How to get specialist visa advice at LSE

30 January 2023

There are no planned closures of our service at this point in time.

If you have an application in place or have completed your programme, please complete this form to get in touch with the team. Please note offer holders are applicants.

Our current response time is three  working days both for initial queries and responses to follow up questions.  Before contacting us, you should refer to our detailed guidance as you may find the answer to your question there:

Visa Advice

We assess our cases each day for urgency. Multiple queries or marking a case as urgent will not necessarily expedite your case. We appreciate that your personal situation is urgent to you, however this is assessed against our current casework and your potential to face immigration issues. 

Visa Advice Enquiry Form: Applicants, Offer Holders, Online registered and Alumni Enquiry Form.

Live Chat FAQS and Service Standards

Live chat is on Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00pm to 4:00pm.  If you see a message saying no agents are available, this is because we are at our maximum capacity for chats at the time.

If we are unable to run Live Chat due to staff availabliity, we will advertise this on our FAQs web page.

What should I use Live Chat for?

 Live Chat is for quick queries on UK student immigration.   Live Chat is an alternative to our drop-in service and is not intended to replace the detailed advice we can provide by email.  We are unable to check applications or documents via Live Chat.  In some cases, it is best if you complete an enquiry form and the team may direct you to our form during Live Chat. This would especially be the case if we are concerned about your application or if you have a high volume of questions and your visa application is at risk.

We may also refer you to other LSE teams or external advice.

We recommend that you save your chat at the end so that you can refer to it in the future.  You can do this by selecting "Save Chat" when the chat has ended and it will save as a text file on your device. 

Please note that when you are typing your question, we are able to see what you are writing.  You are unable to see what we are writing in response until it is sent so sometimes it may appear we are not responding. We may be getting key information to refer you to, so there may be a delay in our reply.

How much time do I have with a team member?

Live Chat is for quick queries up to a maximum of 10 minutes. Due to its popularity, the team will need to adhere to this limit to give all enquirers a chance to speak to the team. 

We will assist you as best as possible via Live Chat.  However, we may ask you to complete an enquiry form.  We may end a conversation or direct the enquirer to our form if we are unable to assist further via Live Chat or we have not received a response from you within two minutes.  If you are sent any web links via Live Chat, we advise that you read them after the chat has ended.  You will be able to access these links by saving the chat transcript.

I've already completed an enquiry form. Should I also contact you on Live Chat?

Contacting us via Live Chat will not necessarily expedite your query. If you have already completed an enquiry form and have not yet received a response, the member of staff who connects to your call will check whether it can be answered via Live Chat.  If it can, they will inform you and close your enquiry form.

If your query is complex, the member of staff who connects to your call will inform you that it is unable to be answered via Live Chat and we will follow up by answering your enquiry form. Depending on the nature of your case and our volume of cases, this may not automatically be after Live Chat has ended.

All team members can see Live Chat queries when the chat has ended and it is attached to your student case.  The team will be aware if you have been in touch previously and the advice you received.

Is my Live Chat confidential?

We have a confidentiality policy. All the team can see your enquiry but we will always seek your consent to speak to other people about your case on our enquiry form. If you contact us via Live Chat we will assume that consent is given to speak to other teams, although we will advise you who we will need to speak to.

If you do not want your case to be discussed with other teams initially, we recommend you complete our enquiry form.

Please remember that we are here to assist but are also required to help protect LSE's Student visa sponsor licence.  We may need to inform colleagues of any concerns we have about information you share which may affect your immigration status and the School's ability to sponsor international students.

Are my Live Chat queries saved?

Yes, each Live Chat conversation is recorded and will remain against your case file for seven years in line with OISC requirements. We are required to keep a record of the advice we give. We will be able to refer to this if we need to follow-up on any advice or refer back to advice given via Live Chat.

If you have completed campus enrolment (in-person registration) for your programme, please complete this form to get in touch with the team. If you have yet to register in person, please complete the other form as we require more information to be able to advise you.

Our current response time is three working days for initial queries and responses to follow up questions.  Before contacting us, you should refer to our detailed guidance as you may find the answer to your question there:

 Visa Advice

We assess our cases each day for urgency. Multiple queries or marking a case as urgent will not necessarily expedite your case. We appreciate that your personal situation is urgent to you, however this is assessed against our current casework and your potential to face immigration issues. 

 Enrolled Student Enquiry  Form.

 Live Chat FAQS and Service Standards

Live chat is on Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00pm to 4:00pm.  If you see a message saying no agents are available, this is because we are at our maximum capacity for chats at the time. 

If we are unable to run Live Chat due to staff availabliity, we will advertise this on our FAQs web page:

What should I use Live Chat for?

