Frequently asked questions

Yes. The first counselling session carries no fee and no obligation to apply through SIAS. You leave with a written shortlist whether or not you proceed with us.

We advise on choosing a country and course, prepare and submit university applications, find scholarships and funding, guide the student visa application, and support you after you arrive. Those five things map to the four stages of the SIAS student journey.

Twelve: the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Spain, Malta, Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai in the UAE.

Twelve to eighteen months before your intended intake. Applications close months before a course starts, scholarship deadlines usually close before the application deadline, and visa financial evidence has to be held for a set period before you apply.

Yes, and that is the most common starting point. Counselling works backwards from the kind of work you want to be doing rather than forwards from a course list.

Yes, and we encourage it. Most questions about total cost, safety and part-time work come from parents, and answering them in the room is faster than answering them second-hand.

SIAS has three offices: Colombo in Sri Lanka, Iowa in the United States, and London in the United Kingdom. Colombo is the office for Sri Lankan students and the one carrying our local phone number.

Usually three to five: one or two ambitious, two realistic, one you are confident of. Each application costs a fee and time, and beyond five the extra application rarely changes the outcome.

No. A statement written by someone else reads like it, and admissions officers see thousands. We interview you, structure the argument, then edit your drafts until the writing is yours and the case is clear.

Anywhere from two weeks to three months depending on the country and the institution. Partner institutions are usually at the faster end. We give you the expected window for each application on your shortlist.

Typically your academic transcripts certified in the form the institution accepts, a valid English test score, a personal statement or statement of purpose, a CV, and academic or professional references. Requirements differ by institution, so we work from each one's published list.

We ask the institution for the reason where they will give one, and use it. Most rejections come down to a missing document, an unmet entry requirement or a statement that did not address the course. All three are fixable.

Pathway routes: a foundation year, a diploma with advanced standing, a pre-master's, or an English language programme. We first check direct entry across several institutions, because requirements differ and you may already qualify somewhere.

Usually you need proof of English, and IELTS is the most widely accepted test but not the only one. Some institutions accept TOEFL, PTE or their own assessment, and a few waive the requirement based on your medium of instruction.

Commonly IELTS 6.0 to 6.5 overall for undergraduate study and 6.5 to 7.0 for postgraduate, with a minimum in each band. Nursing, teaching and law often require more. The band minimum catches more applicants out than the overall score.

Tuition varies widely by university and programme, so the figure that matters is the total year: tuition plus accommodation and living costs in that specific city, health cover, flights, insurance and the first three months before any part-time income begins.

Full scholarships exist but they are rare and highly competitive. Partial institutional awards covering 10 to 50 percent of tuition are far more common and far more winnable. Plan for the partial award and apply for the full one.

It depends on the course and the city rather than the country. Public universities in Germany charge no tuition fee for most programmes. Malaysia and Dubai host branch campuses of British and Australian universities at much lower living costs than Europe or Australia.

Twelve to eighteen months before your intake. Institutional scholarship deadlines frequently close at or before the course application deadline, and several external schemes close nearly a year ahead.

No. Scholarship guidance is part of the service and no fee is tied to the value of any award you receive.

Most Sri Lankan lenders offer them and each has specific document requirements for overseas study. The complication is usually timing, because a visa needs financial evidence held for a set period and a loan disbursed too late does not satisfy it.

Part-time work can contribute to living costs in some destinations, and permitted hours differ by country. Treat it as a contribution to living costs only, never toward tuition and never toward the visa financial evidence.

No, and no consultancy honestly can. The decision belongs to the immigration authority of the country you apply to. What we can do is make sure nothing in your application gives them a reason to refuse it.

Most often financial evidence that does not meet the stated test, inconsistencies between documents, an unexplained gap or change of field in the academic record, or an interview that suggests the applicant does not know their own course.

It differs by country and it is specific: an amount, held for a set number of days, in an account of a particular type, evidenced in a particular form. We give you the current requirement for each country on your shortlist before you apply.

Usually yes. The first step is reading the refusal notice properly, because reapplying without addressing the stated ground almost always fails again. A refusal for insufficient funds needs a different answer from one on credibility.

It depends on the country and the visa, commonly around 20 hours a week during term with more permitted in vacations. We give you the current rule for your destination in writing, because exceeding the limit can end both a visa and a degree.

Some countries allow dependants on a student visa and others have restricted or removed it, often depending on the level of the course. It changes, so we check the current position for your destination and course level.

No. Partner status makes some parts of the process faster and gives us a direct line when a document is queried. It does not buy a place on your shortlist. If a non-partner institution is the better fit on cost or course content, we say so.

Then that is the advice you get. Students waiting on results, an English band score or funding that is not yet in place are better served by a plan with dates than by a rushed application.

Yes. Airport pickup is coordinated where available, and settling-in support covers registration, opening a bank account, getting a local number and finding your way around campus. The first month generates more questions than the whole application did.

Book a free consultation through the contact page, message us on WhatsApp, call the Colombo office, or email info@siasedu.com. WhatsApp is usually the fastest.

Yes. SIAS works with individual agents, education institutes and tuition centres in Sri Lanka. Submit an enquiry through the partner page and we will follow up with what the arrangement involves.

Individual counsellors and agents, education institutes, and tuition centres with students already asking about studying abroad. You bring the local relationship and SIAS provides the destination expertise, institution network and process.

Access to our partner institution network across twelve destinations, application and visa process support, training on destination requirements, and a named contact for your student cases.