Student visa and studying
What study costs, who pays home fees, what money you must show and whether you may work while studying.
Articles on this topic: 17
English with a British family and courses in Oxford: checking the school and the visa
Check a school through Accreditation UK, run by the British Council and English UK, with inspections across five areas and more than 350 member centres. A course longer than six months and up to eleven needs a Short-term study visa: £228 plus a healthcare surcharge of about £776.
Language courses in Oxford: what a month costs and which visa you need
A month of the standard course with homestay works out at about £2,800, or £3,250 with transfers. And "20 lessons a week" means 15 hours, not 20. Up to 6 months runs on a Visitor visa; 6 to 11 months needs the £228 Short-term study visa plus the healthcare surcharge.
A British degree: what it actually gets you, and where it does not
One real privilege — the Graduate visa — and it shrinks from two years to 18 months on 1 January 2027. Study years do not count towards settlement, and the degree alone does not license you to practise.
UK settlement: which years will count, and which will not
The reform closes the Long Residence route. Years on a Student visa, on Graduate and on the Ukraine schemes will no longer build towards permanent status. Here are both lists.
Graduate visa 2026: how to stay in the UK after study — length, cost, conditions
The Graduate visa lets a graduate stay and work in the UK without a sponsor. Note: from 1 January 2027 the length for bachelor’s and master’s graduates is cut.
A UK visa with no savings in the bank: when a big deposit isn't needed
Do you have to save and 'freeze' a large sum for a UK visa? For most visas, no. Under the current GOV.UK rules, here's how much money you really need to show for a visitor, work, student and family visa — and where no savings are needed at all.
Student Finance England 2026/27: how much you get, who qualifies and what you repay
A Tuition Fee Loan of up to £9,790 and a Maintenance Loan of up to £14,135 in London — but only for those with settled status and three years of residence. What the figures are for 2026/27, why the loan shrinks because of parents' income, and what 9% above £25,000 actually costs.
Immigration Health Surcharge: £1,035 a year, £776 for students, 10 days to top up
Almost everyone applying for a UK visa pays the immigration health surcharge. Here are the rates, how part-years are calculated, who is exempt and when you get a refund.
UK Student visa funds: what to show now and from 30 November 2026
Applications made by 29 November require £1,529 a month in London or £1,171 elsewhere, for up to nine months. From 30 November the figures rise to £1,570 and £1,203. Here is the calculation, the 28-day rule and the funds UKVI will not accept.
UK immigration rules change on 8 October 2026: what is new
HC 584 is now in force: the visitor route is wider, while the fee waiver rule and the biometric deadline are tighter. Home Office fees dated the same day did not rise by a pound.
UK visa waiting times in 2026: the official UKVI timelines and how to get a decision in a day
The official UKVI timelines: visitor, student and work visas from outside the UK take 3 weeks, family visas 12 weeks, and most in-country extensions 8 weeks. Pay an extra £500 and a decision is promised within 5 working days; £1,000 buys one by the end of the next working day. Here is when the clock starts, why timelines slip, and when the extra fee is a waste of money.
Going self-employed in the UK: registering, your UTR and what you pay in 2026
Register if you earned more than £1,000 in a tax year, and tell HMRC by 5 October. Class 2 is no longer compulsory; Class 4 is 6% and 2%. Unregistered subcontractors lose 30% instead of 20%. From 6 April 2026, turnover above £50,000 means quarterly reporting. And the part that catches people out: a Student visa bars self-employment, while a Skilled Worker visa allows 20 hours a week.
England, Britain or the UK: the difference, and where it costs money
England is one of four countries; Great Britain is an island with three of them; the state is the United Kingdom, and UK is what goes on your forms. There is no "England visa" — it works in all four. But prescriptions cost £9.90 an item in England and nothing in the other three, and Scotland runs its own six-rate income tax scale.
Starting out in Britain: nine guides checked against the public registers
A bank account without proof of address, a credit record from zero, a free NHS interpreter, the home rate for university, school after VAT, work and pay, and doctors and restaurants checked against the registers. All of it in one place, in the order in which the questions come up.
Russian-speaking doctors and clinics in London: eight addresses checked against the registers
Every clinic checked against CQC, every named clinician against the GMC and GDC, every legal entity against Companies House. Where Russian really is spoken, where only the website has been translated, and why a chain advertising sixteen locations is registered for four. Plus one clinic that is not on the list, and how to check such a place yourself.
Applying, rankings and school for a child: the 2027 cycle dates and the cost after VAT
The personal statement is no longer an essay but three questions inside 4,000 characters. The equal consideration deadline is 13 January, not the 15th that older articles print. Most of the rankings people choose by are commercial, and only two official quality measures exist. And a private boarding place now costs around £54,000 a year — with the arithmetic behind that figure.
Studying in Britain in 2026: who pays £9,790, who pays £70,000, and three dates you cannot miss
The gap between home and international fees runs to seven times, and it is decided by three years of residence rather than by citizenship — and you need not have held settled status for all three, which is the part most often misread. Plus: the visa maintenance figure rises on 30 November, the Graduate route drops from two years to eighteen months on 1 January, and Chevening closes on 6 October.