Student visa: outside the UK

Guidance notes

1. Obtain or request your Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS)

If you’re an applicant and have accepted an unconditional offer to start a course

If you are an applicant coming to study a new course at the university, we are unable to issue you with a Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS), which you need to make the visa application, until you have paid the tuition fee deposit, or provided evidence of official financial sponsorship, and returned a fully completed Visa Questionnaire form.

• If you or your parents are paying for your studies i.e. you are self-funding, you will need to pay the £3,000 tuition fee deposit. You can pay your tuition fee deposit here. If your government or international sponsorship agency is paying for your studies i.e. you are in receipt of official financial sponsorship, you will need to provide written evidence to the university that your government, or international agency will pay for your tuition fees.

• You need to complete and submit an online CAS Questionnaire form which you can access through your Applicant Central account, in the Visa Information section, once your offer is made unconditional. Provided that you have fully completed the CAS Questionnaire; provided the required documents; paid the tuition fee deposit or provided evidence of official sponsorship; and met the immigration rules relating to ‘academic progression’ and ‘time limits on study in the UK’ – the university will issue you with a CAS number. Your CAS Statement which includes the CAS number will be sent to you by email.

You can find out more about how the university sponsors its students under the Student immigration system and the academic progression and time limits on study rules.

If you’re already a student and need to complete the course you have already started

If you are a current student and you need to make a Student visa application to complete your course, you will need to request a CAS from the university. In order to do this you must fully complete the student immigration sponsorship form (pdf).

When you have completed the form you should send it to the Visa Compliance Team by emailing casenquiries@brighton.ac.uk. Once the Student Visa Compliance team receives your fully completed form it will aim to make a decision on your request for a CAS within approximately ten working days.

If your request is successful, ie as long as you meet the immigration rules relating to ‘academic progression’ and ‘time limits on study in the UK’, and you are not in debt to the university, it will send your CAS Statement including the CAS number to you by email.

2. Obtain an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate if you need one

An ATAS certificate is a security clearance issued by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to students who wish to study certain courses in the UK.

You will need to obtain an ATAS certificate every time you make a Student visa application if you are studying, or going to study, a course which is designated as requiring an ATAS certificate and provide it with your visa application. The ATAS required courses are mainly at PhDs and MRes level, but there are a few Master’s degrees which require an ATAS certificate too.

Please note: if you are a national of one of the countries below, you will not need to obtain an ATAS certificate, even if you are going to study an ATAS required course.

• Australia
• Canada
• Japan
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• South Korea
• United States of America (USA)
• Any of the European Economic Area (EEA) countries
• Switzerland

If you are a national of a country not listed, your offer letter will tell you whether your course requires an ATAS certificate or not, and this will also be confirmed on the CAS. If you are not sure whether you require an ATAS certificate please see the guidance, or contact us using the online visa enquiry form. 

If you require an ATAS certificate you can apply for one here. It can take the FCO up to 6 weeks to issue an ATAS certificate and so you must make your ATAS application in plenty of time.

3. Obtain a tuberculosis (TB) clearance certificate if you need one

If you are resident in certain countries then you will need to obtain a certificate confirming you are free from tuberculosis before you can apply for your Student visa. You will need to provide the TB certificate with your visa application. Select your country to find out if you need to take a TB test.

Please note that if you have been living in the UK for at least six months and have returned to your country to make a new visa application, and you left the UK less than six months ago, you will not need a TB certificate even if your country is on the required list.

4. Apply for your student visa in plenty of time and ensure you make a valid application

You must allow enough time from when you apply for the student visa, which is the date you submit the online application form and pay the application fee and immigration health surcharge, to when you need to travel to the UK.

Although UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) states that it will process most ‘standard’ student visa applications made outside of the UK within 3 weeks, you should note that it can take much longer. This is because the 3 weeks does not include the period between making the application and the date of the biometric appointment or between the UKVI deciding your application and returning your passport. As a result, the process can take longer than 3 weeks, especially in the busy summer period.

Here are the latest UKVI Processing times.

If there are less than five weeks from the date of your application to the date you intend to travel to the UK or the start date of the course, you must use the ‘priority visa service’ (if available in your country) and pay the additional fee. The priority service normally means that a decision will be made on your application within 5–7 working days from the date of your biometric appointment.

You must not, however, make your application more than six months before the start date of your course, if you are applying for a new course, before you are issued with a CAS, or before you meet the requirements of the application e.g., before you have held the required funds for 28 days.

