A master's in the UK, paid for by you or your family

This guide is for a Nigerian graduate who wants a one-year taught master's at a UK university, paid for by herself or her family, and wants to understand enough to go. It takes you from your Nigerian degree to your first term in the UK in 13 steps: find your course on Rekoja's course search, apply through Rekoja, then your offer, your money, your visa, your flight and your first weeks. Each step says what to do, where, what you need, what it costs, how long it takes and when you are done. The detail sits at the end of each stage under "If you want to know more": read it when you reach that stage. Every fee, date and rule comes from the official page that sets it. The guide was read whole on 10 October 2026. Where a line says "applicants who did it say", it is what Nigerians report from their own applications, not a rule.

Today, 10 October 2026. Rekoja's advice: send your applications by the end of January 2027 for September 2027. January 2027 is still open at Northumbria (apply by 30 November 2026) and Birmingham (most courses by 30 October 2026).

By what you hold.

• Your degree class known and the money in one account: start at Step 2 today.
• The money still short: pick your courses and apply through Rekoja by the end of January 2027, and pay no deposit until the whole amount is in one account (Part 1, If your family holds less).
• An offer already in hand: go to Part 5.

Part 1. Before you start

What this route is

A taught master's is a one-year course of classes and a dissertation that ends in a master's degree. On this route you pay your university's fee and your visa yourself, and Rekoja applies to universities with you. You pay nothing to Rekoja to be placed.

Who pays what.

• Your university's tuition, paid by you: at the universities in this guide, from £17,000 (about ₦30.3 million) at Teesside to £34,830 (about ₦62.1 million) at Birmingham for one year.
• Your visa, paid by you: £558 (about ₦995,000) for the visa and about £1,164 (about ₦2 million) for the health surcharge.
• Money to live on, shown by you: £10,827 (about ₦19 million) outside London, for a visa applied for on or after 30 November 2026. It stays yours; you spend it in the UK.
• Rekoja, for applying with you: nothing.

The money comes first. At the lowest fee in this guide (Teesside), your family needs about ₦49.6 million in one account: the £17,000 fee and £10,827 to live on. After the £4,000 deposit, at least ₦42.5 million must stay there for 28 days in a row. With the visa and its health surcharge, the whole comes to about ₦52.7 million (Part 7). Check that you can start, below, says whether you can, and what to do if you cannot yet.

The Rekoja grant. Enrol through Rekoja and get a Rekoja grant of up to ₦500,000 towards your move. Paid after you enrol. Its terms are under Step 4 (If you want to know more: your application).

Your first move: find your course and apply through Rekoja. On Rekoja's page for this route, under "What do you want to study?", type your subject, like Public Health, and tap Find courses. Then:

1. The course list opens in a new tab. It carries ApplyBoard's name: Rekoja works with ApplyBoard to place students.
2. Open each course. Check its fee for the first year, its start date and the degree class it asks. Write down the university and the course name of up to three.
3. On the list, do not tap Create application or Register for Free Today: they make an account outside Rekoja. Come back to Rekoja and tap Apply through Rekoja. Rekoja applies to each university with you.

Step 2 and Step 4 walk you through it.

On a taught master's you come to the UK alone; on a research master's your family may be able to come (On a research master's, above).

On a research master's (MRes)

A research master's is a master's where most of your year is your own research project and a long thesis, with few classes or none. Universities call it an MRes, an MA or MSc by Research, a Masters by Research or an MPhil. Most take a year full-time; some take up to 16 months or 18 months, and Gloucestershire's take two years. Some ask for a short research proposal when you apply, and some invite you to an interview.

Who it fits. You want your husband, wife or children with you, or you want your own project more than classes. You still need the university's class line: Lancashire's two MRes and Northumbria's Arts MRes take a 2:2; Lincoln's, Hertfordshire's, Gloucestershire's and Birmingham's ask a 2:1.

Can your family come? On a Student visa, your family is your husband, wife or civil partner, your unmarried partner, and your children under 18. If you pay for yourself, they can apply to come with you only if your course is full-time, lasts 9 months or longer, and is "a research-based higher degree" or a PhD, and your university confirms it. The Home Office means a course whose "research component (including a requirement to produce original work) is larger than any accompanying taught component when measured by student effort". Your university says so on your CAS (the reference number your university sends you for your visa): RQF_7_Research, or SCQF_11_Research in Scotland. If a national government pays for your course through a scholarship or sponsorship, your family can apply on a full-time course of 6 months or longer. If you pay for yourself, a taught master's brings no family.

Applying through Rekoja, Rekoja asks for you. Your university decides whether your course counts. Before Rekoja applies, it asks each university for you in writing, and when your CAS comes, Rekoja reads it with you the same day.

The name alone does not settle it. Essex says its MRes is "a taught programme rather than a research degree" and that studying one "does not meet the Student visa requirements relating to dependant applications". Portsmouth calls its MRes courses "a postgraduate taught degree", and Newcastle its Research MA "a taught master's in research". Hertfordshire says you may be able to bring dependants on "a full-time Master's by Research (not a Master's with Advanced Research)" lasting at least nine months. Edinburgh says research-based degrees "usually" include its Masters by Research (MScR) and MPhil.

