When looking for accommodation in the UK, you should do some research to ensure it meets your own individual needs and budget. We have produced a handy guide to get you started.
Where to live?
Newcastle Campus
For students studying at our Newcastle campus, there are several towns outside of the city that have good transport links and are approximately a 45-minute commute by public transport.
These include:
You can view their locations on a map here and find information about public transport in and around Newcastle on the Nexus website.
London Campus
Public transport in London, including the London underground makes it a very accessible place. Liverpool Street Station is just a 7-minute walk away from the campus.
You can view locations within approximately a 45-minute commute by public transport on a map here and find information about public transport at Transport for London.
If you will be bringing dependants, especially dependant children, with you whilst you study in the UK, you will need to consider additional requirements, including the availability of childcare or schools in the area you plan to live. Northumbria University does not offer student accommodation for families so you will need to rent privately.
It is advisable to book short term accommodation so that you can come to the UK and make the necessary arrangements for them, prior to bringing your children here. You can find short-term accommodation on Spare Room. Alternatively, you can book into a local hotel or hostel. Hostels tend to be cheaper but may not be suitable for families.
There are a variety of different types of childcare in the UK, including pre-school nurseries for children from 0 to 5 years old, childminders and after school clubs for school age children. Northumbria University Nursery is based at the at the City Campus in Newcastle and students can use this facility if there are places available. For childcare facilities in your local area please visit GOV.UK where you can carry out a search based on your postcode.
If your children are aged between 5 and 16, they can attend government primary and secondary schools in the UK, as long as they are here as your dependants. You will not have to pay for this. However, schools may sometimes refuse places to children if they consider their stay in the UK will be too short, or if the schools have no free places. You can find out more about choosing schools here.
The UK government sets out the immigration requirements for those individuals who wish to apply for Student immigration permission. Financial requirements are set out in Paragraph ST 12.3 of the Immigration Rules Appendix Student. (link to https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/appendix-student).
ST 22.1. of the Immigration Rules Appendix Student lists the nationals of countries (referred to as low-risk applicants) who do not need to provide evidence that the applicant meets the financial requirement but also states that this evidence may be required by the decision maker.
Low-risk applicants are not exempt from meeting financial requirements of the Student route, they are exempt from providing the evidence that they meet these requirements along with their Student visa application but can be asked to provide these when the application is processed. It is very important that low-risk applicants prepare their financial evidence before submitting Student visa application.
When applying for your Student visa you must meet specific requirements for financial evidence set out by the UK Visa and Immigration.
Your financial evidence must demonstrate that you hold required funds for remaining course fees and your maintenance requirements. You must show the funds have been held for 28 days, unless you are relying on a student loan or official financial sponsorship.
The bank statement(s) or evidence you use to show funds have been held for 28 days must be from the 31 days before you submit your visa application. The 28 days is calculated by counting back from the date of the closing balance on the most recent financial evidence.
If you will study in London, you will need £1,334 for each month of your course, up to a maximum of nine months. This means that if you will be studying in London for a course that lasts one month only, the amount that you will need is £1,334. If you will be studying in London for a course lasting nine months or more, the amount that you will need is £12,006.
The maintenance amount needed to be shown for Student visa applications is changing. For Student visa applications submitted on or after 02 January 2025, applicants applying to study in London must demonstrate £1483 per month of study up to £13 347 for a course lasting nine months or more
If you will study in Newcastle, the monthly amounts are lower: you will need £1,023 for each month of your course, and up to £9,207 for a course lasting nine months or more.
The maintenance amount needed to be shown for Student visa applications is changing. For Student visa applications submitted on or after 02 January 2025, applicants applying to study in Newcastle must demonstrate £1136 per month of study up to £10 224 for a course lasting nine months or more
Use the course start and end dates on your CAS to calculate the length of your course and therefore how many months' maintenance you will need. If the length of your course includes a part of a month, round it up to a full month. For example, if your course dates are 25 September until 31 January, this is four months and six days so you would need to show five months' of funds.
