Fees and Financial requirements

You are exempt from the financial requirements if you have lived in the UK with a valid visa for the 12 months before you submit your visa application and are making your visa application from inside the UK.

Some important points to note:

• During this period you must not have been outside the UK for 3 months or more
• The 12-month period is calculated back from date of application
• Time spent in the UK on 3C leave or exceptional assurance (during the Covid pandemic) during the 12 months counts.

If you meet the requirements above to be considered exempt, you do not need to deposit money or provide evidence of your finances for your visa application. This is because the Home Office considers that you've already proved you can support yourself in the UK.

All other students, including those applying outside the UK, must meet the financial requirements.

If you are not exempt from the financial requirements, you may instead meet the differentiation requirements.

This means that you must meet the financial requirements at the time of application but you are not required to submit evidence of this in your student visa application. 

Please note however that documents proving that you met the requirements at the time of application can be requested by the Home Office at any time during the application process. 

You will meet the student visa differentiation arrangements if you are a national of one of the ‘low risk’ countries listed in ST 22.1 of the Immigration Rules and you're applying for your visa from either the country you live in or the UK.

Students who are neither exempt, nor meet the differentiation requirements will need to meet the financial requirements and prove this in their student visa application. 

To obtain your CAS you will need to pay the tuition fee deposit. On the CAS we will list the outstanding fees for your first year.

For your student visa application, you'll need to show that you have either paid the outstanding fees, or that you have enough money to pay them.

This amount of money will be additional to the amount you are required to have to meet the financial requirements.

This is the fee for your visa application and you'll need to pay this online at the time of making your application. 

• A student visa (applied from outside the UK) = £348
• A student visa (applied from inside the UK) = £475

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) must be paid at the time of making your visa application. It allows you access to free National Health Services in the UK.

It's charged at a rate of £470 per year and periods of less than six months are charged at £235 per six months. Please note that you'll be charged for the length of immigration permission you are granted and not for the length of the course. 

If you're studying a course that is 12 months or longer, you'll receive an additional 4 months of immigration permission and if your course is less than 12 months you'll recieve 2 additional months of immigration permission.

To calculate how much you will need to pay for the IHS please refer to the Home Office IHS calculator. 

Living in London

Students living within the 'Greater London area' will need to show that they have at least £1,334 for each month of the course (up to a maximum of 9 months). 

• £1,334 x 9 months = £12,006

A student studying a 3 year degree would therefore need to show that they had at least £12,006 for their living costs, as the monthly amount is not calculated beyond 9 months. 

The 'Greater London Area’ is defined on page 44 of Student route caseworker guidance. If you're studying in the Greater London Area then this will be confirmed on your CAS.

Living outside London

Students living outside London will need to show that they have at least £1,023 for each month of the course (up to a maximum of 9 months).

• £1,023 x 9 = £9,207

A student studying a 3 year degree would therefore need to show that they had at least £9,207 for their living costs, as the monthly amount is not calculated beyond 9 months. 

Paying for accommodation in advance of applying for your visa

You are allowed to pay 1 month of your accommodation in advance and therefore show less money to meet the financial requirements. 

For example, a student living in Bath is required to have £1,023 x 9 = £9,207 but they're able to pay £1,023 in advance to secure their accommodation before arrival.

The student would therefore need to provide the accommodation receipt in the student visa application and prove that they have at least £1,023 x 8 = £8,184 for living costs. 

The money can be held in any form of personal bank or building society account. This includes current, deposit, savings and investment accounts or pensions from which funds can be withdrawn immediately without notice.

The account can belong to:

• You (exclusively yours or a joint account);
• Your partner (who is also applying for a UK visa at the same time or already has immigration permission); or
• A parent or legal guardian

Required evidence for your student visa application

• Bank statements and/or deposit certificates that meet the requirements listed below
• A saved PDF from the Oanda website that shows the currency conversion for the lowest balance on their statement during
  the 28 day period

Requirements of bank statements or deposit certificates

• The required funds must have been held in the bank account for at least 28 consecutive days
• The most recently dated piece of financial evidence must be dated within 31 days before the date of application
• The length of time for which funds are held will be calculated by counting back from the date of the closing balance on the most recently dated piece of financial evidence
• The financial evidence provided must cover the whole period of time for which the funds must be held
• Electronic documents are allowed
• Documents should be genuine and look as expected, according to page 76 in the Student route caseworker guidance

If the funds are not exclusively yours

If the account(s) used are belonging to a partner or parent, you must provide proof of the relationship. Acceptable documents include:

• marriage certificate
• birth certificate showing names of parents
• certificate of adoption showing names of parents
• court document naming the legal guardian

Government issued household register affidavits are not acceptable.

The partner, parent or guardian must also provide written consent for their funds to be used.

Translations

If the documents are not in English, you must provide a fully certified translation from a professional translator or translation company that can be independently verified by the Home Office. The translation must include all of the following information:

• confirmation that it is an accurate translation of the document
• the date of translation
• the full name and signature of the translator or an official from the translation company
• the translator or translation company’s contact details

Accepted student loans are those provided by either:

• A government
• A government sponsored student loan company
• Academic or educational loans scheme provided by a financial institution (if in the UK, the financial institution must be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or Prudential Regulation Authority and if overseas, it must be regulated by an official regulatory body issuing student loans)

Required evidence for your student visa application

• An official student loan letter that meets the requirements set out in FIN 9.2. of Appendix Finance.

These are:

• UK government (e.g. Marshall, Chevening, Fulbright, IAESTE)
• Applicant’s national government
• British Council
• Any international organisation, international company, university or UK Independent School

Required evidence for your student visa application

• An official letter of confirmation from the financial sponsor
• If a scholarship is being provided by the institution the details must be confirmed on the CAS. 

The letter must show:

• the date
• the name of the financial sponsor
• contact details of the financial sponsor
• how long the sponsorship will last
• the amount of money that is being given or confirmation that all of your fees and living costs will be covered

Funds such as shares, bonds, credit cards, overdraft facilities, bitcoin savings and pensions that cannot be withdrawn immediately cannot be used. 

Funds will also not be considered if they are held in a financial institution where any of the following apply:

• the Home Office is unable to make satisfactory verification checks; or
• the financial institution is not regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating; or
• the financial institution does not use electronic record keeping.