What your family costs. For each person who comes with you: £558 for the visa (about ₦995,000) and the health surcharge, £776 a year (about ₦1.38 million); a visa of more than 6 months but under a year pays a full year. Each must also have £680 a month for up to 9 months outside London, £6,120 (about ₦10.9 million), or £845 a month in London, £7,605 (about ₦13.6 million), on top of your own money, for at least 28 days in a row. Your partner can work in the UK; your family cannot claim public funds; their visas end when yours ends. Each person coming for more than six months needs a TB certificate.

After your course. Your family can stay with you on the Graduate visa only if they came as your dependants on your Student visa; a child born in the UK during your visa can apply too.

Research master's you can apply to through Rekoja, cheapest first, from the universities' own pages updated on 12 October 2026. The fee is for a year unless the cell says otherwise.

On the universities' own pages (not on Rekoja's list today: you apply to these on your own, and this guide walks you)

A course in these tables is not a promise that your family can come: your university decides, and your CAS shows it. Sheffield Hallam's and Liverpool's pages do not say their MRes is research-based, and Liverpool's sit under its taught courses.

Find yours. On Rekoja's course list, type what you studied and choose "A research master's". Pick up to three courses and tap Apply through Rekoja.

Check that you can start

Who can start, by degree.

• A first or a 2:1 fits every university in this guide.
• A 2:2 fits Coventry, Teesside, Hertfordshire and Northumbria. Birmingham asks a 2.1 for most courses, but its Master of Public Health also looks at a 2:2 with relevant work experience; Manchester asks a 2:1, and "for some courses, a good 2:2 bachelor's degree may be acceptable." At Hertfordshire, below a CGPA of 2.4 or 60%, you take its pre-masters course first (a preparation course run by the university before the master's).
• An HND alone: none of these universities' pages says that a Nigerian HND admits you to a taught master's. Coventry lists the HND only for its undergraduate top-up degree (the final year of a bachelor's, which an HND holder takes to hold a bachelor's degree); Teesside takes an HND into the second or third year of a bachelor's degree. So plan for a top-up or a pre-master's first, unless a university writes that it takes you for the master's. Apply through Rekoja and the desk asks each university for you; its answer decides whether you apply for the master's or for the course before it. Applying on your own, the email to send is under "If you want to know more", below.

Who can start, by money. You need the year's fees and £10,827 (about ₦19 million) to live on outside London, in one account for 28 days in a row before you apply for the visa. At Teesside, the lowest fee in this guide, that is £27,827 (about ₦49.6 million) in all: its £4,000 (about ₦7 million) deposit paid, then £23,827 (about ₦42.5 million) held for the 28 days. At Northumbria, the worked example in Step 6, £25,177 (about ₦44.9 million) is held for the 28 days after its £5,500 deposit.

If your family holds less. ₦25 million, for example, is about £14,000: it pays a deposit and part of the tuition at any university in this guide, but not the tuition still owed plus the £10,827 to live on for 28 days. You cannot apply for the visa yet, but you can apply to universities: the deposit is your first large payment. Do this, in order:

1. Pick your courses and apply through Rekoja by the end of January 2027 (Steps 2 to 4).
2. Pay no deposit and start no 28 days until the whole amount is in one account.
3. If it is not there by the deposit date on your offer letter (Birmingham's is 30 July 2027; Leeds's four weeks before the course), ask Rekoja to move your application to the next intake, or start again for September 2028. Leeds permits no deferrals: there, you start again.
4. Meanwhile, lower the amount where you can. A university award that your CAS shows taken off the fee lowers what you show (Step 6). Manchester's Global Futures Scholarship takes £19,000 (about ₦33.9 million) off for an unconditional offer for September 2027 and its form by 20 April 2027; Northumbria's award for Nigerians for September 2027 is being announced.
5. A student loan counts only if its letter meets the visa's rule (Step 6, If you want to know more). Access Bank's page does not say whether its school-fees loan writes that letter.

Who can start, by English. Most universities here take your WAEC English at C6 or better: Teesside, Hertfordshire, Leeds and Northumbria at C6; Manchester at B3 or B2 if taken in the last seven years. Birmingham asks no English test of a Nigerian whose degree is from a university on its approved list. Coventry asks IELTS 6.5 overall with 5.5 in each part, or TOEFL, and names "WAEC English minimum C". If a course you pick asks a test, take IELTS for UKVI (Step 1).

Who can start, by anything else. The Student visa asks that you are "16 or over"; no university page in this guide sets an upper age. A gap since your degree and an earlier visa refusal do not stop you; they need papers and declaring (Step 1, If you want to know more).

If you meet these lines, start Step 1 today.

Applying free first?

Until 20 October 2026, 4pm in Lagos: the Commonwealth Master's is open. It pays your whole tuition, your flights, your visa and its health surcharge, and a monthly stipend of £1,712 (about ₦3 million), or £2,000 (about ₦3.6 million) in London. Through the Federal Scholarship Board, the nominator for most Nigerians, it asks "A First Degree of at least Second Class Upper for Masters", evidence of your NYSC, and admission into at least two UK universities. If you hold a 2:1 and two UK admissions can be in your hands by 20 October, read the Commonwealth Master's guide today. With a 2:2 alone, the Board's call is closed to you. "The CSC does not charge to apply for any of its scholarships or fellowships through its online application system."

