‘My life will be ruined’: Coventry student faces deportation for day-late tuition payment

As the University of Warwick celebrates being one of the world’s most international universities, a Sri Lankan student in the same city is experiencing how difficult it is to study in the UK under its visa rules.

Navodya De Silva, a student at Coventry University, did everything right. She transferred her tuition fees before the deadline.

She attended every class, submitted every assignment, and passed her first year. But because of a delay in her bank’s payment processing system, her life has been turned upside down.

The deadline for making the first payment for the second year of her studies was 6th October 2025. She transferred the required £8,000 payment on 3rd October, but due to a delay in the payment reaching the university’s bank account, the university did not receive it until 7th October, one day after the deadline.

The international student is now facing deportation after the university reported the delay to the Home Office, triggering the termination of her student visa.

Navodya began her degree studying international hospitality and tourism management in 2024, and she has applied for further leave to remain in the UK, but if that application is refused, she will be sent home without a degree — and her father’s life savings, which funded the £42,000 three-year course, will be gone.

She told The Guardian: “If I go back to Sri Lanka with no degree, having lost my father’s life savings, my life will be ruined.”

After completing her UK degree, her plan was to apply for senior-level tourism jobs in her home country, as Sri Lanka is a popular destination for international tourists. “I did my part properly, paying my fees before the deadline. It was out of my control that there was a delay in the transfer. This decision, based on just a one-day delay, is extremely harsh and disproportionate,” Navodya said.

The UK’s commitment to international students

via Unsplash

But Navodya’s case raises a harder question: What does the UK’s commitment to international students actually look like when the system goes wrong?

Under current UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) rules, universities that sponsor overseas student visas are required to report compliance failures to the Home Office — including missed fee deadlines — or risk losing their sponsor licence entirely. The rules leave almost no room for discretion. A one-day banking delay and a deliberate non-payment are treated the same way.

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Immigration lawyer Naga Kandiah, who is representing Navodya, described the consequences as “severe and life-altering” for what amounted to a processing delay entirely outside his client’s control.

Coventry University, for its part, says its hands are tied. A spokesperson told The Guardian the university is “proud of its record in providing wide-ranging support for students,” but is required to enforce UKVI rules it did not write. The Home Office, meanwhile, called it “a dispute between the applicant and the sponsor,” noting it can only cancel a visa once a sponsor requests it.

Navodya’s situation is far from unique. International students — who contribute billions to UK universities annually — are subject to some of the most rigid visa compliance rules of any visa category.

A missed deadline, a gap in attendance, or a late payment can all trigger mandatory reporting regardless of the reason, because universities face enormous pressure to self-police. A pattern of non-compliance could cost them the right to recruit internationally altogether.

Navodya came to the UK to study international hospitality and tourism management, hoping to return to Sri Lanka better qualified for a career in the country’s booming tourism industry. Instead, she is stuck in limbo — stressed, unable to study, and waiting on a Home Office decision that will determine whether any of it was worth it.

“The UK is one of the best countries in the world to do a university degree in,” she said. “I never expected this to happen. I’m in a state of shock.”

A Coventry University Group spokesperson said: “While we cannot comment on individual cases, all students have a six-week timeframe in which to make payment and complete enrolment and we issue clear guidance and reminders regarding deadlines to support students through the process.

“We are proud of our record in providing wide-ranging support for students but this is balanced with our responsibility to comply with UKVI rules regarding enrolment. We do not set those rules but we are required to enforce them.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This is a dispute between the applicant and the sponsor. We will only cancel a student visa following a notification to do so from a sponsor, and has no role in the payment of university fees.”

Coventry University and the Department for Education have been contacted for comment.

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Featured image via Unsplash