The information on this page must be read together with the Student Visa Policy Guidance and details available on the UK Visas and Immigration website.
Please read this guidance carefully! We realise there’s lots of information to read through, but if your visa is refused then you might not have enough time to make a new application before your course starts.
If you are coming to study a short course at LSHTM, please visit the "Visa requirements for short-term study" section.
Student Visa application
- How to apply
To be eligible to apply for a Student visa, you need to be able to score 70 points. Points are non-tradable, which means you will need to meet all the requirements. You will be awarded points for meeting the requirements of the route as set out in the table below:
Points type Requirements to be met Number of points Study - Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) requirement
- Course requirement
- Approved Qualification requirement
- Level of Study requirement
- Place of Study requirement
50 Financial - Financial requirements
10 English - English Language requirements
10 Once you have received your CAS from the School, you will need to complete an online application. Further instructions can be found on the UK Visas and Immigration website
When: You can apply for the student visa up to 6 months before the course start date. You must apply for your student visa before you travel to the UK and can only submit and pay for your application once we issued your CAS.
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) advise that decisions standard applications are made in 15 working days, however some application can take longer. A priority service is available in most countries at additional cost and aims to make a decision on the application in 5 working days. Some countries also offer a super priority 24-hour service for a decision.
Where: You should apply for your student visa in your country of nationality or country of residence (where you have permission to live other than as a visitor).
How: You will need to complete the Student Visa application online which includes paying the immigration health surcharge and visa fees. The cost of a standard student visa application is currently £490. Priority and super priority services may be available at a higher cost.
In most countries your appointment will be at a UK visa application Centre and you will submit your passport when you attend.
- The Immigration Health Surcharge
Applicants coming to the UK for 6 months or longer are required to pay a mandatory immigration health surcharge in order to access the National Health Service (NHS).
The surcharge is £776 per year based on the amount of leave granted on your visa. If the leave granted includes part of a year that is 6 months or less, the amount payable for that part of a year will be £388. If you have any dependants, they will also have to pay the charge.
For example, an MSc programme student would have to pay £1164: £776 for their 1-year course plus £388 for the additional 4 months of leave granted after the course ends.
Payment is made online as part of the visa application. The amount charged is based on the course start and end dates taking into consideration the short post-study period you will be granted on the end of the visa.
You can use the tool on the UK government webpage to calculate exactly how much you will need to pay.
- Students from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein
If you’re from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and you started living in the UK on or before 31 December 2020, you can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. If you started living in the UK from 1 January 2021, you'll need to apply for a visa to study in the UK.
Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) Request
- How do I get a CAS?
Once you have received the Conditional Offer letter, you should complete and submit the CAS request form along with all supporting documents. CAS requests can be made no earlier than 6 months from the course start date.
You must read the CAS Guidance to confirm what supporting documentation you need to include before sending the request form.
You should return the CAS request form and supporting documents to casrequests@lshtm.ac.uk.
The CAS Team will then assess your application, the CAS will normally be issued within 10 working days of receiving the CAS request provided all supporting documents and all other conditions of your offer have been met.
Financial requirements
- How much money do I need to show as part of the visa application?
Students coming to study for 9 months or more will need to show:
- enough funds to cover the first year’s tuition fees; and
- £12,006 for living costs (9 months at £1,334 per month for a student based in London). Even if your course is longer than 9 months, you only need to show 9 months’ living costs at £1334 per month. You need to show this amount even if you plan to live rent-free (for example with family) in the UK.
Students coming for less than 9 months will need to show:
- enough funds to pay the tuition fees, and
- £1,334 for each month of the course
- How do I show I meet the financial requirements for Student Visa?
It’s very important that you make sure you provide evidence of funds which meets the Home Office requirements. Insufficient evidence of funds will lead to a visa refusal with no right of appeal.
You must be able to prove that you have sufficient funds to cover your first-year course fees plus £1,334 in living costs for each month of your course up to a maximum of 9 months.
Financial documentation must meet the specific student visa requirements, please read through the guidance on the gov.uk website for further details
If you are self-funded
- You need to demonstrate the minimum required amount of money, and that you have held it in your bank account for at least 28 consecutive days and these must be from the 31 days before you submit the student visa application.
- The money you show must be in cash funds in the bank e.g. current account, savings account, deposit account, pension savings, investment account, provided that the cash can be accessed immediately.
- Other accounts or funds will not be accepted e.g. stock and shares, pensions bonds, overdrafts, lines of credit.
- Bank accounts that are not regulated by the financial regulatory body in the country you’re applying from, or bank accounts that don’t use electronic record keeping cannot be used.
- You need to show that funds have not gone below the minimum required, even for one day, or even by a small amount If necessary, you should provide evidence that is duly translated into English
- The bank account you use must be in your name (joint accounts in your name are acceptable), or in your partner’s name if they are applying for the defendant visa at the same time.
- If you are being funded by a parent or guardian, you can submit bank statements in their name, but you also need to provide evidence of your relationship (birth certificate) and a letter of permission from them.
- As part of the visa application, you are required to declare that the funds will be available to you for the duration of your studies.
