Privacy Policy

Sunmerges Educational Service ("we", "us", "our") is an international education consultancy providing study abroad counselling, university application support, visa assistance and pre-departure briefing services to students worldwide. We operate under the trading name Sunmerges Educational Service.

As a data controller operating from the United Kingdom, we are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For users accessing our services from India, we also comply with applicable Indian data protection legislation.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you enquire about our services, complete our contact or application forms, book a counselling session, or communicate with us directly. We may collect the following categories of information:

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Device & Technical Data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers
• Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, referral sources
• Cookie Data: Preferences and session information stored via cookies (see Section 9)
• Location Data: Approximate geographical location based on IP address

2.3 Information From Third Parties

• Social Media: If you contact us or engage with us via Instagram, YouTube or WhatsApp, we may receive information from those platforms
• Referrals: Information about you provided by existing clients who refer you to our services
• Partner Universities: Confirmation of application status or enrolment from our partner institutions

We use your personal information for the following purposes, always in accordance with applicable data protection law:

• Providing Counselling Services: To assess your academic profile, shortlist suitable universities and programs, and provide personalised study abroad guidance
• University Applications: To prepare, submit and track your applications to partner universities and institutions on your behalf
• Visa Assistance: To prepare and review visa application documents, provide interview coaching and support your student visa application process
• Communication: To respond to your enquiries, confirm appointments, send reminders and keep you updated on your application status
• Pre-Departure Briefing: To arrange and deliver pre-departure orientation covering accommodation, travel, banking and arrival procedures
• Marketing (with consent): To send you information about our services, upcoming events, scholarship opportunities and study destinations — only where you have opted in
• Service Improvement: To analyse usage patterns on our website to improve our content and user experience
• Legal Compliance: To comply with legal and regulatory obligations in the UK and India
• Record Keeping: To maintain accurate business records as required by applicable law

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on the following legal bases:

• Contract Performance (Article 6(1)(b)): Processing is necessary to provide the education consultancy services you have requested from us, including university applications and visa support
• Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f)): Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as improving our services, preventing fraud and maintaining the security of our systems — provided these interests are not overridden by your rights
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): Where we send marketing communications or process optional data, we will do so only with your explicit consent, which you may withdraw at any time
• Legal Obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): Where we are required to process data to comply with applicable UK or Indian law, regulatory requirements or legal processes

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal data. We may share your information with the following categories of recipients only where necessary to provide our services:

• Partner Universities & Institutions: We share your academic information, personal statement and application documents with universities in the countries we serve — UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Ireland and New Zealand — solely for application and admission purposes
• Visa Authorities: Where required for visa applications, we may assist in preparing documents submitted to immigration authorities in the relevant country
• IT Service Providers: Our website hosting provider (Hostinger), email service and CRM tools may process your data as data processors acting on our instructions under appropriate data processing agreements
• Payment Processors: Where applicable, payment processing services handle transaction data under their own privacy policies
• Professional Advisors: Legal, accounting or compliance advisors who are bound by confidentiality obligations
• Regulatory Authorities: Where required by law, we may disclose information to government authorities, law enforcement or regulatory bodies

The countries we facilitate applications to include:

As an international education consultancy, we operate offices in both the United Kingdom and India, and facilitate applications to universities worldwide. This means your personal data may be transferred to, and processed in, countries outside the UK.

Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as:

• Transfers to countries with UK adequacy decisions
• Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
• Binding corporate rules or other legally recognised transfer mechanisms

Transfers to universities and immigration authorities are made because they are necessary for the performance of our services on your behalf — you are the party who benefits from and requests these transfers.

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, regulatory or reporting requirements. Our general retention periods are:

When your data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it so it can no longer be associated with you.

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Our website at sunmergeseducationalservice.co.uk uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and understand how visitors use our site. We use the following types of cookies:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: Essential for the website to function correctly — these cannot be disabled. They enable core functionality such as security, session management and accessibility.
• Analytics Cookies: We use analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) to understand how visitors interact with our website — including which pages are most visited and how long users stay. This data is anonymised and aggregated.
• Functional Cookies: These remember your preferences and settings to improve your experience on return visits.
• Marketing Cookies: These may be used to deliver relevant content and track the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. They are only set with your consent.

You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings at any time. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. For more information about cookies generally, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, including partner universities, visa authorities, scholarship portals and social media platforms. These links are provided for your convenience and information.

We have no control over the content or privacy practices of these external sites. We are not responsible for their privacy policies or the way they handle your personal data. We strongly encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

Our social media presence includes:

• YouTube: Sunmerges Consultancy — youtube.com/@sunmergesconsultancy3056
• Instagram: @sunmerges — instagram.com/sunmerges
• WhatsApp: Used for direct client communication — subject to WhatsApp's own privacy policy

Interactions with these platforms are governed by the respective platform's own terms and privacy policies.

Our services are intended for individuals who are 16 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 16 without verifiable parental or guardian consent.

Where a student is under 18 years of age, we will, where appropriate:

• Require parental or guardian consent before processing the student's data
• Communicate primarily with the parent or guardian regarding service delivery
• Ensure all documentation and visa applications include appropriate parental declarations where required by immigration authorities

If you believe we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child under 16 without consent, please contact us immediately at info@sunmergeseducationalservice.co.uk and we will take prompt action to delete that data.

We take the security of your personal data seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures include:

• Encryption: Our website uses HTTPS (SSL/TLS encryption) to protect data transmitted between your browser and our servers
• Access Controls: Access to personal data within our organisation is restricted to staff members who need it to perform their job responsibilities
• Secure Hosting: Our website is hosted on secure, UK-compliant server infrastructure with regular security monitoring
• Staff Training: Our team is trained on data protection principles and their obligations under UK GDPR
• Incident Response: We have procedures in place to detect, report and investigate personal data breaches, and will notify you and the ICO where legally required

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or data protection best practices. The most current version will always be published on our website at sunmergeseducationalservice.co.uk/privacy-policy/ with the effective date clearly displayed at the top.

Where changes are significant, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you directly — for example, by email or by a prominent notice on our website — before the changes take effect.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your data. Your continued use of our services after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

If you have any questions, concerns or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the way we handle your personal data, please contact us through any of the following channels:

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):