UK Student Visa Cost and Processing Times in 2026

Applying for a UK Student visa costs £558 per person, whether you apply from outside the UK or extend or switch from inside the UK. You must also pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, the amount of which depends on how long your visa lasts. If you apply from outside the UK, you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks; if you apply from inside the UK, the usual decision time is 8 weeks. Faster decisions may be available for an extra fee, and you will be told if you can pay for this when you apply. This page sets out the fees and timelines that the Home Office publishes, and points to the official pages where you can check the figures that depend on your circumstances.

The visa fee itself

The Student visa application fee is £558, and the same figure applies in three situations. The GOV.UK Student visa overview states that it costs £558 to apply for a Student visa from outside the UK, £558 to extend a Student visa from inside the UK, and £558 to switch to a Student visa from inside the UK.

You must pay the visa fee for each person who joins you. If you are bringing a partner or children, they need to apply separately to extend their visa, and each of them will need to pay the fee. The fee is payable per application, not per household.

There is no separate fee for having your fingerprints and photo taken. The GOV.UK extend-your-visa page notes that you will need to have your biometric information taken, and that there is no fee for this.

The Immigration Health Surcharge

In addition to the visa fee, you will have to pay the healthcare surcharge as part of your application. The GOV.UK Student visa overview states that how much you pay depends on how long your visa lasts. The extend-your-visa page lists the healthcare surcharge as a required payment alongside the £558 visa fee, but does not publish the current per-year rate.

The surcharge is not a fixed sum that the official guidance can state. You will need to check the current rate on the official Immigration Health Surcharge page on GOV.UK, and calculate the amount based on the length of the visa you are applying for. The amount you pay will be added to your application at the point of submission.

Processing times: outside the UK

If you apply for a Student visa from outside the UK, you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks. This is the standard time frame published on the GOV.UK Student visa overview page.

The earliest you can apply from outside the UK is 6 months before your course starts. You can also arrive before your course begins, but the permitted window depends on the length of your course: up to 1 week before if your course lasts 6 months or less, and up to 1 month before if your course lasts more than 6 months. You must not travel to the UK before the start date given on your visa, regardless of when your course starts.

You may be able to pay more to get a faster decision, but the official guidance does not state the cost or the guaranteed time. You will be told if you can pay for a faster decision when you apply.

Processing times: inside the UK

If you are already in the UK and you are extending your Student visa, or switching to a Student visa from another visa, you will usually get a decision within 8 weeks. This is the standard time frame published on both the Student visa overview page and the extend-your-visa page.

The earliest you can apply from inside the UK is 3 months before your course starts. You must apply before your current visa expires, and your new course must begin within 28 days of your current visa expiring. For example, if your visa expires on 1 December, you must apply for a new visa before 1 December, and your new course must begin by 29 December.

You must also apply within 6 months of getting your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS). You can stay in the UK until you get your decision, and if you applied for an administrative review because your application was refused, you can stay until you get the review decision.

There is one important restriction while you wait. You must not travel outside of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you get a decision. If you do, your application will be withdrawn.

What can make a decision take longer

The 3-week and 8-week windows are the usual times, not a guarantee. The GOV.UK pages state that you will be contacted if your application is complex and will take longer. The examples given are:

• your supporting documents need to be verified
• you need to attend an interview
• your personal circumstances, for example if you have a criminal conviction

If you need to change something in your application after you have sent it, you should contact UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). You can also ask to withdraw your application, but your fee will only be refunded if UKVI has not started processing your application.

The academic progress requirement and eligibility

To extend your Student visa, you must be in the UK on a Student visa or a Tier 4 (General) student visa, have an unconditional offer of a place on a course with a licensed student sponsor (shown by your CAS), and show that your studies are at a higher academic level than your current course. There are exceptions to the academic progress requirement, including if you are resitting exams or repeating modules, completing a PhD you started under your last Student visa, or continuing a medical, dentistry or medical science degree after an intercalated course.

If you have been in the UK with a valid visa for less than 12 months, you will need to prove you have enough money to support yourself in the UK. The amount you need to show is not stated in the official guidance; you will need to check the current financial requirements on the official Student visa guidance page.

What you can and cannot do on a Student visa

The Student visa allows you to study and to work as a student union sabbatical officer. You may be able to work, but how much depends on what you are studying and whether you are working in or out of term-time. You cannot claim public funds (benefits) and pensions, work in certain jobs such as a professional sportsperson or sports coach, be self-employed, or study at an academy or a local authority-funded school.

If your application is successful, you will get an eVisa, which is a digital record of your immigration status. Your decision email or letter will tell you how to get access to your eVisa, and you will need to create a UKVI account.

What to do next and what to verify

Before you apply, check the current fees and surcharge rates on the official GOV.UK pages, because the healthcare surcharge rate is not published in the official guidance and you need to know the exact amount for your visa length. Confirm the financial requirement you must meet if you have been in the UK for less than 12 months, and check whether your course meets the academic progress requirement or falls within an exception.

Apply online. You will need to prove your identity either by using the UK Immigration: ID Check app to scan your identity document, or by having your fingerprints and photo taken at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) service point. You will be told what you need to do when you apply.

The two pages you should rely on are the Student visa overview page at gov.uk/student-visa and the extend-your-visa page at gov.uk/student-visa/extend-your-visa. Both are the authoritative sources for the fees and processing times set out above.