Make sure that you make the correct application and that it is valid.

You must apply for a Student visa. You should not apply for a Child Student visa or come to the UK as a Standard Visitor whether you do so by obtaining a visit visa, using the electronic visa waiver (EVW) or entering at the border. This is because you cannot apply for a Student visa in the UK if you have permission as a visitor: you will need to return to your country of residence and apply for a Student visa.

Ensure you make a valid application

The immigration rules state that in order to make a valid application, you must meet all of the requirements below. If you meet these requirements UKVI will consider if you application meets the substantive requirements - the academic (confirmed by CAS) and finance (sufficient funds) requirements. However, if you do not meet the requirements below, UKVI will reject your application as invalid, even if you meet the substantive requirements. To make a valid application you must:

• apply using the correct student visa application form
• pay the student visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)
• provide a valid passport with your application
• provide your biometrics at the arranged appointment (non-EEA nationals)
• provide a CAS number issued before the date of your visa application
• If you have completed a course in the UK in the past 12 months, for which you received official financial sponsorship (fees and living costs) from your government or international sponsorship agency, you must provide the written consent of that sponsor to you making this application.

5. Calculate how much money you will need to have in order to obtain the visa known as the 'finance requirement'

If you will receive official financial sponsorship from your government, or an international sponsorship agency

If your sponsorship covers all of your tuition fees and living costs (ie at least £1,023 per month of your course) please go straight to part 7. If, however, your official financial sponsorship does not cover all of your tuition fees, or all of your living costs (ie less than £1,023 per month), then you will need to cover the shortfall with your own funds as below.

If you, or your parents, will pay for your studies i.e. you are 'self-funding'

You will need to prove to UKVI that you have an amount of money, which is equal to at least the sum of your outstanding tuition fees plus £1,023 per month of your course for your living costs up to a maximum of £9,207. For example, if your tuition fees are £15,000 and your course is for three years you will need to have at least £24,207 (15,000 for fees plus 9,207 for living costs) in your name, or a parent’s name, in order to meet the maintenance requirement of the visa.

If your money is held in a currency other than pounds sterling (GBP)

You need to use the OANDA website to convert them into pounds sterling (GBP). UKVI uses the exchange rate on the date of your visa application to determine the amount of funds. You need to consider this if your currency is fluctuating against sterling at the time of your application. If this is the case it is safer to hold more money than is required to guard against a possible depreciation of your currency against the pound at the time of your application.

If you have paid for your tuition fees or halls of residence before the date of the visa application

You can deduct any tuition fees, including your tuition fee deposit, you have already paid to the university before you make the visa application from the amount of money you require. For example, in the case above if your tuition fees are £15,000 per year and you have already paid the tuition fee deposit of £3,000 and a further £4,500 towards tuition fees, before the date you apply for the visa, then you will need to have at least £16,707 (7,500 for fees plus 9,207 for living costs). 

Payments for university halls of residence but not privately rented accommodation can also be reduced from the total amount you need to show for your maintenance but only up to a maximum of £1,334. For example, even if you have paid £4,000 towards your halls of residence you can only reduce the living costs you require by £1,334 from £9,207 to £7,873.

Any payments for tuition fees or halls of residence made before the date of the visa application must be shown on your CAS as otherwise they will not be considered by UKVI unless you provide an official original receipt of the payment issued by the university.

Please note that although the university does accept payment of tuition fees by instalments, UKVI requires the balance of the fees that you owe to be shown in your account, regardless of any arrangements you make with the university to pay fees in instalments.

Applying with your dependants?

If you are also applying for your dependants to join you in the UK during your course the amount of money you will require is much higher. Please see section 12.

Using the funds after you apply for the visa

You should note that you are required to keep the required funds in your account until the date the UKVI decides your application. The balance can be substantially lower but only if you have used the funds for tuition fees, an accommodation deposit or other costs related to studying in the UK. It is rare for UKVI to request bank statements on the date of decision but if they do you will need to show you have the same funds as on the date of application or if the balance is lower you have used the funds as described above.

