Depending on the length of tenure of the program the applicant is planning to undertake, the countries often divide the student visa into Short Term Student Visas or Long-term Student Visas. Often, the short-term visas are given to students who plan to take a short course of a language or a diploma certificate course and the entire duration is often limited to 90 days (3 months). Long term visas, on the other hand, are given to students who are planning to take up degree courses extending beyond the 3 month period. These could include the internships and small certificate programs of 6 months and so on. European Union Countries often have this broad classification.

Irrespective of the duration of the course, some countries classify the student visas basis the type of student. This could be the level of degree applied for (undergraduate, graduate or doctoral), exchange student or student applying for a vocational/ diploma course. Broadly speaking, as these visas also depend on the type, of course, the student is applying for, these are somewhat linked to the tenure. However, in these categories, the first point of distinction is not how long the program would be for. If you are, say for an instance, an exchange student, you could be going for 3month or 3 years, the category would still be based on the type of student and not the tenure.