UK student visa documents checklist

At a glance

The checklist

• Current passport or other valid travel document with a blank page for any vignette
• Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) reference number from your licensed student sponsor
• Unconditional offer letter from the UK university or college
• Proof of funds for tuition and living costs — 28-day bank statements, or an official financial-sponsor letter, or a letter from a recognised education loan provider (mandatory for Indian applicants, who are not on the exemption list)
• Tuberculosis (TB) test certificate from a UKVI-approved clinic in India, valid 6 months from the date of the X-ray
• Academic qualifications used to obtain the offer — Class 10 and 12 mark sheets, degree certificate and transcripts as listed on your CAS
• English language evidence — an approved SELT such as IELTS for UKVI (B2 for degree level and above, B1 below degree level), unless your CAS records that the sponsor assessed your English
• ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) certificate, if your course and nationality require one (typically sensitive science, engineering and technology subjects at RQF 7+)
• Written consent from your financial sponsor if a government or international scholarship body paid your course fees or living costs in the last 12 months
• Certified translations into English or Welsh of any document not originally in English
• If you are under 18: written consent from both parents or legal guardians covering the application, living arrangements and travel, plus your birth certificate or a government document naming your parents
• Proof of relationship and dependant documents (marriage certificate, children's birth certificates) if eligible dependants are applying with you

The three rules that decide a document

1. Consistency. Your name, date of birth and parents' names must match across passport, certificates and bank papers. A single spelling difference needs an affidavit and weeks.
2. Translation and certification. Anything not in the accepted language usually needs a certified translation, and "certified" has a specific meaning that varies by country.
3. Currency. Bank statements, medicals and police clearances all expire. A document valid when you gathered it may not be when you submit.

Assembling the file

• Start with the documents you do not control — transcripts from an old university, police clearances, attestations.
• Scan everything at the required resolution before you need it.
• Keep originals together; several routes ask to see them at biometrics or interview.
• Make one list of what has an expiry and when, and check it the week you submit.

The most common avoidable refusal in every route is a document that was not asked for being missing — people read the list as exhaustive. It is a minimum; an officer may ask for anything that supports your case.