6. Keep the money for the required length of time and in the correct format

In addition to having enough money in your name, your parent’s name, or your partner's name (if they are applying at the same time as you or they already have immigration permission) you will also have to:

1. Have held the required amount of money for at least 28 consecutive days before the date of the visa application, and
2. Have held the required amount of money on every day of the 28-day period i.e. you cannot have less than the required amount of money even for just one day during the 28 days, and
3. The end date of the 28-day period i.e. the date of the bank statement must be no more than 31 days before the date of the visa application.
4. Still have the required amount of money on the date of the visa application, and
5. Hold the money in a personal bank account, provided that you can access the funds immediately. These include current, deposit, savings and investment accounts, as well as pension funds that can be withdrawn immediately
6. Please note that business accounts, even if you, or your parent, are the sole owner of the enterprise, are not acceptable.
7. You cannot rely on money held in other accounts or financial instruments such as shares, bonds, credit cards overdrafts or pension funds that cannot be withdrawn immediately.
8. The UKVI will not consider funds held in a financial institution if it does not allow the visa officer to make 'satisfactory verification checks', is not regulated by an 'appropriate body or does not use 'electronic record keeping'

Loans

If you are relying on a loan to meet the maintenance requirement, you must have a loan which is provided by your national, state or regional government, a government sponsored student loan company, or an official educational/academic loan scheme.

Important: the date of your visa application

Please note that the date of your student entry clearance application is the date you pay the application fee and immigration health surcharge. This is different to the date you provide your biometrics at the Visa Application Centre (VAC) and is important when calculating the 28 days maintenance requirement.

If you’re not sure how much money you are required to have or in what format, please contact us using the online visa enquiry form.

7. Collect the required documents and make sure they are in the correct format

You must provide the documents listed below with your application.

You can provide either the originals or copies of the documents, but you must provide the original version of your passport. If you provide a document that is not in English, you must also provide a fully certified translation of the document, which has been translated by a professional translator.

1. Proof that you have sufficient money for the finance requirement in the form of either *:

• Your bank statements; or
• Your parent's bank statements; or
• Your partner's bank statements (if they are applying at the same time as you or they already have immigration permission); or
• An official loan letter from your government or academic loan scheme; or
• An official letter of financial sponsorship from your government, or an international sponsor agency, confirming its financial support of you and its consent to you making the visa application.

Please note that the content and format of the financial documents you provide with your application must meet the exact requirements as set out by UKVI in its Financial Policy Guidance. Failure to do so may mean that your application will be refused.

2. Your current passport

3. Your birth certificate (if you are using your parent’s bank statement)*

4. A letter of consent from your parents to you using their money in the UK for your education (if you are using your parents’ bank statement)*

5. An ATAS clearance certificate (if you are required to have one)

6. A TB clearance certificate (if you are required to have one)

7. If you are aged under 18 on the date of application: a letter of consent from your parents confirming their relationship to you and their consent to your travel to and living arrangements in the UK and your birth certificate.

8. If you are financially sponsored by your government, or an international sponsor agency, or you have been in the previous 12 months: a letter from your sponsor confirming that they unconditionally consent to you making the Student visa application to remain in the UK

Different Documentary Requirements (Low-Risk Nationals)

If you are a national of one of the countries listed below, you should collect all of the required documents, but you do not have to provide the financial documents with your Student visa application i.e. the documents marked in the list above with an asterisk *.

However, you must still meet the requirements of the immigration rules for the application i.e. have sufficient money for the required time and collect all of the documents as the UKVI can request that you provide the documents at a later stage before it will decide your application.

All countries in the European Economic area (EEA) (EU members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway); Switzerland; Australia; Bahrain; Barbados; Brazil; British National (Overseas); Botswana; Brunei; Cambodia; Canada; Chile; China; Dominican Republic; Indonesia; Japan; Hong Kong; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Macau SAR; Malaysia; Mauritius; Mexico; New Zealand; Oman; Peru; Qatar; Serbia; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; Thailand; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; United States of America (USA).

If you are not sure whether you need to provide a document with your application, or whether a document you have contains the correct information and is in the required format, please contact us using the online visa enquiry form.

8. Complete the visa application form

You should complete the visa application form online. You should select 'Student visa'.

You must complete the form in English and complete all of the sections in full. You should use the information on your CAS Statement to answer the relevant questions. If somebody else completes the form for you, such as an agent, you must make sure you are aware of the contents of the form before you submit it.

You must answer all of the questions truthfully, including those asking if you have been refused a visa for the UK or elsewhere. If you provide false information or withhold information UKVI will refuse your application and you will potentially be banned from being granted a visa to the UK for up to 10 years.

