UK Student Visa from Nepal: Funds, Fees and Rules

The short answer

To get a UK Student visa from Nepal you need an unconditional offer and a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from a licensed institution, the tuition shown on that CAS, and maintenance money of £1,483 per month for a course in London or £1,136 per month outside London, for each month of the course up to a maximum of 9 months — so £13,347 (London) or £10,224 (outside London). The application fee is £558 from outside the UK, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge at £1,035 per year of stay, a £65 TB test from a UKVI-approved clinic, and biometrics.

Two things cause most of the trouble in Nepali applications, and neither is the paperwork itself. The first is the 28-day bank rule. The second is dependants: for a taught masters starting on or after 1 January 2024, a spouse or child cannot come. Both are explained below.

What the maintenance money actually means

Maintenance is in addition to the tuition fee on your CAS, not instead of it. It is capped at 9 months regardless of whether the course is nine months or three years — a longer course does not mean a bigger maintenance figure.

The dependant rows are shown for completeness only. For a postgraduate course starting on or after 1 January 2024, dependants are permitted only on a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8) or a research-based higher degree, or for a government-sponsored student on a course longer than 6 months. A taught MSc, MA or MBA does not qualify.

The 28-day rule — where most refusals happen

The maintenance amount must sit in the account for 28 consecutive days, and the end of that 28-day period must be within 31 days of the visa application date. Prepare bank statements around the application date, not months in advance. The account must be in the student's own name or that of a permitted sponsor — if a father, mother or legal guardian is funding, you need relationship evidence, a consent letter and the sponsor's statements. Check whose name the account is in before you submit, not after a refusal.

"London" and "outside London" is a Home Office definition tied to the institution's location, not a judgement about how urban a town feels. Some south-east campuses sit in London's cost shadow without being in London for visa purposes. Confirm which side of the line your specific campus falls on — the monthly figure changes with it.

The steps, in order

1. Offer and CAS. Accept, pay the deposit, and the institution issues the CAS. Deposits in this group range from £1,000 (UCB, within one month of offer) to £4,000 (Ulster, before CAS), and up to 50% of first-year tuition at London Met and UCB. Huddersfield London charges a separate £260 non-refundable confirmation fee before the CAS request.
2. Hold the maintenance money for 28 days.
3. Apply — earliest 6 months before the course starts. £558 from outside the UK. From inside the UK, the earliest application is 3 months before the course starts, at the same £558.
4. Pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, £1,035 per year of stay, as part of the application.
5. TB test and biometrics. Nepal is a country where a TB certificate is required for courses over 6 months. Book it before the visa application, not after.
6. Arrive and enrol by the institution's deadline. Attendance and academic engagement are monitored and reported to the Home Office; a compliance breach puts both the place and the visa at risk.

Documents to assemble

• CAS (carries the course, the fee and the amount already paid — everything else keys off it)
• Bank statements meeting the 28-day and 31-day rules
• NEB/+2 or bachelor's transcripts and certificates; Nepalese documents may need official translation
• English language evidence: IELTS/PTE/TOEFL as the course requires, or an approved national qualification where the institution accepts one (London Met and UWL both publish approved lists for Nepal)
• TB test certificate
• Passport with sufficient remaining validity
• Sponsor documents if funds are not in the student's own name
• ATAS certificate for some sensitive science and engineering subjects at postgraduate level

Tuition — the number the maintenance sits on top of

Your maintenance requirement is fixed; your tuition is not. Fee level drives total cost more than anything else you control.

Undergraduate figures marked "per year" are per year, not whole-course. A pathway fee buys the preparation year only — after UoLIC, the family then pays University of Liverpool degree fees for the remaining years. Quote both halves to your parents, or the total comes as a shock later.

Fees can also move after acceptance. Plymouth states on its own fees page that the UK Government has announced a possible levy of around 6% on international tuition fee income and that it reserves the right to increase fees if implemented. Keele caps any 2026/27 increase at 5% and notifies by 30 April 2026. Ulster charges a separate clinical placement levy of £12,133 on relevant programmes.