From 20 October 2026, 4pm in Lagos: the Commonwealth Master's for 2027/28 is closed; its guide carries the plan for the next window.

Chevening for 2027-2028 closed for Nigeria on 6 October 2026, and Chevening's page dates no next window. The Commonwealth Shared Scholarships for 2026/27 are closed.

Applying free costs nothing, and the grant never applies to a funded route: on a funded route the funder pays and nobody may charge you. On this route you pay your fees, you pay Rekoja nothing, and the grant comes after you enrol.

If you want to know more

The words you will meet.

• Your university gives you the place on the course. It must hold a licence from the Home Office to sponsor students: gov.uk calls it a licensed student sponsor. Check that it is on the Home Office's Register of licensed student sponsors, opens in a new tab, and that its Status column says "Student Sponsor - Track Record". Only a course at a university with a track record leads to the Graduate visa after it (Step 13). The register is a spreadsheet updated almost daily: open it in Google Sheets or Excel on your phone and use Find for the university's name.
• A CAS, a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies, is the reference number your university sends you once it has given you an unconditional offer and you have met its conditions. "You need a CAS before you can apply for your visa." It carries your course dates, your tuition fee and what you have already paid, and how your English was assessed.
• UKVI, UK Visas and Immigration, is the part of the Home Office that decides visas. It gives you the Student visa, which covers "a full-time course leading to a qualification that's degree level or above". On the visa papers a taught master's is written RQF_7, the level above a bachelor's degree.
• The immigration health surcharge, the IHS, is the charge for UK healthcare that you pay when you apply for the visa. With it, you use the NHS free from the day your visa starts, except for things such as prescriptions, dental treatment and eye tests.
• VFS Global runs the UK visa application centres in Nigeria, where you give your fingerprints and photo. IOM, the International Organization for Migration, runs three of the clinics on gov.uk's list for the TB test.
• An eVisa is the digital record of your visa. You no longer get a BRP, the plastic residence card students used to receive: "All BRPs have now expired and have been replaced by eVisas." You see your eVisa in a free UKVI account.
• A GP is your local NHS family doctor. You register with one in your first weeks.
• The Graduate visa lets you stay and work in the UK after your course, if you apply for it in the UK once your university has reported that you completed the course (Step 13).
• Flywire and Convera are the payment companies UK universities name for paying fees from abroad. The CBN's Trade Monitoring System is where a Form A, the form for buying foreign currency in Nigeria to pay a school abroad, is filled.
• ApplyBoard runs the course list Rekoja's search opens. Rekoja works with ApplyBoard to place students.

Why September 2027, with your applications in by the end of January 2027.

• Your money and your CAS cannot start early, so your application should. A university sends the CAS no earlier than six months before your course starts (Birmingham and Sussex each say so), and you can apply for the visa no earlier than 6 months before the course. Before the CAS, universities now check your money and interview you (Steps 5 to 7). Applicants who did it in 2025 and 2026 say the whole run from offer to CAS often took two to three months. An offer in hand by March gives you the time.
• The universities' own money for self-funded Nigerians closes early. Manchester's Global Futures Scholarship for African students takes £19,000 off the fee for a self-funded student who holds an unconditional offer for September 2027 and sends its form by 20 April 2027. High-demand courses close early: Manchester runs some courses in stages, the first closing on 6 December 2026, and Edinburgh's Master of Public Health has rounds closing on 11 December 2026 and 19 February 2027, then later.
• September avoids the slow season. Applicants who applied for a January start in December 2025 say they waited four to eight weeks or more for a visa decision, several past their start date. Applicants who applied in the middle of the year say decisions often came in one to fourteen days.

What the route asks of you. The whole year's tuition and the living money, shown in a bank account for 28 days in a row before you apply for the visa (Step 6). An interview you prepare for: your university's, and often UKVI's. Months of waiting between the offer and the visa. And a visa that can be refused. Refusals of Nigerian student visas rose sharply in 2026. Times Higher Education, in May 2026, put Nigeria's study visa refusal rate for January to March 2026 at 21%, four times its earlier level; the British Council put it at 22.6% and 24.9% in the first two quarters of 2026, against 13.1% and 7.3% for all nationalities. Universities now check Nigerian applicants more closely: applicants report deposits raised for Nigerians, money checked before the CAS, and interviews before the CAS at most universities.

Your degree, as each university prints its line for a Nigerian degree.

• Coventry: "a Bachelor degree at 2:2 or 55% and above".
• Teesside: "a 4 year bachelors degree with a minimum of 2.2".
• Hertfordshire: "a 4 year bachelors degree with a minimum of 2.2"; below a CGPA of 2.4 or 60%, its pre-masters course.
• Northumbria: a lower second class, or a CGPA of 2.4 out of 5.0, from a government-recognised university.
• Birmingham: a bachelor's of at least four years, and for most taught master's a 2.1 with a CGPA of at least 3.0 out of 4.0 or 3.5 out of 5.0.
• Manchester: generally a 2:1 or a CGPA of 3.5 out of 5.0; "for some courses, a good 2:2 bachelor's degree may be acceptable."
• Leeds: what the course asks, read as the same class from a Nigerian degree (a 2.2 for a 2.2).

