Travelling abroad during your studies

Information and guidance on travelling outside of the UK during vacation periods or during authorised absence.

Compliance

It is very important that you only plan to travel abroad either during your allowed vacation dates (this varies according to programme and/or level of study) OR if you have been granted an authorised absence. 

If you need to leave the UK for urgent reasons please contact the VISAS team as soon as possible after you have left.

If you leave the UK during term-time without an authorised absence, Border Control may question why you are travelling and may detain or deny you re-entry to the UK.

If you are uncertain about your attendance requirements  please contact us. 

Important documents to travel with abroad

In order to minimise the likelihood of having problems re-entering the UK, we advise you to carry the following documents in your hand luggage for inspection by Border Control:

• Passport
• Visa or Biometric Residence Permit
• Proof of Enrolment Letter
• CAS email (if current visa is within one month of expiring and you are planning to apply for a Student Visa extension)
• Evidence of funding (bank statement or sponsor's letter)

Your travel documents are very important and losing them will prevent or delay your re-entry to the UK which may impact on your studies. You should keep your documents safe and we recommend that you take scans or copies of your passport and immigration documents.  If your documents are lost or stolen while you are travelling please contact us at the earliest opportunity and follow the guidance on our lost passports and visas page.

Schengen visas

Many students will want to travel to Europe at some stage during their studies.

We are unable to advise on Schengen visas but a letter may be required to apply for a Schengen visa. To get a Schengen letter please contact The Student Hub. 

The Schengen area currently covers the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Please note that the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, are NOT part of the Schengen area.

• Students should check with the Embassy/Consulate of the country in which they plan to spend the most time to find out entry requirements.
• The Embassy/Consulate should be able to provide information about relevant visa types and application processes.

Useful external links

Please note: The information contained in this website is believed to be correct at the time of publication. The University of Southampton cannot accept responsibility for the content of external websites.

Useful internal links