How much does a UK student visa cost?

Question

Priscilla Han · Accepted Answer

The headline application fee is only one part of it. The real cost of a UK Student visa is made up of several pieces — the visa fee itself, the Immigration Health Surcharge (often the biggest line item), the money you must be able to show but not pay, and a few smaller charges. Budget for all of them, and confirm the current figures on gov.uk for the year you apply, because they rise almost every year. Component 1 — the visa application fee. This is the charge most families think of as the cost. Note it differs depending on where you apply: applying from outside the UK is one rate, applying or extending from inside the UK is another. It is not the whole story. Component 2 — the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). This is what gives your child access to the National Health Service. It is charged per year of the visa and is payable upfront for the entire length of the course, not annually. For a multi-year degree this is often the single biggest cost — larger than the visa fee itself — so it is the line families most underestimate. Component 3 — proof of funds (the maintenance requirement). This is money you must be able to show you hold, not money you pay to the government. You must evidence tuition for your first year plus living costs for a set number of months. The living-cost figure is higher for study in London than for outside London, and the funds usually need to have sat in an account for a continuous period before you apply. Component 4 — optional speed and required tests. Priority and super-priority processing are optional extra fees that buy a faster decision. Separately, applicants from certain countries must take and pay for a tuberculosis (TB) test, and everyone pays for biometrics (fingerprints and photo) as part of the application. Dependants cost extra, each one separately. If a parent or partner comes as a dependant, that is a whole additional set of costs — their own visa fee and their own IHS for the full visa length. Two dependants means two of everything. Factor this in early if the family plans to relocate together. Why we will not quote pounds here: every one of these figures is set by the UK government and tends to rise almost annually, sometimes sharply. Any number we printed would be out of date before long. Always price your specific situation — your course length, London or not, dependants or not — on the official gov.uk Student visa pages for the year you actually apply.