Extending your student visa

1. Your Confirmation of Acceptance for Study (CAS)

2. All passports you have used to travel to the UK

3. Qualifications used to make your offer, as listed in your CAS
Your CAS will list your academic qualifications (for example transcripts or certificates), which were used to assess your application for your course. Please ensure you have access to these as they may be needed for your visa application.

4. Financial evidence (maintenance)
To successfully extend your visa, you will need to show that you have enough money to satisfy the Student visa maintenance requirement.

• • If you have been living in the UK for less than 12 months, you will need to provide financial evidence. As below; If you have lived in the UK longer than 12 months, you are extending your visa inside the UK, you will not need to show bank statements. 

Acceptable evidence:
The most common form of evidence is a bank statement (requirements listed below). However, there are other forms of acceptable evidence, see gov.uk for further information.

• Bank statements in your own name: these must be less than one month old on the date of your visa application and cover a full 28 day period, during which the balance must not have fallen below the amount of money you need to show.

If you are using your parents' bank statements, you will also need to provide:

• Your birth certificate (with an official translation, if the original is not in English).
• A letter from your parents confirming the money is for your UK education.

5. Sponsor's letter (only if you are financially sponsored by your government or other official financial sponsors)
If you have an official financial sponsor you will not normally need to provide evidence of personal funds unless your sponsorship does not cover all of your tuition fees and maintenance.

If you are a sponsored student or are studying a postgraduate course that started before 31 December 2023, you may be able to bring your dependents with you to the UK. Applications for dependents should be made here.

If your postgraduate level course starts on or after 1 January 2024, it must be either:

• a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8)
• a research-based (MRes) higher degree

We do not provide a CAS to sponsor your dependents. You can request a student status letter to prove that you are currently a student and support their application alongside copy of your visa.

If you are thinking of bringing your dependents, we recommend you read the following gov.uk webpage and contact the international support team for further guidance.

We suggest you come to the UK first and your family joins you later, once you have secured suitable accommodation for them.

The current application fee from outside and inside the UK is £558.

• For Students and their dependents - £776 per year of visa length.
• For Graduate Route visa applicants - £1,035 per year.
• You can use the Immigration Health Surcharge tool on the Home Office website to check how much you will have to pay.

If you applied in the UK

As part of your application you’ll need to prove your identity. How you do this depends on where you’re from and the type of passport or resident permit you have.

You’ll either:

• use the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to scan your identity document (passport / expired BRP) - you’ll also create or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account
• give your fingerprints and a photograph (biometric information) at a UK Visa and TLS contact point when you do not hold biometric passport / BRP card.

You’ll be told what you need to do when you apply.

If you applied outside the UK

You will need to visit a local visa application centre or if you are an EEA/EU national you will usually be able to do this via an app.

If your application is successful, you will receive proof of your permission to stay in the UK as a digital status, an eVisa. For more information read here.

A TB certificate will be required by an applicant who has spent six months or more prior to their application in any of these countries.

If you are extending your visa in the UK, you do NOT need a TB certificate. 

All applicants under 18 will need to provide written consent from both parents or legal guardians (or one parent if they have sole responsibility) and proof of relationship. This must include consent for the visa application and travel arrangements, as well as living and care arrangements in the UK.

Students should regularly check their registered email address for correspondence from UKVI, including any junk or spam folders.