allow you to enter the UK. Once you have entered the UK you will need to collect your BRP card from the Post Office you selected on your visa application form.

Northumbria University is not an Alternative Collection Location (ACL) and we cannot receive BRP cards on the behalf of students. Post Office delivery and collection is the only option for your BRP. All BRPs must be sent to the Post Office upon application, when completing your visa application, you must select Post Office collection and select a Post Office near to your accommodation or campus.

Please note that some nationals may no longer receive a BRP card, but instead will receive an E visa which they can access through the UKVI webpage.

What if I have already selected ACL delivery to the University?

We will track your BRP as due for delivery and update you as part of your enrolment. You must not attempt to collect your BRP from the University post room, as it will not be issued to you.

If I need to re-direct the BRP to a different Post Office how do I do this

You can choose to pick up your BRP from a different Post Office branch. You’ll need to arrange this at the branch you want it to go to and pay a fee. Please contact your preferred Post Office directly about this.

Does my decision letter confirm where to collect my BRP

Your visa decision letter will not state the location of your BRP. Please use your visa account to find out where the UKVI have sent your BRP. This is where your BRP collection address is confirmed.

How do I collect at the Post Office upon arrival

You will travel to the UK using your 90-day vignette (sticker) in your passport and then collect your BRP once you arrive.

You must take your passport/ travel document and your vignette sticker. If you are under 18 and do not yet have a nominated adult, please speak to a member of the Welfare, Immigration and Funding team via Student Portal. If you are required to quarantine, please only collect your BRP after you have completed your quarantine period. 

Do I need to do anything once I have my BRP

Once you have collected your BRP please locate the enrolment tab on our student Portal and upload the front and back of BRP so that we can complete your Right to Study check which releases your Smartcard.

What do I do if there is an error on my BRP

When you receive your BRP card it is important that you check it for any errors. You should check the following points:

  1. Your personal details.  Check your name, date of birth and nationality are correct. Nationality and date of birth are stated on the back of the BRP card. 

  2. If your full name does not appear on your BRP card, please note that this is not an error. A BRP card can only hold a certain amount of characters therefore if you have a particularly long name, this might not fit onto your card.

  3. Under ‘type of permit’ this should state ‘Student Leave to Enter/Remain’.

  4. Under ‘remarks’ this should state ‘work 20 hrs max in term-time’. This is if you are studying a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate degree. If you are studying a lower-level programme, this should state ’10 hours’.

  5. Under working hours, you should see our sponsor license number. This is 4NPV8B1G7.  

  6. Where the card states ‘valid until’ this represents your visa expiry date. You will need to check this against your course end date. 

 

Please refer to your CAS Certificate details which will state your course information when checking your visa expiry date.  

  • Any course under 6 months will receive 1-month wrap-up period at the end of their expected course end date.
  • Any course under 12 months will receive a 2-month wrap-up period at the end of their expected course end date. 
  • Any course with a duration of 12 months or more will receive a 4-month wrap-up period.  

For example 

Student A course dates

27th September 2022 – 26th March 2023 = this course is under 6 months therefore your visa expiry date will be 26th April 2023

Student B course dates: 

27th September 2022 – 02nd July 2023 = this course is under 12 months therefore your visa expiry date will be 02nd September 2023 

Student C course dates: 

27th September 2022 – 09th July 2024 = this is over 12 months therefore your visa expiry date will be 09th November 2024

It is very important that you have been issued the correct leave by the home office. If you believe that your visa expiry date is incorrect please raise an enquiry via your student portal - myportal.northumbria.ac.uk

For courses with an end date of 1st January 2025 onward:

*Please note if you have a BRP card that expires on 31 December 2024 but your course finishes on a later date, you do not need to report this to the Home Office.  For confirmation of the dates of your immigration permission, check the decision letter that you received – the dates of your permission should cover the full length of your course + 4 months.  The Home Office will release more information from the beginning of 2024.

Further information

There is Home Office guidance here about BRP collection

https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits/collect

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