UK Student visa: a step-by-step guide

Once you accept an unconditional offer and pay any deposit, your university issues a CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies): a reference number you enter on the visa form. Check every detail on it, especially your name, passport number, course dates and fees paid.

You can apply up to 6 months before your course starts. Most students from Egypt get a decision within about 3 weeks.

You must show you can pay your first year’s tuition (minus anything already paid) and your living costs.

If you apply before 30 November 2026, the old amounts apply: £1,529 a month in London and £1,171 a month outside London. What counts is the date you apply, not the date on your CAS.

If you have already paid the university for accommodation, you can take up to £1,570 off the living-cost amount. The CAS should show it.

• Accepted accounts: a current or savings account you can take money from at any time. Funds you cannot withdraw straight away, such as fixed deposits or investments, are not accepted.
• A parent’s account: you can use it, with your birth certificate (translated into English) and a letter from your parent agreeing to the money being used for your studies.
• A margin: exchange rates move. Keep a little more than the minimum so a change in the rate does not take you below it.

The immigration health surcharge (IHS) gives you access to the National Health Service. You pay it, with the application fee, when you apply. Your visa usually runs a few months longer than your course, so the total is often more than £776 times the years of study; the online form calculates it for you.

Egyptian residents do not need a tuberculosis test for a UK visa.

• Passport: your current passport and any you held in the last 10 years. We recommend full scans of every page.
• CAS number and the documents your university used to make the offer, such as your school certificates and transcripts, translated into English if needed.
• English test result, if your CAS says one is needed.
• Bank statements that meet the 28-day rule (step 2).
• Under 18: a letter of consent from both parents or your legal guardian, covering your travel, living arrangements and care in the UK.

Have these ready for the form: both parents’ dates of birth, every country you have visited in the last 10 years with dates, any visa refusals from any country, and any close family living in the UK.

Fill in the application on GOV.UK and pay the fee and IHS. You are then sent to VFS Global, the visa centre the UK uses in Egypt, to book an appointment for your fingerprints and photo and to upload or hand in your documents.

If you are approved, you usually get an eVisa: a digital record of your permission, which you see in your UK Visas and Immigration account. If your course is longer than 6 months you can usually arrive up to 1 month before it starts.

When you finish a degree in the UK you can apply for the Graduate visa to stay and work. For applications made from 1 January 2027 it lasts 18 months (3 years after a PhD). Applications made before then still get 2 years. Students starting in September 2027 will be on the 18-month rule.

Parents need a Standard Visitor visa to visit you, settle you in or come to your graduation. Most decisions take about 3 weeks.

Visitors do not pay the health surcharge. A long-term visa still allows stays of up to 6 months at a time.

• Passports: current and old passports from the last 10 years.
• Work: a letter from the employer with job title, salary and start date, plus social insurance records, or the commercial registration if self-employed.
• Money: recent bank statements (salary, company or savings account) showing you can pay for the trip. There is no fixed minimum; the amount should match the trip you describe.
• Someone else’s account: if the statement is in a spouse’s or child’s name, add the marriage or birth certificate showing the relationship.