UK Student Visas: What Every International Student Needs to Know Before Applying

Uttara R

26/08/2026

10 min read

Most UK student visa refusals are not close calls. They are documents that did not match each other, money that sat in the account for twenty-six days instead of twenty-eight, or a figure copied from a guide written before the rules changed. The application is administrative rather than discretionary, which is good news: it means it is largely a checklist, and checklists can be got right.

The difficulty is that the numbers move. Maintenance requirements rose in November 2025, the application fee has gone up, and the Graduate Route changes on 1 January 2027. A great deal of guidance still in circulation — including pages that rank well — carries figures that are one or two revisions out of date, and using them will cost you either a refusal or a very unpleasant surprise.

Every figure below was read from GOV.UK on 26 August 2026 and is stated with its source. Check the same pages before you apply, because these are exactly the numbers that change.

What do you actually need to qualify?

Five things, and all five have to hold at the same time:

• An unconditional offer from a licensed student sponsor, evidenced by a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
• A course at the required level — degree level, or an eligible below-degree course at a licensed provider.
• Enough money for your first year of tuition plus living costs, held in the right form for the right length of time.
• English at the level your course and the rules require.
• A coherent account of why you are studying this course, at this provider, with this funding.

That last one is the least mechanical and the most underestimated. Caseworkers are looking for a story that holds together across your academic record, your statement, your funding and your answers. Inconsistency between those four is a far more common cause of trouble than any single weak document.

How much money do you need to show?

First-year tuition plus living costs, and the living-cost figures are set by the Home Office rather than by your university. GOV.UK states:

These figures replaced £1,334 and £1,023 for applications made from 11 November 2025. If a guide, an agent or a checklist quotes the older pair, it predates the change and everything else on it should be treated with suspicion.

The money must be held for 28 consecutive days, and the closing balance date must fall within 31 days of your application. It is the twenty-eight days that catches people out: a balance that dips below the required amount on day nineteen resets the clock entirely.

Worked example, a one-year master’s outside London with £18,000 tuition and nothing yet paid:

Any tuition already paid and recorded on your CAS comes off the tuition line, which is the main reason to pay a deposit before applying rather than after.

What does the visa itself cost?

Two separate payments, and the second is the larger one on a longer course.

The healthcare surcharge is charged per year of visa length, not per year of course. A one-year master’s is normally granted with a few months either side, so the visa often runs sixteen to eighteen months and attracts two years of surcharge. For a period of more than six months but under a year you pay the full £776 regardless; for six months or less you pay nothing if applying from outside the UK, or £388 from inside.

Budget roughly £2,100 for fee plus surcharge on a typical one-year master’s, and pay it as one sum at the point of application. Families routinely leave the surcharge out of the plan and then find it due immediately.

How do you get a CAS, and what must you check on it?

Your university issues it once you have met the conditions of your offer and usually once you have paid a tuition deposit. It is an electronic record, not a letter, and it carries your course dates, fee status, any payments recorded, and the sponsor licence number.

The sequence that works:

1. Clear every academic and English condition so the offer becomes unconditional.
2. Pay the deposit the university asks for — commonly a few thousand pounds against tuition.
3. Complete the CAS request with passport, education history and funding details.
4. Pass the university’s own credibility checks, which may include an interview.
5. Read every field before you use it. Course title, start and end dates, fee amount, payments recorded, and whether an ATAS clearance is required.

That fifth step is worth real care. A CAS with the wrong fee recorded, or a payment missing, changes how much money you must evidence — and a correction after you have applied is far harder than one before.

When should you apply?

From outside the UK you can apply at the earliest six months before your course starts, and a decision usually takes three weeks. From inside the UK it is three months before, and usually eight weeks.

A workable schedule for a September start:

• March to May — finalise your offer, clear conditions, decide where you are going.
• May to June — pay the deposit, open the 28-day funds window, request the CAS.
• June to July — apply online, pay the fee and surcharge, book biometrics.
• August — decision, then accommodation and travel.

July to September is the busiest period and the three-week guide can stretch. Priority and super-priority services exist in many locations for an additional fee, but they are a way to buy back time you have already lost rather than a plan.

What documents does it actually turn on?

