Financial evidence is a key part of the visa application and the most common reason for visa refusals. It is very specific and we encourage all students to check their financial evidence with us before they apply for their visa.
- What is the Financial Requirement?
If you applying for your visa in the UK, and have been in the UK for 12 months or more at the time you make the application, then you already meet the financial requirements and do not need to provide further documents.
If this does not apply to you, e.g. you are making a visa application from overseas or you have lived in the UK for less than 12 months at the time you make the application, then you have to meet the general financial requirement as explained below.
The general rule is that you need to show that you have enough money to cover both your tuition fees and your living costs.
You will need to do the following:
1) First you need to confirm how much money you have to show. For your initial visa application, you will need to show you have enough money for your tuition fees plus living costs (maintenance).
- For visa applications made on or after 2nd January 2025, Living Costs is usually £10,224. Most full time students who are on a course lasting at least 9 months will need to show this amount. For those doing shorter courses, like Pre-sessional English, the living cost amount is broken down as £1,136 per month of the length of the course for a maximum of 9 months. We always advise for everyone to show at least £10,224 to minimise the risk of refusal.
2) Then you must show that you have held this total amount for a minimum 28 consecutive days before you apply for your visa
3) You are allowed to hold this money as foreign currency in an overseas bank account. You must make sure the the money you are holding in foreign currency is equivalent to the correct money in Great British Pounds (GBP) and the UKVI will only use the exchange rate on the OANDA website and they will not consider any other kind of exchange rate tool. The UKVI will use the exchange rate from the day you pay for your visa application.
You will usually prove you have held this money by providing some form of official financial evidence and it must show personal, readily available cash. This means you must show this money held in a current (checking) or savings account in your name or your parent's name. You cannot use evidence from:
- Stocks or Shares
- Investment Portfolios
- Credit Cards
- Bank accounts in the name of a family business
- Private bank loans unless you plan to hold the cash for 28 days before you apply for your visa (then normal bank statement rules apply)
- You can use evidence of an Educational Loan, but the rules about this are very specific - Please contact an International Student Adviser for further advice about this.
Deductions
You are allowed to deduct any tuition fees you have already paid for your course from the total amount you have to show
It is important to show you have paid this amount for the deduction to take any effect and you will usually do this by getting your CAS updated by the Visa Compliance Team. If you want to rely on these deductions to show a lower amount of money then you must make sure your CAS is updated BEFORE you apply for your visa.For example, your tuition fees are £10,000 and living costs are £10,224. Before you complete your visa application, you pay £5000 toward the tuition fee. Your CAS is updated to show these payments.
£10,000 + £10,224 = £20,224
£20,224 - £5000 = £15,224You therefore need to show a minimum £15,224 held for 28 consecutive days
NOTE: You cannot deduct money paid towards accommodation. The living costs (maintenance) is set at £1,136 per month (£10,224 max). This is because you can only deduct money paid towards accommodation (Max £1,483) if you are paying the University directly. All accommodation on campus is owned by our third-party partner UNITE students and not Aston University.
- What kind of evidence can I use?
The Home Office will only accept certain documents to prove you meet the financial requirement. The documents they generally accept are:
- Bank Statement in your name, your parent's name* or your partner's name (if applying for your visas at the same time or your partner has already been granted permission to be in the UK)
- Letter from bank or regulated financial institution in your name or your parent's name
- Financial sponsorship letter (see separate section below)
- Certificate of Deposit (see separate section below)
The most popular way to show you have met the financial requirement is using Bank statements.
*Please see "Documents from parents/legal guardians" for information about using parent's financial evidence.
Bank statements
The bank statement is required to have all of the following information to be considered as valid:
- your name, your parent’s/legal guardian’s name or your partner's name (if applying for your visas at the same time or your partner has already been granted permission to be in the UK); and
- the account number; and
- the financial institution’s name and logo; and
- the amount of money available.
The 28 day qualifying period
The bank statement ideally needs to show a series of transactions covering a full 28 consecutive day period and within this 28 day period, the money held cannot have dipped below the total amount you should be holding at any time or for any period.
Must be new
This bank statement also needs to be new. This means that the closing balance (the last transaction date) needs to be dated within 31 days preceding the date you pay for your visa application. Sometimes the date the bank statement is printed can be used as the closing balance but it should be the actual closing balance. If the closing balance is dated more than 31 days before the date you pay for your visa application then the bank statement is invalid.
The format
The bank statement you submit with your visa application should be:
- Bank statements direct from the bank; or
- Ad hoc bank statements printed on the bank’s letterhead; or
- Electronic bank statements bearing the official stamp of the bank.