 Live Chat is for quick queries on UK student immigration.   Live Chat is an alternative to our drop-in service and is not intended to replace the detailed advice we can provide by email.  We are unable to check applications or documents via Live Chat.  In some cases, it is best if you complete an enquiry form and the team may direct you to our form during Live Chat. This would especially be the case if we are concerned about your application or if you have a high volume of questions and your visa application is at risk.

We may also refer you to other LSE teams or external advice.

We recommend that you save your chat at the end so that you can refer to it in the future.  You can do this by selecting "Save Chat" when the chat has ended and it will save as a text file on your device. 

Please note that when you are typing your question, we are able to see what you are writing.  You are unable to see what we are writing in response until it is sent so sometimes it may appear we are not responding. We may be getting key information to refer you to, so there may be a delay in our reply.

How much time do I have with a team member?

Live Chat is for quick queries up to a maximum of 10 minutes. Due to its popularity, the team will need to adhere to this limit to give all enquirers a chance to speak to the team. 

We will assist you as best as possible via Live Chat.  However, we may ask you to complete an enquiry form.  We may end a conversation or direct the enquirer to our form if we are unable to assist further via Live Chat or we have not received a response from you within two minutes.  If you are sent any web links via Live Chat, we advise that you read them after the chat has ended.  You will be able to access these links by saving the chat transcript.

I've already completed an enquiry form. Should I also contact you on Live Chat?

Contacting us via Live Chat will not necessarily expedite your query. If you have already completed an enquiry form and have not yet received a response, the member of staff who connects to your call will check whether it can be answered via Live Chat.  If it can, they will inform you and close your enquiry form.

If your query is complex, the member of staff who connects to your call will inform you that it is unable to be answered via Live Chat and we will follow up by answering your enquiry form. Depending on the nature of your case and our volume of cases, this may not automatically be after Live Chat has ended.

All team members can see Live Chat queries when the chat has ended and it is attached to your student case.  The team will be aware if you have been in touch previously and the advice you received.

Is my Live Chat confidential?

We have a confidentiality policy. All the team can see your enquiry but we will always seek your consent to speak to other people about your case on our enquiry form. If you contact us via Live Chat we will assume that consent is given to speak to other teams, although we will advise you who we will need to speak to.

If you do not want your case to be discussed with other teams initially, we recommend you complete our enquiry form.

Please remember that we are here to assist but are also required to help protect LSE's Student visa sponsor licence.  We may need to inform colleagues of any concerns we have about information you share which may affect your immigration status and the School's ability to sponsor international students.

Are my Live Chat queries saved?

Yes, each Live Chat conversation is recorded and will remain against your case file for seven years in line with OISC requirements. We are required to keep a record of the advice we give. We will be able to refer to this if we need to follow-up on any advice or refer back to advice given via Live Chat.

After completing your enquiry form, it will be directed to the team.  The standard response time is currently five working days as confirmed by the auto-reply you will receive to confirm that your form has been submitted.

Our peak period is from June to November and it is likely that it may take the maximum time to answer initial and follow-up questions.  We assess queries on a daily basis depending on their urgency e.g. complex cases that need additional referral or expiry dates of visas. 

Do I need to complete a new query form each time I have a question?

No, you do not need to complete the form each time you have a question.  You can simply reply to the email response you receive from the team.  The same adviser will work with you on your case unless:

• they are unavailable due to leave or illness;

• your case is complex and it has been escalated to the manager;

• the staff member has escalated the case for other reasons.

By responding to our replies, all the advice is in one trail so it will be easier for you to refer to.

Getting an initial response from the manager doesn't mean the case is automatically complex.  We are a small team of three and during peak periods all members of the team answer queries.  If your adviser changes or your case is escalated, you will be informed of the reason why.

Why do you always refer me to the guidance?

A lot of the questions asked are already answered in our guidance.  We will always refer you here first if we know the answer is already available in our guides. We are of course happy to clarify any points in the guidance or answer your questions if they are not covered. However, we will always refer you back to our guides if we know your question is answered there, so it would be quicker to check these before getting in touch.

We are only able to advise applicants to the LSE who have an LSE ID number, current students and alumni who still hold a valid visa sponsored by LSE. 

Please check the details you provide in your query and that you are using the correct form before submission.  By completing either of these forms you are confirming that you have given us an accurate description of your current immigration status.

If you have completed the incorrect form, we may request that you complete the correct form for your circumstances.

Advice given will be based on the current immigration rules at the point of your query. These are subject to change at short notice and it is your responsibility to check the updated guidance. We are unable to guarantee that your visa application will be successful.