An HND, in full. Northumbria's Nigeria table prints "Post Higher HND 40%" under its postgraduate lines without saying which award it leads to. Applicants with an HND in 2025 and 2026 say most London universities refused an HND alone, and that some universities offered a bachelor's top-up or a pre-master's instead. They name Sunderland, Roehampton, Teesside, Edinburgh Napier, UWE Bristol, Cardiff Metropolitan, Bolton, Hertfordshire, Coventry, West London, London Met and Birmingham City as having taken an HND for a master's or a pre-master's. Applying on your own, email the admissions office of each university you want before you pay any application fee: "I hold an HND [class, CGPA] [and a postgraduate diploma from ...]. Will you admit me to [the course], or to a pre-master's course first?" For Northumbria, write to its Lagos office (nigeriaoffice@northumbria.ac.uk): "Your Nigeria table prints 'Post Higher HND 40%'. I hold an HND [class, CGPA] [and a PGD]. Which master's will you admit me to?" Email them all on the same day. If one has not answered in two weeks, email again, and start Step 3 meanwhile: your transcript serves whichever university says yes. Keep each reply.

A pre-master's or a top-up first. It is a second course before the master's, with its own fee and its own months in the UK, so your tuition, the money you show and your visa change. This guide walks the master's alone: get the university's length and fee for the course before it in writing, and whether one CAS covers both courses.

Your time since your degree. UKVI looks at "the amount of time that has elapsed since the applicant last studied, and whether the applicant has sound reasons for returning to ... formal study". Keep evidence of what you have done since you graduated: your NYSC certificate, your job letters and payslips (Step 3).

An earlier visa refusal. UKVI looks at "previous visa applications for the UK and other countries, including reasons for any visa refusals". Declare every refusal, to Rekoja, to the university and to UKVI (Steps 4 and 9).

The whole money at Northumbria. For one year at Northumbria, the worked example in Part 7, you need about £32,400 (about ₦57.8 million) before the flight: the tuition, the living money the visa asks you to show, the visa fee and the surcharge.

The Commonwealth Master's and the other free routes, in full. You apply on the CSC's system, CSC Central, and you also apply to a nominator: in Nigeria, the Federal Scholarship Board. The CSC itself takes "a lower second-class degree and a relevant postgraduate qualification (usually a Master's degree)", but through the Board a 2:2 does not qualify: the Board's call asks "A First Degree of at least Second Class Upper for Masters", with no 2:2 line, and the Board's line is the one you live under. The Commonwealth Shared Scholarships ask a 2:1. Chevening asks "an undergraduate degree that will enable you to gain entry onto a postgraduate programme at a UK university", "typically equivalent to an upper second-class (2:1) honours degree in the UK". With an HND: the CSC's page does not name the HND, the Board's call invites "qualified Nigerian University graduates", and Chevening tells you to "contact individual universities". The Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are made through UK universities, which choose the candidates; they ask a 2:1 and that you cannot afford to study in the UK without the scholarship. The universities' own awards for self-funded Nigerians do not replace your money but reduce it: Northumbria's for Nigeria, Hertfordshire's Chancellor's and Coventry's Group Scholarship take a 2:2 (Step 2, If you want to know more).

If you are also applying for Chevening or the Commonwealth Master's. Much of the work for a paid master's is the work for the two UK government scholarships. Do it once.

• Your universities. The CSC takes up to three course choices; Chevening asks you to apply to three courses and hold an unconditional offer from at least one by its own deadline. The same applications to the same universities serve your paid route. Leeds asks that, if you are also applying for a scholarship, your application reaches it "at least one month before the scholarship deadline". Chevening asks one-year taught master's courses only; the CSC takes up to three choices in order.
• Your transcript. The CSC wants full transcripts of every year, uploaded by you by its close. Your universities want your transcript too (Step 3). Chevening takes no transcript to apply. Get it out once, for all three.
• Your referees. The CSC wants at least two signed reference letters with your application. Your universities ask one or two (Step 4). Ask the same people once.
• Your English. Neither the CSC nor Chevening asks an English test to apply. Your universities set their own English rule for each course, and the visa reads what your university says on your CAS (Step 1). One answer serves all three.
• Your deposit. A university deposit is yours to pay on the paid route. If you are waiting for a scholarship result, Leeds advises you not to pay the deposit while you wait, because you may not get it back. Leeds, Manchester, Sussex and Birmingham each take a full sponsor's letter in place of a deposit.
• What one result does to the other. Paying for a UK master's yourself closes the Commonwealth Master's to you afterwards: it is not open to anyone who has already studied at master's level at a UK institution. Chevening still takes someone who already holds a master's, but not someone who "previously studied in the UK on a UK government-funded scholarship". A Chevening or Commonwealth Scholar must go home after the course and cannot switch to the Graduate visa; on the paid route you can (Step 13). If you win a scholarship after paying a deposit, Leeds refunds a deposit once your sponsor pays your tuition in full; get your own university's rule in writing before you pay.

