How to Apply for a Student Visa
You should also refer to the Student visa page on the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) website and the UKCISA website.
You can apply for your Student visa from the country that you normally live in as long as you are living there lawfully and not living there as a short-term visitor or tourist. You can also apply from any country that you hold a passport for. You need to apply online through the UKVI website.
The standard application fee for a Student visa applications is £558. Faster application processing costs an additional £500 for the priority service or £1000 for a super priority application.
Some students will be eligible to use the UK Immigration: ID check app on a smart phone instead of attending a biometric appointment and will receive digital student immigration status.
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You must use:
- your biometric passport from an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland
- your biometric British national (overseas) (BNO), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) or European Economic Area (EEA) passport if you’re applying for a BNO visa
The processing timeframe for your Student visa application begins on the date of your biometric appointment, or when you verify your identity and upload your documents if you are eligible to use the UK Immigration: ID Check app. UKVI provide a guide to visa processing times so you can see how long it will normally take to process your application, but please be aware that service standards are just guidelines and not absolute guarantees.
You should apply as early as possible, as some Visa Application Centres (VACs) can become very busy before the start of the academic year and processing delays could affect your ability to arrive in time for your course. You can apply for your Student visa up to six months before the course start date on your CAS. If you are applying from outside the UK, we recommend waiting until your visa has been granted before finalising any travel arrangements.
Digital Student status
If you are eligible to use the UKVI Immigration ID app on your phone to apply for your Student visa you will be issued with a digital status and you can upload your documents digitally through the app.
The UKVI Visa Application Centre web page contains contact details and further information on procedures specific to your country. This may include details of priority services where you can pay an extra fee to have your application processed quicker. You’ll need to have your fingerprints and photograph (known as ‘biometric information’) taken at a VAC as part of your application, and then submit your supporting documents either in-person (when you have your biometric appointment) or by post.
Make sure you have all your supporting documents ready before completing the online application and booking your appointment - these could include ATAS clearance and / or a tuberculosis (TB) test certificate either of which can take several weeks to obtain.
You must take your original documents to your appointment at the Visa Application Centre where they will be scanned and returned to you. You need to check the documents section of this website for the documents you will need to provide.
If you are bringing your family with you, each family member needs to make their own visa application at the same time to be your dependant. Please also see the dependants section of our website for more detailed information about whether you can bring dependants and how they can apply.