For example, you calculate that you need to hold £21,000 as your financial requirement. You plan to pay for your visa application on the 5th August 2024. The bank statement you provide is from your current account and shows more than £21,000 held from the 1st July 2024 to the 1st August 2024.
The lowest amount the money ever dipped within this 28 day period was £21,485 but never below £21,000. This means the correct money has been held for 28 consecutive days. Also the closing balance is within 31 days preceding the date you want to pay for the visa application. This bank statement will be valid.
Official letter from bank or regulated financial institution
An alternative to bank statements is to obtain an official letter from your bank or regulated financial institution. If you want to rely on this then the letter must be official and contain the following information:
The wording must be very clear that the correct funds have been held for a consecutive 28 day period, ending no more than 31 days before the date of your visa application
- your name, your parent’s/legal guardian’s name or your partner's name (if applying for your visas at the same time or your partner has already been granted permission to be in the UK); and
- the account number; and
- the date of the letter; and
- the financial institution’s name and logo; and
- the money in your account; and
- that there is enough money in the account (to cover your course fees and living costs)
The format
The official bank letter you submit with your visa application should be:
- An original letter printed on the official bank letterhead
- Obtained directly from the bank
- Will usually bear the stamp of the bank and/or signed
Example
- Official Financial Sponsorship
Official Financial Sponsorship means you are being financially sponsored for your studies in the UK by one of the following:
- His Majesty’s Government
- Your national government
- The British Council or any international organisation
- An international company
- A university
- An independent school
It does not mean sponsored by family. If you are sponsored by any of the above then you will usually get an official letter from your sponsor explaining how much money for financial sponsorship you will be getting.
If your sponsor will be covering all of your tuition fees and more than £1,136 per month for living costs then this official letter by itself will suffice as financial evidence.
However, if your financial sponsor is only covering some of your course fees or living costs, you must show that you have the rest of the money needed using the usual methods above. e.g. Your own bank statement
You must make sure that your financial sponsor is an official sponsor. If they are not an official sponsor, then UKVI will refuse the application. For example, using an International Company as your official financial sponsor but the company is then not deemed an "international" company. If you are unsure about whether your financial sponsor will be official, please contact us to check.
Federal Loans
If you will be getting a loan from your government for educational purposes (e.g. US Title IV or Sally Mae) then this is seen as an educational loan and can be accepted as financial evidence. If you are unsure then please contact us to check.
- Certificate of Deposit
These are documents issued by a bank which confirm an individual has deposited or invested a sum of money, and is popular in visa applications from China. e.g. Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Citic Bank
UKVI will usually accept Certificates of Deposit, but to be accepted they must meet the following rules:
The Certificate of Deposit must have been issued within 31 days before the date of application and at least 28 days must have elapsed between the date of the deposit and the date of issue of the certificate.- The Certificate of Deposit must be original and be in your name or your parent's name. It must also show you have enough money to meet the financial requirement and that the money can be accessed.
- We advise to try and avoid the use of Certificates of Deposit as UKVI will not always accept them. If you must use a Certificate of Deposit then please contact us for checking before you apply for your visa.
Example
- Reasons for Refusal
The most common reason for visa refusals is incorrect financial evidence. The issues include:
If you are unsure about whether your financial evidence is acceptable then please contact us before you apply for your visa.- Did not hold the correct money for 28 days or did not clearly show the money was held for 28 days (e.g. only showing one date on bank statement)
- The money dipped below the required amount within the 28 days
- Used financial evidence that was too old (not dated or closing balance was not within 31 days of intended application date)
- Did not use original documents
- Paid for visa application and then started holding money for 28 days.
- Financial evidence did not contain all the relevant information (Logo, account number, name, date, bank details, official financial sponsor information)
- Used invalid financial evidence (e.g. Credit card statement, Stocks/Shares, Family Business account, payslips, other family members accounts that weren't parent's or own)
- Forgot to include documents (e.g. did not include birth certificate if using parent's bank statement)
- Financial sponsor was not classed as an "official" financial sponsor
Remember that once you apply for your visa, no changes to any documents can be made.
- Prohibited Banks
UKVI no longer have a set list of "prohibited" banks/financial institutions. Instead, they will usually accept the use of documents from any bank/financial institution as long as they meet these two rules:
- The financial institution must be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or, in the case of overseas account, the home regulator (official regulatory body for the country in which the institution operates and the funds are located). UKVI will use this supervisory agencies list to see the financial regulators for each country
- The financial institution uses electronic record keeping and will return a UKVI electronic verification check. You may have to check your bank will do this before committing to providing a document from them as part of your visa application. UKVI can refuse a visa application if a bank does not respond to an electronic verification check.
Last updated: 15/10/2024 KB