If you want to know more: every university's dates

On 10 October 2026, the day this guide was read whole, two intakes are open: January 2027, closing soon, and September 2027, the one this guide walks.

Rekoja's advice: send your applications through Rekoja by the end of January 2027 for September 2027. It is advice, not a university's deadline: an offer by March 2027 leaves time for the money checks, the interview and the CAS, which comes no earlier than March 2027.

From today: what you can still start.

Part 2. Your 13 steps on one page

Before you start

1. Check that you can start. Your degree, your money, your English. Free. Today.

Your course

2. Find your course on Rekoja's search. Type your subject, pick up to three courses, come back. Free. One evening.
3. Get your papers ready. Your transcript (₦5,000 to ₦25,000), your degree certificate, your WAEC result, your NYSC certificate, a valid passport (a new one ₦100,000, 42 days), the same name on each. Start this week.
4. Apply through Rekoja. Send Rekoja your courses and your details; Rekoja applies to each university with you. You pay nothing to Rekoja to be placed. By the end of January 2027 for September; universities answer in about a week to eight weeks.

Your offer

5. Accept your offer. Accept the one you want, meet its conditions, prepare for the university's interview. Free.
6. Keep your money in one account for 28 days. At Northumbria, £30,677 (about ₦54.7 million) in, never below £25,177 (about ₦44.9 million) once the deposit is paid.
7. Pay your deposit and get your CAS. £2,000 (about ₦3.6 million, Leeds) to £8,000 (about ₦14.3 million, Coventry), on the university's own payment page. The CAS comes no earlier than six months before the course.

Your visa

8. Do your TB test. $94 (about ₦125,000) at IOM, or ₦120,000 at a Lagos clinic. In the month before you apply.
9. Apply for your Student visa. £558 (about ₦995,000) and about £1,164 (about ₦2 million) of health surcharge; fingerprints and photo in Lagos or Abuja. A decision usually within 3 weeks.

Travel and your first term

10. Travel to the UK. Your UKVI account, your eVisa, your share code; fly up to one month before your course.
11. Enrol at your university. Before the last date on your CAS. Then claim your Rekoja grant.
12. Set up your first weeks. A GP, a UK bank account, your National Insurance number if you will work, your tuition paid on time.

After your course

13. Apply for the Graduate visa. 18 months to stay and work: £937 (about ₦1.7 million) and £1,552.50 (about ₦2.8 million) of health surcharge.

The money. For one year at Northumbria, the worked example in Part 7, the tuition, the living money, the visa fee and the surcharge come to about £32,400 (about ₦57.8 million). Your transcripts for three universities, your English test and your TB test add about ₦516,000. Your flight, your first month's rent deposit, and the three months of the year the living money does not count come on top. The Rekoja grant, up to ₦500,000, comes after you enrol and is never counted in these figures.

The time. No official page states how long the whole journey takes. On this guide's route you apply between October 2026 and the end of January 2027, hold your offer by about March 2027, your CAS from March 2027, your visa in the summer, and start in September 2027: about eleven months from October 2026. On a January start the steps are the same in about three months: apply in October or November 2026, pay the deposit and get the CAS as early as you can (Northumbria's last dates are 13 and 16 December), apply for the visa the day the CAS comes, and start in January 2027.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Before you start

Back to the short stages

Step 1. Check that you can start

See whether your degree, your English and your family's money fit a UK master's.

Do.

1. Your degree. A 2:1 fits most courses. A 2:2 fits courses at Coventry, Teesside, Hertfordshire and Northumbria. With an HND, apply through Rekoja: the desk asks each university whether it takes you for the master's, or for a pre-master's first.
2. Your money. You need the year's fees and £10,827 (about ₦19 million) to live on outside London, in one account for 28 days in a row before you apply for the visa. At Teesside, the lowest fee in this guide, your family needs £27,827 (about ₦49.6 million) in one account: the £17,000 fee and £10,827 to live on. After the £4,000 deposit, at least £23,827 (about ₦42.5 million) must stay there for 28 days in a row.
3. Your English. Most universities here take your WAEC English at C6 or better. If a course you pick asks a test, take IELTS for UKVI.

Where. Here, and on each course's page once you search (Step 2).

What you need. Your degree class or CGPA, and your WAEC result.

Cost. Free. IELTS for UKVI, only if a course asks a test: ₦315,500 at IDP Nigeria.

Time. Today. An IELTS for UKVI sitting within 28 days of booking; results in 1 to 5 days.

Watch out. Do not pay any deposit until the whole amount is in one account.

You are done when your degree fits a course, your English evidence is known, and your family can have the money in one account before you apply for the visa.

If it goes wrong. If your money is less than this, pick your courses and apply through Rekoja anyway, and pay no deposit until the whole amount is in one account (Part 1, If your family holds less). If your degree class is below a course's line, choose a course at a university that takes your class, or its pre-master's course.

