Demonstrate your finances

Submitting financial documents to UKVI

When submitting your Student Visa application, you will be asked to submit evidence that you meet the financial requirements. To ensure that you have the correct funds and documents in place, the university will ask to see this evidence before issuing you with a CAS.

At the time you make your visa application, if you have held a valid visa for 12 months, you may be exempt from demonstrating any evidence of your finances. See the gov.uk information on finances for a student visa application. If this applies to you, you will not need to provide finance documents to the Visa Compliance team as part of your CAS request.

Also, if you are a national of a country under the differential evidence requirement, you do not have to evidence finances for your visa application. Details of the list of countries under the differential requirement are found in the gov.uk information on finances.

For guidance on calculating how much money you need to show, see our information on the financial requirements for your student visa application.

We have listed below the different types of document you can use to as evidence of funds for your Student Visa application. For comprehensive information we recommend that you also read the UKVI Finance Caseworker Guidance.

Bank Statements

If you provide a bank statement with your Student Visa application, the bank account must belong to you, or your parent(s)/legal guardian(s). If you use a joint account in multiple names, you or your parent(s)/legal guardian(s) must be named on the account.

The funds in your bank account must be available for 28 consecutive days and must not fall below the required amount during these 28 days. The statement cannot be older than 31 days when you submit your visa application.

Example bank statement

The bank statement should:

• be on official stationary or an electronic record
• be printed or electronic (not hand-written)
• include your name or the name(s) of your parent(s)/legal guardian(s)
• include the account number
• include information about the bank (for example, the financial institution's name and logo and contact details)
• include the amount of money available/transactions
• include the date
• include the currency

Using your parent(s)/legal guardian(s)' bank statement

If you use a bank statement that belongs to your parent(s)/legal guardian(s), you must prove that you are related to them with one of the following documents:

• Your birth certificate
• Your certificate of adoption
• A court document naming your legal guardian(s).

Please note, an affidavit is only evidence that someone has made a sworn statement regarding a claimed relationship, and not evidence of that relationship by themselves.

You must also provide a letter from your parent(s)/legal guardian(s) that confirms you have permission to use their money for your studies. This letter must confirm:

• the relationship between you and your parent(s) or legal guardian(s)
• that they have given consent for you to use their money to study in the UK

Please make sure that the names on the above documents match those on the bank statement.

Overseas bank statements

You can use an overseas bank account, but you will need to use the OANDA website to convert the balance into pounds (GBP). This is the same tool that UKVI use when checking your visa application.

If you use an overseas (non-UK) bank account to show your funds, UKVI will make additional checks. These will include checks that the financial institution is regulated and uses electronic record keeping.

Bank Letters

Instead of a bank statement, your bank can produce a letter to confirm you have the required amount of funds available. This letter must confirm that the funds have been held for a consecutive 28-day period and the letter must not be dated more than 31 days before you make your Student Visa application.

Example bank letter

The bank letter should:

• be on official stationary or an electronic record
• be printed or electronic (not hand-written)
• include your name or the name(s) of your parent(s)/legal guardian(s)
• include the account number
• include information about the bank (for example, the financial institution's name and logo and contact details)
• include the amount of money available
• include the date
• include the currency

Certificate of Deposit

A certificate of deposit (fixed deposit) can be used as evidence of proof of funds as long as the document meets the following requirements:

• the certificate of deposit must have been issued by a bank that confirms that an individual has deposited or invested a sum of money
• the funds have been held for the required 28 day period
• the applicant can access the funds at any time

Example cover letter

Loan Letters

If you have an educational loan to cover the cost of your studies, you can use this to meet the financial evidence requirements.

To be acceptable as evidence of funds, the loan must be in your name and provided by your government (state, regional, or national), or be through a government-sponsored student loan company or educational loans scheme.

You cannot use any other form of loan for your Student visa application.

Example loan letter

To use your loan in a visa application, you must provide a letter from the loan provider which includes:

• Your name
• The date of the letter
• The name and logo of the institution providing the loan
• Confirmation that the money is available to you as a loan
• Confirmation that the loan is provided by a government, or through a government-sponsored student loan company educational loans scheme
• The letter needs to confirm that the financial institution that has issued the loan is regulated by the official regulatory body for the country the institution is in and where the money is held

Official Financial Sponsorship

If you have an official financial sponsor who is paying some or all of your tuition fees, and/or providing you with money to meet your living costs during your studies, you can use this as evidence of funds.

Example sponsorship letter

You will need to provide a letter from your financial sponsor which shows:

• Your name
• The name and contact details of your official financial sponsor
• The date of the letter
• The length of your financial sponsorship
• The amount of money the sponsor is giving you or a statement confirming that they will cover all of your fees and living costs

An official financial sponsor must be one of the following:

• a government*
• the British Council or an international organisation
• an international company
• a university or a UK independent school
• US Government's Federal Student Aid - further details can be found here

*If you have received full  financial  sponsorship from your government or  international  scholarship  agency for a course completed in the last 12 months, you must provide  their  written consent for your new student visa application .

If anyone else is providing you with money for your studies, they cannot be considered an official financial sponsor and the money will need to be in your own bank account.

Please note that if the money from your sponsor only covers part of your tuition fees or living costs, you need to ensure you have the remaining money in an eligible bank account.