9. Pay the visa application fee and the immigration health surcharge (IHS)

The student visa application fee is £363 usually payable in the local currency or USD equivalent. If you do not have enough time to make a standard application i.e. there are less than five weeks to the start of your course or your intended travel date, you will have to use the Priority Service (if available) and pay the additional fee (£250).

You are also required to pay an Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) that allows you to access NHS treatment in the UK. You will need to make this payment after you pay the visa application fee. You must make the IHS payment, even if you have private health insurance, or don’t plan to use the NHS services while you are in the UK.

The charge for students and their dependants is £470 per person for each year you will be granted permission to be in the UK, and £235 for a period of less than six months (any period over six months is charged at the full yearly rate). The date on which you have paid the application fee and IHS is deemed to be the date of your application.

10. Submit your application

If you are an EEA or Swiss national

If you have a biometric passport you will not have to attend an appointment to provide your biometrics. Instead, you will need to scan your passport and upload a photo of yourself using the UK Immigration ID app.

If you are a non-EEA national

In order to complete your application, you will need to make an appointment at a Visa Application Centre (VAC). At your appointment you will need to provide your biometric information (your fingerprints and a digital photograph), submit your passport and, if you have not already uploaded them, your supporting documents, and take a short interview with the UKVI usually by Skype.

In a small number of cases the UKVI will request an applicant attends a second more substantive interview, sometimes referred to as a credibility interview. If you are invited to such an interview you must attend as otherwise your application will be refused. At the interview you will be asked about why you want to study your course, and the reasons why you chose to study at the university. If you are invited to a second interview and would like further advice on what to expect please contact us using the online visa enquiry form.

Once you have attended your appointment at the VAC you will have to wait for the UKVI to process your application and return your documents. You can check the latest processing times in your country here.

11. UKVI's decision on your application

If your application is granted

If your application is successful and you are an EEA or Swiss national the UKVI will grant you 'secure digital status' to confirm you have immigration permission as a Student; you will not be issued a vignette in your passport or issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP).

If you are a non-EEA national, the UKVI will place a 90-day entry-permit vignette in your passport that you use the enter the UK. You will also be issued with a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which you should collect from the nominated Post Office within 10 days of your arrival in the UK. Please keep the letter you will receive when the visa is granted safe as you will need it to collect your BRP.

For details of  when you will be able to travel to the UK using your secure digital status and your entry-permit vignette, please see the UKCISA guidance 'Once your visa has been issued'.

If your application is refused

If UKVI refuses your application, it will provide you with a Refusal Notice, which explains the reasons why. Please send a scanned copy of every page of the Refusal Notice to visas@brighton.ac.uk including your name and student number. The advisers will assess the reasons for refusal and contact you as soon as possible to advise you on your options. Please also send a copy of your Refusal Notice to the Student Visa Compliance team: casenquiries@brighton.ac.uk as they must have a record of the decision.

Please note that you can only use a CAS once, so if your application is refused and you are able to make another application, you will need a new CAS number.

12. If your dependants are applying to come to the UK with you

Not all students can bring their dependants - partner (spouse, civil partner, finance or unmarried partner) and/or children - with them to the UK.

You should read the information at the links below to find out whether your dependants can come with you to the UK during your course and, if so, the requirements they will need to meet to obtain the PBS Dependant visa.

• UKVI - can you bring your family?
• UKCISA – your family’s immigration

If your partner and/or children are able to come to the UK with you, they will each have to apply for PBS Dependant visas. They will each have to apply online and pay the application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge. The maintenance requirement – the amount of money you will need to show you have - will be much higher so you need to make sure this money is available. If you are financially sponsored by your government, or an international sponsor agency, your financial sponsorship letter must include the details of all of your dependants who will be applying with you.

If you are not sure whether you can bring your dependants with you to the UK, or you would like further advice about the requirements and how to apply, please complete the online visa enquiry form.

13. Further information and advice

This guidance only covers the main aspects of making a student entry clearance application. If you want to make a successful application it is important that you, or a parent, read and understand the documents and web pages below. In our experience, student applications are most commonly refused because the applicants do not read or understand the guidance and therefore do not have sufficient funds for the required amount of time, or do not provide the correct documents with their applications.

1. UKVI: guidance for caseworkers on Student Route applications
2. UKVI: how to apply for a student visa from outside the UK
3. UKCISA: making a student immigration application in your home country

If having read this guidance, and the documents above, you have a question about making a student entry clearance application then please contact us using the visa enquiry form.