student visa from Nepal
Everything on the UK Student route from Nepal — the CAS, the money rules that decide most refusals, the Kathmandu TB test, and the digital visa you'll actually receive.
Route: the Student route — full-time study at a licensed sponsor.
What you receive: a fully digital eVisa in your UKVI account — no BRP card, no passport sticker
Processing: commonly ~3 weeks, faster with priority services.
English for the visa: CEFR B2 at degree level, evidenced by a UKVI-approved SELT — or by the MOI route below.
Get your offer, then your CAS
Meet the offer conditions and the sponsor issues a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies. It states your course, fees, and any deposit already paid.
Prepare 28-day funds
Outstanding tuition plus the maintenance figure, held for 28 consecutive days. This is the step that fails most often.
Get the MoEST NOC
Nepal's Foreign Study Approval Letter — required before you remit fees.
Complete the TB test
At a UK-approved clinic in Kathmandu, before you lodge. Not optional, and not something you can do later.
Apply online and pay
On the UKVI site, paying the visa fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge for the full visa length.
Give biometrics at the visa application centre
At the UK visa application centre in Nepal, where you also submit documents.
Receive your digital eVisa
Through your UKVI account. There is no card and no passport sticker to wait for.
The UK's financial requirement is unusually mechanical. It is less about how much you have than about whether it sat in the right account, for the right number of days, evidenced the right way.
The required amount must be held for 28 consecutive days
Your statement's closing balance must be dated within 31 days of your application date
Never accepted as evidence: property papers, salary slips, shares or bonds, pension funds, credit cards, overdrafts
Nepal is not on the UKVI differentiation (low-risk) list. You must therefore submit full financial evidence upfront — nationals of some other countries are not asked to.
This is one of the few places where the UK is genuinely easier than Australia for Nepali applicants, and it is widely misunderstood.
UKVI-licensed sponsors may assess English themselves and accept alternative evidence — Grade-12 English at roughly 60%+, or a Medium-of-Instruction letter, in place of a SELT
This is legitimate, not a loophole, and it is widely used by Nepali applicants. The visa process is otherwise identical, and — to kill a persistent myth — your work rights are exactly the same whether you proved English by SELT or by MOI. What varies is university policy, so verify with each institution rather than assuming.
The MOI route is offered at the sponsor's discretion, not by right — and it does not exist at every university.
Financial evidence and 28-day errors — the most common and most preventable cause
Credibility and genuine-student doubts — an unconvincing study rationale; credibility interviews are possible
Using a low-rated sponsor — a sponsor's compliance rating affects how your application is treated
Refusals for Nepali applicants rose to about 16% in 2025, up from about 2% in 2024. The UK remains far more forgiving than Australia — but the direction of travel is the same, and the era of near-automatic approval is over.
Choose a compliant, well-rated sponsor. A university's compliance rating affects how your application is assessed, and it is one of the few risk factors you can control simply by choosing differently.
Students on taught courses cannot bring dependants. Only postgraduate research students — PhD and equivalent — and some funded students may.
If bringing a spouse or children matters to your plan, this single rule may decide your destination. It is the sharpest difference between the UK and Australia or Canada for married applicants, and it changes the arithmetic of a one-year master's considerably.
Identical to every other destination — the MoEST process does not vary by country, only your timing does.
The Foreign Study Approval Letter: online at noc.moest.gov.np, NPR 2,000, issued in ~1–5 working days, valid 6 months
Tuition is remitted bank-to-university through Nepali banks, with the NOC required. Living-cost remittance and cash carried out are governed by the NRB Unified Circular, and those dollar figures move with each revision.