More information
For further guidance on the financial requirements for visa applications, see our International Student Support website.
Proof of tuition fee payments
If you’re applying for a student visa from overseas, or if you are applying in the UK but have not been here with permission for 12 months or more, you must prove to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) that:
- you have enough money to pay for your tuition fees for one academic year (up to 9 months). The amount you need to pay will be on your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
- you have enough money to support yourself in the UK for up to 9 months. How much you need is set by UKVI.
It is not necessary to make a payment against your fees to obtain a CAS or your visa.
Full payment of your tuition fees will also not guarantee a successful visa application.
Evidence you can use
You can show you have enough money to pay the relevant course fee and support yourself in the UK using:
- an official financial or government sponsorship or grant
- a student loan from a government, government sponsored loan company, or a regulated student loans scheme
- your own money
- your parent’s money (if they provide a letter confirming they agree to you using it this way)
- your partner’s money if your partner is already present in the UK as your dependant or is applying for a visa as your dependant at the same time
You must have this money for at least 28 consecutive days, unless you are relying on a student loan or official financial sponsorship.
The end date of the 28-day period must be within 31 days of the date you apply for your visa.
Exemptions
You might not need to provide this financial evidence as part of your application if you’re from an exempt country but you should still make sure you have enough money.
Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS)
We will set out your course fee on your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
We will not be able to issue you with a CAS until you have:
- accepted an unconditional offer; and
- uploaded your passport details to the My Passport, Visa & CAS section of the student portal, My Imperial
Payments before CAS is issued
Check if a payment you have made towards your tuition fees is showing on your CAS once it is issued.
If not, you will need to contact the relevant Admissions team.
Payments after CAS is issued
If you make any additional tuition fee payments after we issue your CAS and full fee invoice but before receiving your visa, you will need to contact the relevant Admissions team, providing details of the payment made.
The Admissions team will only be able to update the fees on your CAS after the additional payments have been credited to your full fee invoice.
Tuition fee payments can take up to five working days to be received and processed.
After your payment has been received your CAS will be updated with the new amount paid and we will send you a new copy of your CAS.
This will take approximately 3–5 working days from receipt of the payment.
If your invoice has not yet been issued, any payments you make will be uploaded after we have issued your invoice and applied your payments.
Receipts
Any payments shown on your CAS will be accepted as evidence by UKVI and you will not need a receipt to prove payment.
Consequently, we will not normally issue paper receipts to new students for visa application purposes.
If, however, the details of the money that you have already paid are not on the CAS, you will need to provide a receipt (which may be electronic) – issued by Imperial – that confirms either that all fees have been paid, or the amount that you have paid so far.
Payments made by an official financial sponsor
Payments received from a financial sponsor cannot be uploaded to your CAS.
You will need to supply an original, formal letter of sponsorship to UKVI to satisfy the tuition fee element of the maintenance requirement.
Providing you have a formal sponsor letter acceptable to UKVI, Imperial does not need to have received the funds before you can be granted a visa.
Students funding their studies by means of a governmental or commercial loan will need to provide the formal loan agreement.