UK Visa Rate in Nepal: Fees, Funds and Costs Explained
The real UK Student visa "rate" for Nepali applicants: £558 application fee, IHS, TB test and the exact maintenance funds required, city by city.
UK visa rate in Nepal: what the numbers actually are
There is no separate "Nepal rate" for the UK Student visa. A Nepali applicant pays the same £558 application fee as any other nationality, and must show the same maintenance funds as everyone else: £1,483 a month if the course is in London, £1,136 a month everywhere else, for up to 9 months. The Home Office does not publish a Nepal-specific approval or refusal percentage, so if you're searching for a "success rate," what actually determines the outcome is whether these fees and funds are evidenced correctly — and that's what this page covers.
Visa fees and charges — the full list
These are the costs tied directly to the application, in one place.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Student visa application, from outside the UK | £558 |
| Student visa extend or switch, from inside the UK | £558 |
| Immigration Health Surcharge | £1,035 per year of stay |
| TB test certificate (required for Nepal, courses over 6 months) | £65 |
| Maintenance — London, up to 9 months | £1,483/month, total £13,347 |
| Maintenance — outside London, up to 9 months | £1,136/month, total £10,224 |
| Dependant maintenance — London (rarely applicable, see below) | £845/month per dependant |
| Dependant maintenance — outside London (rarely applicable) | £680/month per dependant |
| Graduate visa application (if taken later) | £937 plus IHS £1,035/year |
The maintenance figure is in addition to the tuition fee shown on your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) — it is not part of it, and it is not reduced by any deposit you've already paid toward tuition.
On dependants: for a taught masters starting on or after 1 January 2024, you cannot bring a partner or child at all — only a PhD, another doctorate, or a research-based higher degree qualifies, or government sponsorship on a course over 6 months. If a married applicant is planning around bringing a spouse to a one-year MSc or MBA, that plan does not work under current rules.
How much money you actually need to show, city by city
The £1,483 / £1,136 split is a London / outside-London line drawn by the institution's location, not by how a city feels. It's worth £347 a month, so confirm which side of the line your specific campus sits on before budgeting.
| Where you'd study | Visa minimum (official) | Realistic monthly spend | Typical rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| London (UWL, City St George's, St Mary's, Huddersfield London, London Met) | £1,483/month | £1,300–£1,900/month | £800–£1,300/month |
| Manchester | £1,136/month | £950–£1,350/month | £550–£850/month |
| Birmingham | £1,136/month | £900–£1,300/month | £500–£800/month |
| Belfast / Coleraine / Derry (Ulster) | £1,136/month | £800–£1,150/month | £400–£700/month |
| Bradford / Huddersfield | £1,136/month | £800–£1,150/month | £400–£650/month |
| Liverpool | £1,136/month | £850–£1,200/month | £450–£700/month |
The "visa minimum" column is the Home Office figure and is exact. The "realistic" and "rent" columns are sector-norm estimates, not government figures — they exist so a family doesn't budget to the visa floor and run short in month seven. Only in London does the visa floor come close to matching real spending; everywhere else, the official minimum sits below what students actually spend. You can check how a specific course and city combination stacks up on the free Master Reckoner.
Tuition fees sit on top of this — a sample
The maintenance money above is separate from tuition. Here's the fee range across the institutions where these figures apply, so you can see what gets added to the maintenance total.
| Institution | Programme | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| Bradford | Master's, classroom-based | £15,700 |
| Ulster | Master's | £18,310 |
| Huddersfield | Master's | £18,700 |
| Huddersfield London | MSc, London campus | £18,700 |
| Gloucestershire | Master's, Band A | £20,190 |
| Bradford | Bachelor's, classroom-based | £16,100 |
| Ulster | Bachelor's | £17,490 |
| Exeter | Bachelor's, science/engineering | £31,200 |
Bradford appears twice at the lower end of both lists, and sits in one of the cheapest living-cost regions in the table above — the strongest combination here on total cost.
Documents the visa officer actually checks
The CAS is the anchor document — everything else is checked against it. The point most applications fail on is the bank statement rule, not the amount itself: maintenance funds must sit in the account for 28 consecutive days, and that 28-day window must end within 31 days of the visa application date. An account with the right balance on the wrong date is still a refusal.
Other documents needed:
- NEB/+2 or bachelor's transcripts and certificates, officially translated where required.
- English language evidence — IELTS, PTE or TOEFL as the course specifies, or an approved national qualification where the institution accepts one.
- TB test certificate from a UKVI-approved clinic, required for Nepal on courses over 6 months.
- Sponsor documents, if the funds aren't in the student's own name — relationship evidence, the sponsor's consent letter, and the sponsor's bank statements. Check whose name is actually on the account before you submit anything.
- An ATAS certificate, for some sensitive postgraduate science and engineering subjects.
After the visa: work rights and what comes next
Permitted work hours depend on the course level and whether it's term-time or vacation, and are stated on the CAS itself — don't assume a fixed number without checking it. At the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour (21 and over, from 1 April 2026), 20 hours a week works out to roughly £254 gross a week. That helps with living costs. It does not pay UK tuition, and a budget built on the assumption that it will is a budget that fails.
After graduation, the Graduate Route gives unsponsored work rights: 2 years for a bachelor's or master's if the application is made on or before 31 December 2026, dropping to 18 months for applications from 1 January 2027 onward, and 3 years for a doctorate. Moving from the Graduate Route into longer-term sponsored work means clearing the Skilled Worker salary floor of £41,700 a year — or £33,400 on the new-entrant/recent-graduate discount. Worth knowing before you commit: the median UK graduate salary is £30,000, below even the discounted floor. The visa and the degree are real; a guaranteed path to settlement is not something either one promises. More on the destination itself is on the UK study hub, and other country guides are on the blog.
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/
Common questions
How much money does a Nepali student need to show for a UK visa?
£1,483 a month for a London course or £1,136 a month outside London, for each month of the course up to a maximum of 9 months — totalling £13,347 for London or £10,224 outside it. This is on top of the tuition fee on your CAS, and must sit in the account for 28 consecutive days ending within 31 days of the application date.
Can a Nepali student bring their spouse on a UK masters visa?
No, not for a standard taught masters. Dependants are permitted on postgraduate courses starting on or after 1 January 2024 only for a PhD, another doctorate, or a research-based higher degree, or for a government-sponsored student on a course longer than 6 months. Raise this with the family before any application is lodged, not after.
What does the UK Student visa cost before travel?
The application itself is £558, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge at £1,035 per year of stay, plus a £65 TB test for courses over 6 months. None of these include tuition or living costs, which are evidenced separately through the CAS and the maintenance funds.
How long can a Nepali graduate stay and work after finishing?
Through the Graduate Route: 2 years for a bachelor's or master's if applying on or before 31 December 2026, 18 months for applications from 1 January 2027, and 3 years for a doctorate. Staying longer than that requires sponsored work under the Skilled Worker route, which has its own salary threshold.