The financial requirement is the part of a UK Student visa application that refuses the most well-prepared students, because the figure is not a single number anyone can look up: it is a sum built from your course fees, where you will study, how long your course lasts and who is coming with you. This guide explains each part of that sum with the current official rates, works through complete examples, and covers the rules about where the money must be and how long it must have been there — the part where most refusals actually happen.
Every figure below is the amount UK Visas and Immigration requires you to evidence, not an estimate of what studying in the UK costs. The two are different: your real living costs may be higher or lower, but the visa is granted against these published rates, and your bank evidence is measured against them to the pound. If your evidence falls even slightly below the required total on any day of the qualifying period, the application can be refused.
The two parts of the sum
Course fees. You must show the full fee for the first year of your course, or the full fee for the whole course if it lasts a year or less. Any money you have already paid to your university — a deposit, or an advance fees payment — is deducted from this figure, as long as the payment is recorded on your CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies). If you have paid for university accommodation, up to £1,334 of that payment can also be offset against the total you need to show; this offset applies only to accommodation provided by your university, not to private housing.
Living costs (maintenance). You must show a fixed monthly amount for each month of your course, up to a maximum of nine months — even if your course lasts longer, the requirement is capped at nine months of living costs. The rate depends on where your university is: £1,529 per month if you study in London, and £1,171 per month if you study anywhere else in the UK. “London” here means the City of London and the 32 London boroughs; a university outside that area uses the lower rate even if you plan to live in London and commute.
To run the full sum for your own course — fees, deposit, location, course length and dependants in one calculation — use the UK Student Visa Funds Calculator.
Worked examples
Studying outside London, nine months or longer. Course fee £18,000, deposit of £2,000 already paid and shown on the CAS. Fees still to show: £18,000 − £2,000 = £16,000. Living costs: 9 × £1,171 = £10,539. Total to evidence: £26,539.
Studying in London, nine months or longer. Course fee £22,000, deposit of £5,000 paid and shown on the CAS. Fees still to show: £17,000. Living costs: 9 × £1,529 = £13,761. Total to evidence: £30,761.
A shorter course outside London. A six-month course with a fee of £9,000 and nothing yet paid. Fees to show: £9,000. Living costs: 6 × £1,171 = £7,026. Total to evidence: £16,026. Note that the living-cost part follows the course length — six months, not nine — while the fees part is always the full fee for the year or course.
Dependants: partners and children
If your partner or children apply to come with you as dependants — which is only possible for certain students, mainly those on postgraduate research courses and certain other categories, so check your eligibility first — each dependant adds their own living-cost requirement: £845 per month per dependant in London and £680 per month per dependant outside London, again capped at nine months. A partner joining a student outside London for a course of nine months or more therefore adds 9 × £680 = £6,120 to the total; in London the same partner adds 9 × £845 = £7,605. Each child adds the same amount again. Dependant funds can be held by you or by the dependant themselves, but not by anyone else.
Where the money can be, and the 28-day rule
The total must be held in an account you control — your own bank account, a joint account in your name, or your parent’s or legal guardian’s account (with their written consent and evidence of your relationship, such as a birth certificate). Official financial sponsorship from a government, university or international company can replace some or all of the bank evidence, and a student loan from a regulated scheme can be used where it meets the rules. Money held in shares, bonds, pension funds, overdrafts or most investment products does not count, and neither do accounts with financial institutions UKVI cannot verify.
Crucially, having the right total on the day you apply is not enough: the full amount must have been in the account for 28 consecutive days, and the evidence must be dated within 31 days of your application. A balance that dips below the required total on even one day of those 28 restarts the clock. This timing rule is explained in full in The UK Student Visa 28-Day Rule, Explained.
A change coming on 30 November 2026
The living-cost rates rise for applications made on or after 30 November 2026, to £1,570 per month in London and £1,203 per month outside London. If you will apply on or after that date, calculate with the higher figures: nine months outside London becomes £10,827, and nine months in London becomes £14,130. Applying before the change is judged on the rates in force at your application date, but the 28-day holding period means your balance must meet the applicable rate throughout — if your application will fall after 30 November, hold the higher amount from the start so the evidence satisfies the rules whenever you submit.