• A valid passport.
• Your CAS.
• Financial evidence — bank statements, a fixed deposit, or an approved education loan sanction letter.
• An English test report where one is required, or evidence of an exemption.
• Academic transcripts and certificates as listed on your CAS.
• A tuberculosis test certificate, required for applicants from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and other listed countries for courses over six months.
• Parental consent and relationship evidence if you are under 18, or if a parent is funding you.

The single highest-value thing you can do is make the documents agree with each other. Name spelling, date of birth, course title, tuition figure — these must match across passport, CAS, statements and offer letter. Where funding comes from more than one source, add a short covering letter setting out who is paying what, with proof of the relationship and of their income.

Can you bring family with you?

Usually not, and this is the change that most often surprises applicants who researched the UK a few years ago.

Under rules in force since January 2024, dependants are permitted only where the course is a PhD, another doctoral qualification, or a research-based higher degree — or where you are a government-sponsored student on a course lasting longer than six months. Most taught master’s students cannot bring a spouse or children.

Where dependants are allowed, each applies separately, pays their own fee and surcharge, and adds to the maintenance you must evidence. If bringing family is a requirement rather than a preference, that fact should shape which course you apply to, not be discovered after you hold an offer.

What work are you allowed to do?

GOV.UK is deliberately non-specific here: how much you can work depends on what you are studying and whether it is term time. Degree-level students are commonly permitted up to 20 hours a week in term and more outside it, but the condition that binds you is printed on your own visa. Read yours rather than a general guide.

What is stated flatly is what you cannot do:

• Claim public funds, benefits or pensions.
• Work as a professional sportsperson or sports coach.
• Be self-employed.

That third one matters more than it looks. Freelancing, contracting and running a business are all excluded, which rules out a common assumption among students planning to do consulting or design work on the side. Breaching the work condition is an immigration matter, not an employment one, and it follows you into every later application.

Treat earnings as support for daily costs. They will not fund tuition, and a funding plan that depends on them is one a caseworker can see through.

What happens after you graduate?

This is where the biggest recent change sits. GOV.UK states that a Graduate visa lasts:

It is not a flat two years, and most guidance published this year still says it is. You apply after your provider confirms completion, so a one-year master’s starting September 2026 finishes in late 2027 and falls in the 18-month band. We covered the change in our note on the shortened post-study visa, and our guide to working in the UK after graduation covers what comes next.

The Graduate Route requires no sponsor and permits work at any level, but it cannot be extended and it does not lead to settlement by itself. The route that does is Skilled Worker, which needs a licensed employer, a qualifying role and a salary that meets the threshold. Time on a Student visa does not count towards indefinite leave to remain; time on Skilled Worker does.

So the realistic sequence is Student, then Graduate, then Skilled Worker, then settlement after the qualifying period. Each step has its own conditions, and the eighteen-month window in the middle is now the tightest part of it.

What most often goes wrong?

In rough order of frequency:

1. The 28-day rule. Funds present but not held long enough, or a balance that dipped mid-window.
2. Documents that disagree. A name spelled differently on the passport and the transcript, or a tuition figure on the CAS that does not match the offer.
3. Stale figures. Evidencing £1,023 a month because a guide said so.
4. Unacceptable funding sources. Money from an account not in your or a permitted family member’s name, or a loan from a lender not on the accepted list.
5. An incoherent study plan. A course with no visible relationship to your previous study or work, and no explanation offered for the change.

If you are refused, the letter states the reason. Administrative review is limited in scope, and in most cases the faster route is to correct the defect and reapply rather than to challenge the decision. What you should not do is reapply with the same file.

Is the UK still worth it?

That depends on arithmetic you can actually do. A one-year master’s outside London costs roughly £28,500 to evidence before you have paid a visa fee, and eighteen months is the window in which to convert it. Against that, the UK still offers a one-year master’s where most comparable countries offer two, and an unsponsored post-study route that several do not.

The applicants who do well are the ones who chose a course with a genuine occupational destination, budgeted the surcharge and the fee alongside the tuition, and started using their university’s careers service in the first month rather than the last. Our guide to whether ranked UK universities lead to better careers covers how to choose that course.

To build a visa-ready file and a course choice that survives the eighteen-month window, book a free counselling session.