Please ensure that you have sufficient funds in your bank account at the time of submitting your Student visa application. If funds are not in British pounds (GBP), before submitting your Student visa application, you should convert the minimum balance held on the account for the last 28 days before statement date into GBP using OANDA and check the conversion rate on the date on which you make your visa application (this is the date when you make payment for your visa application fee). For some currencies such as Iranian Rials (IRR), Syrian Pounds (SYP) and Mongolian Tugrik (MNT) instead of Oanda currency converter you need to use FCDO’s exchange rate. You must make sure that you hold the correct amount of funds on the date of application. If currency fluctuations cause the minimum balance held on the account for the last 28 days before statement date to fall below the required amount, do not submit your visa application, as this will lead to a refusal. You can find information on how to ensure your financial evidence meets the Student Route visa requirements on the UKCISA and gov.uk website.
Please see further guidance on financial evidence for Student visa applications here and here.
If you have not been inside the UK with a valid immigration permissions for the last 12 months before the date of your Student visa application inside the UK, you will be required to provide financial evidence as set out by the UK Visa and Immigration.
Your financial evidence must demonstrate that you hold required funds for remaining course fees and your maintenance requirements. You must show the funds have been held for 28 days, unless you are relying on a student loan or official financial sponsorship.
The bank statement(s) or evidence you use to show funds have been held for 28 days must be from the 31 days before you submit your visa application. The 28 days is calculated by counting back from the date of the closing balance on the most recent financial evidence.
If you will study in London, you will need £1,334 for each month of your course, up to a maximum of nine months. This means that if you will be studying in London for a course that lasts one month only, the amount that you will need is £1,334. If you will be studying in London for a course lasting nine months or more, the amount that you will need is £12,006.
The maintenance amount needed to be shown for Student visa applications is changing. For Student visa applications submitted on or after 02 January 2025, applicants applying to study in London must demonstrate £1483 per month of study up to £13 347 for a course lasting nine months or more
If you will study in Newcastle, the monthly amounts are lower: you will need £1,023 for each month of your course, and up to £9,207 for a course lasting nine months or more.
The maintenance amount needed to be shown for Student visa applications is changing. For Student visa applications submitted on or after 02 January 2025, applicants applying to study in Newcastle must demonstrate £1136 per month of study up to £10 224 for a course lasting nine months or more
Use the course start and end dates on your CAS to calculate the length of your course and therefore how many months' maintenance you will need. If the length of your course includes a part of a month, round it up to a full month. For example, if your course dates are 25 September until 31 January, this is four months and six days so you would need to show five months' of funds.
Please ensure that you have sufficient funds in your bank account at the time of submitting your Student visa application. If funds are not in British pounds (GBP), before submitting your Student visa application, you should convert the minimum balance held on the account for the last 28 days before statement date into GBP using OANDA and check the conversion rate on the date on which you make your visa application (this is the date when you make payment for your visa application fee). For some currencies such as Iranian Rials (IRR), Syrian Pounds (SYP) and Mongolian Tugrik (MNT) instead of Oanda currency converter you need to use FCDO’s exchange rate. You must make sure that you hold the correct amount of funds on the date of application. If currency fluctuations cause the minimum balance held on the account for the last 28 days before statement date to fall below the required amount, do not submit your visa application, as this will lead to a refusal. You can find information on how to ensure your financial evidence meets the Student Route visa requirements on the UKCISA and gov.uk website.
Please see further guidance on financial evidence for Student visa applications here and here.
If you have been living inside the UK with a valid immigration permission for the last 12 months and have not been absent from the UK for a considerable period of time, you will not be required to provide financial evidence as part of your Student visa application to the UKVI.
However, you will still be required to provide evidence that you can support yourself financially and cover your course fees and maintenance expenses to the Welfare, Immigration and Funding Team (WIFT) before your visa application appointment.
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