This article was last updated on 21 August 2023.
The Visa Compliance service is part of King’s College London. Please contact us if you have any questions about this notice.
The following article is a privacy notice that supplements the following wider privacy notices:
• King's College London Core Privacy Notice
• Student Data Collection Notice
• Prospective Student Data Collection Notice.
All data is processed in compliance with UK data protection legislation and university governance.
What is the Visa Compliance service?
Visa Compliance assists students with assessing their eligibility for visa sponsorship, managing queries, administering the process, and confirming outcomes, including any refusals, to both the student and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to ensure international students at King’s study on the correct visa.
What information do we collect and how do we use it?
We collect your personal data when you apply to study at King’s as an international student. Visa Compliance process your personal data for the following reasons:
• to enable us to assess your eligibility for a Confirmation of Acceptance for Study record (CAS)
• to confirm whether you can apply to a university within the UK or not
• to enable UKVI to create an appropriate CAS record
• to ensure King’s is meeting its’ compliance obligations when accepting international students.
We process your date of birth, nationality and passport number, and any previous application reference number if required by UKVI to confirm your visa history. If you’ve been accepted and issued with a CAS record, we use that CAS number to identify you in our communications with UKVI.
When you’ve been refused a visa, we also collect further personal data directly from you or from our student record management systems to enable a further CAS letter to be issued for you.
When you’ve applied for a biometric visa, we’ll issue you with your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) on behalf of the Home Office. We retain a copy of your BRP to enable us to process right to study checks, and to protect the terms of our Home Office sponsorship licence with UKVI.
Once you’ve been issued a visa and enrolled to study at King’s, we use your personal data to ensure that both King’s and you continue to comply with relevant visa obligations.
Your personal data is used to carry out right to study checks, investigate the circumstances for any cessation of sponsorship and/or change of circumstances reporting i.e. where you are on a placement overseas.
We need to process the following data:
• your enrolment status
• passport number
• the reasons for any interruption or cessation of your studies
• any new study location address
• duration of any placement you’re undertaking or the details of any breach of the conditions of your visa i.e. a breach of working conditions to support you in your studies and to fulfil our reporting obligations to UKVI.
As part of this, we also use your personal data held on our student record management systems such as SITS and KEATS to review engagement with your studies and monitor your attendance to ensure that both you and King’s are meeting respective visa compliance obligations set out in our Student Attendance and Engagement Policy.
What is the legal basis for King’s processing your information?
We have a legal obligation to process your data so that we can meet our statutory obligations to UKVI under our sponsor licence. This includes assessing your eligibility for a CAS record, resubmitting in the event of any refusal, Right to Study checks, reporting any changes in your circumstances including cessation of sponsorship, and monitoring your attendance and engagement to fulfil our obligations under the UKVI Attendance Monitoring Policy.
We’ll process your data with your consent in circumstances where you’ve contacted us with an enquiry, provided us with further information or have requested us to receive and retain documentation on your behalf such as your Biometric Residence Permit.
We rely on our legitimate interests where the processing is for a legitimate interest of the university or a third party, and that interest is not overridden by your interests and rights such as producing statistics and internal research to improve our service.
We also process data to meet our statutory obligations such as monitoring and gathering data to meet our reporting requirements to governmental bodies.
Who do we share your information with?
We share your data externally with UKVI to provide you with a CAS record and to meet our statutory reporting obligations to them during the duration of your studies with us. We also share your personal data with any agent that you have authorised to act on your behalf.
We share your personal data internally with relevant services, where appropriate, to provide support and services to you such as:
• the Student Administration (Operations) Team to process right to study enrolment and to provide you with a student identity card
• the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) Team where you are applying to take certain courses
• the Global Mobility Team where you are undertaking an overseas placement
• the Visa Advice Team for advice to support you, e.g. where you need to reapply after a refusal
• a designated member of your faculty where we have concerns about your engagement with your studies and/or attendance.
Your personal information will be shared by us internally within King’s on a need-to-know basis and in compliance with the King’s Data Protection Policy and Procedure.
How long do we keep your information for?
Your information is retained in line with Section B.05 of the King’s Records Retention Schedule.
Where can I go for more information or to make a complaint?
To find out more about how the university handles your personal data, including your rights and who to contact if you have a concern, please see the university’s core privacy notice.
If you need to get in touch with us about our services, please contact us.