What We Do

International Student Support (ISS) service provides dedicated immigration, visa and welfare advice and guidance. Our service is available to all international students and can be accessed in person or virtually. We work closely with our colleagues in Student Journey in order to provide a holistic approach to student support.

Our specialist immigration advisers can help you:

If you require a Student Route Visa extension or if you are planning to switch to a Graduate Route visa.
If you have a question that you would like to ask regarding your immigration status.
By keeping you up to date with the latest changes to policy guidance and will inform you should they have an impact on your current immigration status in the UK.

Our dedicated welfare adviser can help you by providing support and guidance around a range of issues such as:

Accommodation - finding somewhere to live, moving, maintenance issues, rental agreement advice.
Health - GP and dentist registration, when to seek medical advice and where the right place is to go, wellbeing advice, pregnancy support.
Safety - where to seek support and where to report any issues both on campus and off.
Finance - difficulty with managing money.
Education and childcare - how to enrol children in childcare and schools through trusted providers and the council, the law around children, family activities in the local community.

Our welfare adviser is there to listen, support and advise. Referrals (with your permission) will be made for further, more specialist support within Student Journey and the local community.

Please note that International Student Support team are here to assist current University of Sunderland students. If you are an applicant, please contact the Immigration Compliance team.

Training and Service Agreements

Our immigration advisers are trained by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) and are regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA).

Our welfare adviser has extensive knowledge of the welfare issues faced by international students and has built good relationships with external providers in the local community.

The advice and guidance service that International Student Support provide is free of charge.

Please read the International Student Support CAS Policy and Service Agreement for information on the various services we offer to our students.

Please also take a look at the University of Sunderland's International Agreement.

UKCISA | IAA | ISS CAS POLICY AND SERVICE AGREEMENT | INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT

Complaints

If, at any stage, you are not satisfied with our service you can make a complaint through the formal Student Complaints Procedure.

Please contact our University Academic Services or the Students’ Union for advice on the process. You can find the formal complaints procedure online.

STUDENT COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Get in Touch

If you need to speak to us in International Student Support, there are several different ways you can do so.

There are both physical and digital methods of communication meaning you can always reach us, no matter the time of day or where in the world you are.

Compass

Compass is the enquiry system we use at the University of Sunderland. It is easy to use and you can contact many different teams throughout the institution, as well as allowing enquiries to be passed from team to team without the need for duplication or messy email chains.

Simply open a ticket to submit your question or concern, and we will reply with advice and information as soon as possible. All communications related to the enquiry will be kept in the ticket, allowing for ease of access.

You can access Compass through:

The "Quick Links" section of my.sunderland.ac.uk
The "Compass UoS" app - Available to download on Android and Apple devices.

Email

International Student Support also manage an email inbox, allowing staff and students alike to easily contact us. We manage this daily and aim to action emails quickly, be that responding directly via email or importing the query into Compass in order to keep all communication in one place.

If you need to contact us via email, please use your student email address for ease of identification. If you do not have access to your student email address, please include your student number or user ID so we know who is contacting us.

If you are experiencing access issues, please contact the university's IT team at 0191 515 3333 or raise a ticket through the IT Portal.

Drop-ins and Appointments

If you have a visa and immigration enquiry, you can visit an immigration adviser for a drop-in appointment on:

Monday; 10am - 12pm and 2pm - 4pm; Prospect Building at St Peter's Campus
Wednesday; 10am - 12pm and 2pm - 4pm; Gateway Building at City Campus
Friday; 10am - 12pm; Gateway Building at City Campus

If you have a welfare query you would like to discuss in person, you can visit our welfare adviser for a drop-in appointment on:

Monday; 10am - 12pm and 2pm - 4pm; Gateway Building at City Campus
Wednesday; 10am - 12pm and 2pm - 4pm; Gateway Building at City Campus
Friday; 10am - 12pm; Gateway Building at City Campus

You do not have to book a drop-in appointment. You can just turn up. For the welfare drop in on a Friday you will need to visit Student Support reception who will ask you to wait in reception. For all other appointments you can visit the gateway first and they will notify us of your arrival.

International Student Support Adviser standard appointments are also available online, you can book these via your Compass app.

Please check your app for available time slots.