If you are funding your studies through a loan
For student loans you need to show a student loan letter which:
- is dated no more than 6 months before the date of application
- confirms the loan is a student loan provided by either the relevant government or a government sponsored student loan company or an academic or educational loans scheme
- confirms there are no conditions on release of the loan funds other than a successful application to study
- confirms the amount of the loan
- confirms the loan is for you
- is on official stationery
- confirms the funds will be available to you, or paid directly to the sponsor, before you begin your course
If you are funding your studies through a combination of the above, then you must produce the relevant paperwork for all your sources of funding.
You can submit financial documents in another recognised currency, the conversion rates from https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/, the UKVI use the same website.If you have official sponsorship
To prove you have official financial sponsorship you need to show your reference number for confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS).
You will need to show a letter of confirmation from the official financial sponsor, the letter must show:
- the date
- he name of the financial sponsor
- contact details of the financial sponsor
- how long the sponsorship will last
- the amount of money that is being given or confirmation that all of your fees and living costs will be covered
Supporting documents
- What else do I need to provide with my visa application?
A valid passport: This should be the same passport which you submit as part of your application to the School as we use this to issue the CAS. If you get a new passport before your CAS is issued, then please email the CAS Team and provide copies of your new passport (front cover, photo page, visa and any UK endorsed pages).
Original evidence of qualification(s): You will have to submit the original evidence of qualifications used to obtain your offer to the School, as stated on your CAS. Please contact the CAS Team if you are unsure.
The visa application fee: The fee is £348.
- Can I submit documents in a language other than English, as part of my visa application?
Any supporting documents not in English must be sent with a fully certified translation by a professional translator that can be verified by the Home Office.
English Language requirements
- Do I need to provide evidence of English language level as part of my visa application?
All students must meet LSHTM’s English Language requirement to meet their offer conditions. This means you cannot be issued a CAS until you submit evidence of the required English Language level to Admissions.
When you make your visa application, you do not need to include evidence of your English Language level because the School will state in the CAS that we have assessed your English Language level as part of the admissions process.
Differentiation arrangements for applicants
Where an applicant qualifies under the differentiation arrangements, they are not usually required to provide evidence they meet the financial requirements. However, applicants should still hold the required level of funds as UKVI reserve the right to request evidence of funds, you will therefore be required to provide financial evidence with the CAS request. The UKVI suggest that nationals from the below countries qualify for differentiation arrangements:
Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United States of America
Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)
Anyone who applies outside the UK for a visa longer than 6 months is issued with a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP).
The BRP is similar in size to a credit card with a chip. It has the holder’s photo, immigration status and conditions while they are in the UK.
The BRP cards are printed in the UK and so successful visa applicants will initially receive a vignette (sticker) in their passport that allows them temporary entry clearance for the UK for a period of 30 days. BRPs must then be collected from a post office within 10 days of arrival in the UK.
Collecting Your BRP
If you are applying from outside the UK, you are able to collect your BRP from a Post Office or from the School, you must enter the code 2HE967 into the Alternative Location field in the BRP collection section to collect the BRP from the School.
You must collect your BRP within 10 days of your arrival in the UK; this can be done at LSHTM or at the allocated post office. You will need to bring your decision letter.
Failure to collect your BRP within the specified period will result in a civil penalty and/or a fine and your visa may be cancelled. When you collect your BRP, you should check the following information:
- Your name and date of birth
- Type of permit states Student Visa
- Valid until date
Valid until date: Your BRP should be valid for 4 months after the end date of the course.
If there are any errors on your BRP, you should declare this to LSHTM staff at the Visa Check or Registration.
The address where you can collect your BRP is printed on the decision letter you received when your passport was returned by the visa application centre.
Registration at LSHTM
You must bring your BRP and passport for Visa Check at Registration. You will be unable to register at the School until our staff have checked and received copies your BRP and passport.
If you will be arriving late for your course and will miss the Visa Check and/or Registration, please contact the CAS Team
Once you have received your visa
After the Entry Clearance Officer has finished assessing your visa application, your passport will be returned with a decision letter. If your application is successful, your passport will contain a vignette (sticker). This vignette is valid for 30 (90 during COVID-19 conditions) days and you must enter the UK during this period. Make sure that you check the following information is correct on the vignette:
- Valid from date
- Valid until date (30 / 90 days from the 'valid from' date)
- Type – Student Visa
- Your name, passport number and date of birth
- The sponsor licence number (you can find this on your CAS Statement)
If any of the above is incorrect, please contact your visa application centre immediately.
The decision letter will give the type of visa you have been issued and details of where you will collect your biometric residency permit (BRP). Make sure that you this letter safe, as you cannot collect your BRP without it.
Can I register on my course after the start-date, if I am delayed due to problems with my visa?
If you are not able to register by the course start date or latest date of enrolment as stated on your CAS for reasons beyond your control, you must contact the CAS Team as a matter of urgency to see if it will be possible for you to register at a later date You should not attempt to enter the UK without contacting the us, as you may be refused entry by UK Border Force.