Confidentiality policy
The University is committed to providing a confidential Immigration Advice Service (IAS) which complies with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. The Service offers advice and help on immigration matters to current and prospective members of the University in line with its Provision Statement. All users of the Service have the right to confidentiality to protect their interests and information. Assuring confidentiality is necessary to maintain the credibility of the Service. The Office of the Immigration Service Commissioner's (OISC) Code of Standards also requires that advisers keep their clients' affairs confidential.
The University recognises that information may need to be shared by IAS staff when discussing cases and in order to provide an effective service to its clients. Subject to what follows, no information regarding a client shall be given directly or indirectly to any third party who is not a member of the University of York, without that client's express consent. This is in accordance with the University of York Data Protection policy.
No information will be given to any external agency without the client's express consent unless the provision of such information is required by reason of a legal or regulatory obligation, such as the University's institutional responsibilities under the Student visa route of the Points Based Immigration System. The Compliance Officer (Director of Student Life and Wellbeing) may, however, decide that information should be disclosed without consent if in his/her judgement there is significant risk of imminent harm to the client or others. In his/her absence, this judgement will be made by the Head of Student Support, Student Life and Wellbeing. This adheres to the Data Protection Policy.
The University is committed to the statistical recording of advice service use to enable it to monitor the demand for and use of the Service and to identify any practical, service or policy issues arising. It is the responsibility of the advice service staff to ensure that any statistical analysis or records given to third parties are produced in an anonymised form.
It is the responsibility of the advice service staff to ensure that all individual paper-based case records are held securely at all times. This includes notebooks, copies of correspondence and any other sources of information. It is also their responsibility to ensure that records (paper and electronic) are held and stored securely and appropriately protected from accidental damage, loss or unauthorised access.
The University ensures that all advice is given in an office that has private space large enough for the needs of the client.
If advice staff wish to contact or correspond with clients, they will do so via contact details provided by the client. All staff will ensure they make no reference to the purpose of the communication when making contact through third parties.
Contact us
For any queries, please complete our self-referral form. We aim to respond within two working days.
For departmental queries only please contact international-support@york.ac.uk.