USA student visa financial requirement

At a glance

The requirement, as published

There is no single government-fixed rupee or dollar amount (unlike Canada's GIC). The benchmark is the estimated cost of attendance printed on your Form I-20 — tuition plus living expenses for the program. USCIS requires that "you must have sufficient funds available for self-support during the entire proposed course of study." DHS (Study in the States) states a prospective F-1 student "must have financial evidence showing that they or a sponsor has sufficient funds to cover tuition and living expenses during the period of intended study," and the school's Designated School Official must collect that evidence before issuing the I-20. Accepted evidence per DHS "includes but is not limited to": family bank statements, documentation from a sponsor, financial aid letters, scholarship letters, and a letter from an employer showing annual salary. At the interview you must "give credible evidence that you have enough readily-available funds to meet all expenses for the first year of study and that you have access to funds sufficient to cover all expenses while you remain in the United States."

The form of the money matters as much as the amount

Applicants concentrate on reaching the figure and are refused on how the money is held. Across every major student visa route the same four questions decide it.

• Whose account is it in? Routes differ on whether a parent's account is acceptable and what proof of relationship is needed.
• How long has it been there? Many routes require the funds to have been held for a continuous period, and a deposit made last week usually fails.
• What kind of account? Some routes exclude accounts you cannot access immediately.
• Can you evidence the source? A large recent credit without an explanation invites a refusal even when the balance is correct.

Education loans as proof of funds

A sanctioned education loan is accepted as evidence of funds by several routes, which is why the loan timeline and the visa timeline are the same timeline. A sanction letter is usually needed, not an in-principle approval.

1. Confirm your route accepts a loan sanction letter, and from which kind of lender.
2. Allow for the loan taking longer than the lender indicates — collateral valuation is the usual delay.
3. Keep the sanction letter, the disbursement schedule and the lender's letterhead details together.

Our lender pages at /education-loan carry each lender's processing indication and how recently we read it. Work backwards from the visa date, not from the course start.