Next. Find your course on Rekoja's search (Step 2).

If you want to know more: your English

The visa's rule. For a master's, the Student visa needs English at level B2 in reading, writing, speaking and listening. "If you're studying at degree level or above, your Higher Education Provider (HEP) can assess your level of English themselves." Where your university assesses you, it states that and its method on your CAS, and that is what UKVI reads. Nigeria is not on the list of countries whose nationals are excused.

Each university's rule. Your university usually asks more than B2. What the universities in this guide take from a Nigerian:

• Birmingham: no English test from a Nigerian with a degree from a university on its approved list.
• Manchester: WAEC English at B3 or B2 if taken in the last seven years; no English test for a degree from Nigeria taught entirely in English.
• Leeds: WAEC English at C6; no further test for someone who studied at least two years in Nigeria for a degree taught in English.
• Northumbria: WAEC or NECO English, typically C6; it does not accept an English-medium letter.
• Teesside: WAEC English at C6 for a course asking IELTS 6.0, C5 for 6.5, C4 for 7.0; or its own English test, the TELT, which is free, run by its regional office in Nigeria once you have paid your deposit, and valid for two years.
• Hertfordshire: WAEC or NECO English at C6.
• Coventry: its Nigeria line asks IELTS 6.5 overall with 5.5 in each part, or TOEFL, and names "WAEC English minimum C"; its English page asks a SELT, a Secure English Language Test approved by the Home Office.
• Edinburgh: a degree from eight Nigerian universities on its list counts as English evidence if the degree is no more than five years old when the course starts.

If you hold an HND. No university's English line in this guide names the HND. Use your WAEC English where the university takes it, or take IELTS for UKVI. Manchester takes WAEC English only if taken in the last seven years; the others' pages state no age limit for a WAEC result.

Which test, if a course asks one. Take IELTS for UKVI (Academic). It is a SELT, so it serves every university and the visa. Standard IELTS Academic is cheaper, and Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester take it, but it is not a SELT. Book it in the name on your passport, and sit it with your passport, original and current. Sit it once your courses are chosen, not years ahead.

Where to sit it. IELTS for UKVI is sat at the Home Office's approved centres in Nigeria: in Lagos at the British Council (20 Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi; 1B Birrel Avenue, Yaba; and Gbagada), IDP IELTS Victoria Island (2A Louis Solomon Close) and IDP IELTS Nigeria (Landmark House, 52 to 54 Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA); in Abuja at the British Council (Plot 3645 IBB Way, Maitama; and Art-Thez, Plateau House, Central Area) and IDP IELTS Abuja (50 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2); in Benin City at Lapo Institute; in Port Harcourt at the British Council (No. 3 Odi Street, Old GRA). PTE Academic UKVI is sat at Emerging Trees (Lugbe, Abuja), Bellaz Education Services (Surulere, Lagos) and Centerbase (Yaba, Lagos); LanguageCert in Victoria Island, Lagos, and Port Harcourt; PSI's Skills for English UKVI in Abuja and Lagos. Book on the provider's own site, not the centre's: IDP's Nigeria test dates, opens in a new tab. The Home Office's list is on Prove your English language abilities with a SELT, opens in a new tab.

The scores. The visa's B2 floor: IELTS for UKVI 5.5 in each part; PTE Academic UKVI 59 in each; LanguageCert Academic SELT 60 in each. Your course's own score is higher: for example IELTS 6.5 overall with no part below 6.0 at Leeds and Birmingham, and 6.5 with no part below 5.5 at Coventry. The overall band is the average of the four parts, rounded to the nearest half band, with .25 rounded up to the next half and .75 to the next whole band.

What it costs. IELTS for UKVI (Academic or General Training) on computer at an IDP centre: ₦315,500. IELTS Academic on computer at an IDP centre: ₦299,000. TOEFL iBT in Nigeria: $170 (about ₦227,000). Teesside's TELT: free. For PTE Academic UKVI, the fee for Nigeria is on Pearson's own booking page; for IELTS for UKVI at the British Council, on its own booking page: read it there before you book. A third party who books for you must charge no more than the provider's own price.

How long it lasts. A SELT result is valid for 2 years from the day it is awarded, and must be under two years old on the day you apply for the visa. Leeds will not take an IELTS more than two years old at the start of your course; Birmingham the same.

After the test. You receive your reference number, the "UKVI number" for IELTS: keep it, because your CAS must carry it, and an application without it can be refused. If you miss a score, book the test again. A SELT provider sometimes lets you resit one part: read its terms before you book.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. Neither asks an English test to apply; the same university English rule serves all three.

On a January start. Book the test this week if a course asks one: results come within 5 days, but a sitting can be up to 28 days away.

Your course

Back to the short stages

Step 2. Find your course on Rekoja's search

Type what you want to study. Pick up to three courses, then come back to Rekoja.

Do.