Use the Master Reckoner to match courses, costs, entry requirements and English levels before you pay any deposit, and see the UK hub for institution profiles.

Living costs: the visa floor versus the real bill

The "visa minimum" column below is the official Home Office requirement. The "realistic" and "rent" columns are sector estimates, not scraped figures — they are here to stop a family budgeting to the visa floor and running short.

In London the visa floor and the real cost are close — it is the one place where the Home Office figure is roughly honest. Outside London the visa figure is a legal minimum, not a budget. Keele guarantees on-campus accommodation if you apply by 30 June for a September start.

On part-time work: permitted hours depend on the course level and whether it is term-time or vacation, and are set per case on the CAS — confirm against your own CAS rather than assuming the familiar 20-hour figure. The National Living Wage is £12.71/hour for those aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026 (£10.85 for 18 to 20). Work helps with living costs. It does not pay UK tuition, and a budget that assumes it will is a budget that fails.

After the course

The Graduate Route gives 2 years of unsponsored work for a bachelor's or master's graduate applying on or before 31 December 2026, and 18 months for anyone applying on or after 1 January 2027. Doctoral graduates get 3 years. The length depends on your application date, not your course date.

Converting that into a long-term UK career means a licensed sponsor under the Skilled Worker route, which since 22 July 2025 requires a salary of at least £41,700, or £33,400 on the new-entrant/recent-graduate discount. The median UK graduate salary is £30,000 (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2023/24, published 4 June 2026). The typical graduate therefore does not clear even the discounted floor. The Graduate Route is a real window to gain UK experience; treat it as that, not as a path to settlement.

Subject matters to earnings. Medicine and dentistry has a median of £43,749, engineering and technology £32,478, computing £31,788, business and management £28,990, law £26,488, design and creative and performing arts £25,998, and media, journalism and communications £25,938 — the lowest of any subject area. Placement years are priced separately at several institutions: Huddersfield £3,300, MMU £1,955, Gloucestershire £2,575, UCA £3,490.

Common questions

Can I bring my spouse on a one-year UK masters from Nepal?

No. For postgraduate courses starting on or after 1 January 2024, dependants are permitted only on a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8), a research-based higher degree, or for a government-sponsored student on a course longer than 6 months. A taught MSc, MA or MBA does not qualify. Settle this with your family at the first meeting.

How much money must be in the bank, and for how long?

£1,483 per month for a London course or £1,136 per month outside London, for each month of the course up to 9 months — £13,347 or £10,224. That is on top of the tuition shown on your CAS, less any fees already paid. It must be held for 28 consecutive days, ending within 31 days of the application date.

Will my +2 get me straight into first year?

At most institutions on this list, yes — the common bar is about 60% or GPA 2.5–2.8. UWL asks 60% or CGPA 2.5/4.0, Ulster asks 60%/GPA 2.8 including 50% in five subjects, and Plymouth asks GPA 2.8. But City St George's, University of London does not accept the Nepal school-leaving qualification for Year 1 at all; that student needs a foundation year, A-Levels or the IB.

How long is the post-study work visa now?

It depends on when you apply, not when you finish. Apply on or before 31 December 2026 and a bachelor's or master's graduate gets 2 years; apply on or after 1 January 2027 and it is 18 months. PhD graduates get 3 years. A student starting a one-year masters in September 2026 finishes in late 2027 and falls into the 18-month regime.

Official sources

• University of Exeter — https://www.exeter.ac.uk/
• Ulster University — https://www.ulster.ac.uk/
• Manchester Metropolitan University — https://www.mmu.ac.uk/
• Keele University — https://www.keele.ac.uk/
• City St George's, University of London — https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/
• University of Plymouth — https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/
• University of Huddersfield — https://www.hud.ac.uk/
• University of Huddersfield, London — https://london.hud.ac.uk/
• St Mary's University, Twickenham — https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/
• University of West London — https://www.uwl.ac.uk/
• University for the Creative Arts — https://www.uca.ac.uk/
• University of Gloucestershire — https://www.glos.ac.uk/

Fees and deposit terms change by intake — check the institution's own page before you pay. More country guides are in the blog.