Why applications are refused on finances
Refusals on the financial requirement follow a short list of recurring causes. The balance dipped below the required total during the 28 days — often by a small amount, after a routine payment. The bank statement’s closing date was more than 31 days before the application. A deposit had been paid but was not recorded on the CAS, so it could not be deducted. The account belonged to someone other than the applicant or a parent — a sibling’s or uncle’s account, however generous, does not qualify. Or the money sat in a product that does not count, such as a fixed investment that cannot be withdrawn immediately. Every one of these is preventable by running the sum early, moving the money into a qualifying account in good time, and leaving it untouched. The UK Student Visa Funds Calculator gives you the target figure to work to; this guide and the 28-day rule explainer cover the conditions the money must then satisfy.
Finally, treat any figure you are given — including this one — as something to verify against the official source before you rely on it. Immigration rules and rates change, and the authoritative statement of the financial requirement is UKVI’s own guidance and the Immigration Rules themselves. Your university’s international student advisers will check your evidence against your CAS free of charge, and having them do so before you apply is the single cheapest insurance available in the whole process.
Applicants who may not need to show evidence routinely
Two groups should still calculate the full amount — and hold it — but may not be asked to produce the evidence with the application. Under the differentiation arrangements, nationals of a list of countries UKVI treats as low-risk, applying in their country of nationality or residence, are not normally required to submit financial evidence with the application; the requirement itself is unchanged, the funds must genuinely be in place for the full qualifying period, and UKVI can request the evidence at any point and refuse if it is not produced. Treating differentiation as an exemption from holding the money, rather than from routinely evidencing it, is a recurring and expensive misunderstanding.
Students applying to extend their stay in the UK, or to switch into the Student route from another permission, who have already been living in the UK with permission for twelve months or more at the date of application are in a different position again: they are exempt from the financial requirement altogether, because their maintenance in the UK is already established. Students below that twelve-month threshold, and all first-entry applicants, must meet the requirement in full on the terms this guide sets out. A further special case is the student whose fees and living costs are met by official financial sponsorship — a government, the British Council, an international organisation or their university, including scholarship schemes such as Chevening: the sponsor’s letter or a note on the CAS replaces bank evidence for the sponsored amount, and only any shortfall above the sponsorship has to be evidenced from an account, subject to the same rules as any other applicant’s money.
The evidence itself: statements, letters and conversion
The sum is only half the task; the other half is proving it in the form UKVI accepts. Bank statements must show your name (or your parent’s or guardian’s, with the consent and relationship documents), the account number, the bank’s name and logo, and transactions or balances covering the full qualifying period — a single-page balance certificate showing today’s figure is not evidence of anything except today. Statements printed from online banking usually need the bank’s stamp on each page or an accompanying bank letter confirming authenticity. A bank letter, where used instead, must confirm the account, the holder, that the funds have been held for the required period and that they are available to you. Documents not in English or Welsh need certified translations that the caseworker can verify.
If your account is not in pounds sterling, the total is converted at the exchange rate on the date you apply, using the published rate UKVI uses (the OANDA rate), which is why a balance that equals the requirement when you calculate it can fall short if the currency moves. Build the margin in when you assemble the money, and re-run your figure through the UK Student Visa Funds Calculator on the day you intend to submit, not the day you deposited.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to show nine months of living costs for a three-year degree? No. The living-cost requirement is capped at nine months whatever your course length, because the visa is assessed on the first year. The fees part is your first-year fee (minus anything already paid and recorded on your CAS), not three years of fees.
I have paid a deposit. Does it reduce what I must show? Yes, provided the payment is recorded on your CAS. The deposit comes off the fees part of the sum. Money paid for university-provided accommodation can also be offset, up to £1,334. Payments to private landlords cannot be offset.
Can the money be in my parents’ account? Yes. Funds can be held by a parent or legal guardian, with their written consent to the money being used for your study and evidence of the relationship, such as your birth certificate. Accounts belonging to anyone else — siblings, other relatives, employers — do not qualify unless they are an official financial sponsor under the rules.
Is the London rate based on where I live or where I study? Where you study — specifically, whether your university is in the City of London or one of the 32 London boroughs. Studying outside London and living inside it still uses the £1,171 rate for the visa sum, though your real costs will of course follow London prices.
What if my course is in London but lasts only seven months? The living-cost part is seven months at the London rate: 7 × £1,529 = £10,703, plus your first-year fees minus payments on the CAS. Only courses of nine months or longer use the nine-month cap.
Which rates apply if I apply in December 2026? The higher rates: £1,570 per month in London and £1,203 per month elsewhere, for applications made on or after 30 November 2026. Make sure your 28-day balance meets the new total throughout the qualifying period, not just on the day you submit.