1. On Rekoja's page for this route, under "What do you want to study?", type your subject, like Public Health, and tap Find courses. Nigeria and master's are already set for you.
2. The course list opens in a new tab. It carries ApplyBoard's name: Rekoja works with ApplyBoard to place students. Open each course. Check three things: the tuition for the first year, the start date, and the degree class it asks.
3. Write down the university and the course name of up to three, at three universities, so that one refusal or one slow CAS does not stop you.
4. Come back to Rekoja and tap "Yes, apply through Rekoja" (on the page) or "I have picked my courses" (in your plan). Type the university and the course; add its link if you copied it.

Where. Rekoja's course search, which opens the course list run by ApplyBoard.

What you need. Your subject, your degree class, and the money line from Step 1 in mind.

Cost. Free.

Time. One evening.

Watch out. On the list, do not tap Create application or Register for Free Today: they make an account outside Rekoja. Come back to Rekoja and tap Apply through Rekoja (Step 4).

You are done when you have up to three courses saved with Rekoja.

If it goes wrong.

• The list shows nothing. Type a subject, not a university's name: a university's name in the box returns "No programs found."
• Your course is not on the list. The list does not hold every university. Apply to the university yourself: this guide walks you through every step (Step 4, Applying on your own). The Rekoja grant is only for courses you apply for through Rekoja.

Next. Get your papers ready (Step 3). You can do it while you choose.

If you want to know more: choosing your course

What the course list shows. Each course on the list carries its university, the course, its city, the "Tuition (1st year)", the "Application fee" (often "Free"), the "Duration" (for example "12 months") and the "Available intakes" (for example "Jan 2027", "Sep 2027"). A tap on a course's name opens its page with its description.

How to choose, as an expert would.

1. Check the university is licensed. On the Home Office's register, its Status must say "Student Sponsor - Track Record" (Part 1, the words you will meet).
2. Read the university's own Nigeria page, deposit page, refund page and payment page before Rekoja applies. Write down, for each: the deposit for a Nigerian, when the rest of the tuition falls due, and what is refunded if your visa is refused.
3. Choose by the whole first-year cost, not the deposit. A low deposit with the whole tuition due within three months costs you more in the first year than a higher deposit with instalments.
4. Three courses at three universities, so one refusal or one slow CAS does not stop you.

A taught master's in the UK is applied for at the university itself, not through UCAS (the UK's central admissions service, used mainly for bachelor's courses), except master's courses in social work, nursing or medicine, which UCAS runs. UCAS postgraduate, opens in a new tab also lists courses.

The universities in this guide. These five take Nigerian applicants in large numbers and publish what a Nigerian needs. Coventry, Teesside, Hertfordshire and Northumbria take a 2:2. Birmingham asks a 2.1 for most courses.

Coventry University. How to apply, opens in a new tab: Coventry takes applications on its own portal or through an agent; UCAS is for its undergraduate courses only. It aims to give an initial decision within one week, longer at busy times. Example: the MSc International Business Management, one year full-time, with starts in September 2027, November 2027 and January 2028; the 2026/27 international fee was £19,500 (about ₦34.8 million) and the 2027/28 fee is not yet published. It asks a 2:2 or above in any subject, and IELTS 6.5 overall with no part below 5.5. For Nigeria its entry page asks a bachelor's "at 2:2 or 55% and above", with IELTS 6.5 overall and 5.5 in each part, or TOEFL, and "WAEC English minimum C". Its deposit for a Nigerian applicant is £8,000 (about ₦14.3 million): "This payment is required to release the Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS) letter." It prints no dated application deadline: your deadline is "the deadline outlined in your offer letter". Its Group Scholarship for 2026/27 takes £2,000 (about ₦3.6 million) a year off the fee for a self-funded international student, applied after you enrol. You pay Coventry only through Convera (Step 7, Paying in pounds from Nigeria).

Northumbria University, Newcastle. International master's fees, opens in a new tab. Its 2027/28 fees for a one-year course are £19,850 (about ₦35.4 million) for arts, design and social sciences, law, and healthcare and natural science courses, and £21,500 (about ₦38.4 million) for business and finance, and computing, engineering and environment courses; the same as 2026/27. For Nigeria it asks a lower second class or a CGPA of 2.4 out of 5.0 from a government-recognised university, and typically WAEC English at C6; it does not accept an English-medium letter as English evidence. Its deposit is £5,500 (about ₦9.8 million), paid in one instalment. Its Northumbria International Scholarship took £6,000 (about ₦10.7 million) off the fee for a self-funded master's student domiciled in Nigeria starting in September 2026 or January 2027, applied automatically; for September 2027 its scholarships "are currently being announced". Its West Africa office in Lagos gives free guidance, visa counsel and mock credibility interviews: 17 Kafi Street (behind Shoprite ICM), Alausa, Lagos, by appointment only; nigeriaoffice@northumbria.ac.uk, phone or WhatsApp 08188 157 535.

