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Students across Africa hoping to study in the United Kingdom still face one of the biggest obstacles in the visa process: proving they have enough money to support themselves. Only three African countries are exempt from submitting financial evidence at the time of application.
Botswana, Mauritius and Tunisia are the only African nations on the UK’s differential evidence requirement list. They join about 60 countries and territories, including Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Students from the rest of Africa, including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt, remain subject to the full financial evidence requirement. Nigerian applicants, for example, are generally expected to provide proof of funds if UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requests it during the application process.
Even the exemption granted to Botswana, Mauritius and Tunisia is limited. It does not remove the financial requirement. Instead, it means applicants usually don’t have to submit bank statements or other financial documents with their initial application.
They must still have the required funds available. UKVI can ask for proof at any stage before making a final decision. Universities have also warned applicants not to assume they are completely exempt. The University of Greenwich, for example, says students from countries on the differential evidence list may still be required to provide supporting financial documents. Failure to do so could lead to a visa refusal.
For students from countries outside the exemption, the financial threshold remains high. Applicants must show they have £1,529 a month if studying in London or £1,171 a month if studying elsewhere in the UK. The funds must cover up to nine months of study and remain in the applicant’s or sponsor’s account for at least 28 consecutive days, ending no more than 31 days before the visa application is submitted.
That means students may need to show up to £13,761 for living costs in London or £10,539 outside London, on top of tuition fees.
Those bringing dependants face even higher costs. They must show an additional £845 a month for each dependant in London or £680 a month outside the capital, alongside their own maintenance funds and tuition fees.
There is one notable exception that applies to all nationalities. Anyone who has already held a UK visa for at least 12 months does not need to prove maintenance funds again. The rule mainly benefits students extending or switching visas from within the UK rather than first-time applicants from overseas.
The Home Office also limits what can be used as acceptable financial evidence. Cryptocurrency, shares, investment portfolios and overdraft facilities do not qualify. Applicants must instead rely on money held in an eligible bank account, an approved education loan or a recognised financial sponsorship.
As Africa’s youth population and demand for overseas education continue to grow, the gap between the three exempt countries and the rest of the continent has become more pronounced. While applicants from Botswana, Mauritius and Tunisia are spared submitting financial documents upfront in most cases, students from more than 50 other African countries must still meet both the paperwork requirements and the same financial thresholds before they can secure a UK study visa.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah