UK student visa: funds rule rises to £1,570 a month in London from 30 November

Indian students who apply for a UK student visa from Monday, 30 November will have to show more money in the bank. Under a change to the UK Immigration Rules, the monthly living-cost figure rises from £1,529 to £1,570 for courses in London, and from £1,171 to £1,203 for courses anywhere else in the country. That is £41 more a month in the capital and £32 more outside it.

Applicants must cover up to nine months of a course, so the full sum for a London student climbs from £13,761 to £14,130, an extra £369. Outside London the total moves from £10,539 to £10,827, or £288 more. Both amounts come on top of any course fees still unpaid, as listed on the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) the university issues.

Who has to show the money

The requirement applies to students seeking entry clearance from abroad, and to students already in Britain who have held permission there for less than 12 months. Students who have lived in the UK with permission for 12 months or more and apply to extend from inside the country are exempt. A deposit paid to the university for accommodation it has arranged can be set against the total, and the cap on that deduction also goes up, from £1,529 to £1,570.

The Home Office made the change in Statement of Changes HC 584, laid before Parliament on 3 September. Its explanatory memorandum says the monthly figure is matched to the maintenance loans the Department for Education offers British students, in this case for the 2026/27 academic year. Any application lodged before 30 November will be judged by the rules as they stood on 29 November.

The 28-day rule

The student rules ask applicants to show the money has sat in their account for 28 days in a row, and under Appendix Finance the latest bank statement must be dated within 31 days before the application. Applications made up to 29 November are checked against the old figures; those made from 30 November must meet the new ones.

Indians are the second-largest group granted UK study visas. Home Office figures published on 27 August show 82,523 study visas granted to Indian main applicants in the year to June 2026, 23% of the total and 16% fewer than a year earlier. China led with 86,368. Indians also received 64,495 Graduate route extensions, which let students stay on to work after a degree, the highest number for any nationality.

The Home Office has said the figure will keep tracking the student maintenance loan in future years.