Teesside University, Middlesbrough. Fees for international students, opens in a new tab. A one-year MSc or MA was £17,000 (about ₦30.3 million) for 2026-27, "the full cost of the programme"; the 2027-28 fee is not yet printed. For Nigeria it asks "a 4 year bachelors degree with a minimum of 2.2", and takes WAEC English at C6 where a course asks IELTS 6.0, C5 for 6.5 and C4 for 7.0. Its deposit is £4,000 (about ₦7 million) before the CAS. You verify your qualifications on its Qualification Check portal, usually for £30 (about ₦54,000). Its Lagos office helps: 96A Oduduwa Crescent, Ikeja G.R.A., Lagos, +2349066015859, africa@tees.ac.uk. Its scholarships for September 2026 were the Global Excellence Scholarship (£2,000, about ₦3.6 million, for an offer held by 30 April 2026) and the Vice-Chancellor's (£7,000, closed). It prints no award for later intakes yet. Its £1,000 (about ₦1.8 million) Alumni Scholarship is only for "a direct applicant (you must not use an agent)": at Teesside, you choose between that award and applying through Rekoja. Choose by the year's whole cost and the job after the course.

University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield. Nigeria page, opens in a new tab. It asks "a 4 year bachelors degree with a minimum of 2.2" and WAEC or NECO English at C6; below a CGPA of 2.4 or 60%, its pre-masters course. It wants "two signed academic references on headed paper", and a personal statement on why the course, the university and the UK, and your career aims. Its 2026/27 fees for a standard one-year course run from £17,950 to £22,950 (about ₦32.0 million to ₦40.9 million), with £1,000 off if you pay in full; its 2027/28 fees are not yet printed. Its deposit is £5,000 (about ₦8.9 million) at the least, more on some courses. Its Chancellor's International Scholarship of £500 to £4,000 is automatic. Its West Africa representative is nigeria@herts.ac.uk.

University of Birmingham. Apply for a taught master's, opens in a new tab. For September 2027 its dates for overseas applicants are: application by 2 July 2027, deposit by 30 July 2027, conditions met by 30 August 2027, the CAS issued by 3 September 2027; some programmes set earlier dates, and no hour is printed. It charges no application fee, though "Some taught courses may charge a £50 application fee" (about ₦89,000). Example: the MSc International Business, one year, £34,830 (about ₦62.1 million) for September 2027, a 2:1 in any subject, IELTS 6.5 with no band below 6.0. For Nigeria it asks a bachelor's of at least four years, and for most taught master's a 2.1 with a CGPA of at least 3.0 out of 4.0 or 3.5 out of 5.0; its Master of Public Health also looks at a 2:2 with relevant work experience. A Nigerian whose degree is from a university on its approved list sends no English test. Its deposit is £3,000 (about ₦5.4 million). Its scholarships for Nigerians: the Postgraduate High Fliers Scholarship for January 2027 (£5,000, about ₦8.9 million, off the fee for a self-funded student on its listed January courses, deadline 7 December 2026), and the Chancellor's Scholarships for Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya (£10,000, about ₦17.8 million, for September 2026, closed). Its £3,000 Birmingham Masters Scholarship is for home students only.

If you hold a 2:1: more universities that publish a Nigeria line.

• University of Manchester. Applications for 2027/28 opened on 10 October 2026, and some courses close in stages (the first stage on 6 December 2026). It generally asks a 2:1 or a CGPA of 3.5 out of 5.0, "a good 2:2" on some courses, takes WAEC English at B3 or B2 if taken in the last seven years, and waives English for a degree from Nigeria taught entirely in English. Example: MSc Global Development, £30,500 (about ₦54.4 million) for 2027. Deposit £2,500 (about ₦4.5 million), paid once your offer is unconditional. Its Global Futures Scholarship for African students takes £19,000 (about ₦33.9 million) off the fee of a self-funded student domiciled in Nigeria who holds an unconditional offer for September 2027 by 20 April 2027 and sends the scholarship form by that date.
• University of Leeds. Applications for 2027/28 opened on 1 October 2026; the international deadline is typically 30 July 2027, earlier on some courses. It reads a Nigerian degree class as the same class, takes WAEC English at C6, and needs no further English test from someone who studied at least two years in Nigeria for a degree taught in English. It aims to decide within ten working days of having every document. Its deposit is £2,000 (about ₦3.6 million) in its 2026/27 wording, due four weeks before the course; it permits no deferrals. Example: the Public Health (International) MPH, £30,100 (about ₦53.7 million).
• University of Sussex. It starts reading applications in late November for the next September; an international applicant applies no later than two months before the start. Deposit £5,000 (about ₦8.9 million), "usually non-refundable". Example: the MA in Development Studies, £24,200 (about ₦43.2 million) a year, deadline 1 August 2027.
• University of Edinburgh. Each course sets its own deadline; its Master of Public Health has rounds closing 11 December 2026, 19 February 2027, 16 April 2027 and 18 June 2027. Deposit £1,500 (about ₦2.7 million), £2,500 at the Business School. It accepts a degree from eight Nigerian universities on its list as English evidence if the degree is no more than five years old when the course starts.
• LSE. An application fee of £95 (about ₦169,000), one application per year for up to two courses, and a decision in about eight weeks once both references are in.

From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 say the most common mistake was choosing the lowest deposit and then failing the instalments, or choosing a university that sat on the CAS for weeks. One put it like this: one university asks a deposit of £3,000 to £4,000 and then the full £16,000 to £18,000 tuition within three months, while another asks £5,000 to £6,000 first and lets you spread the rest. Applicants also say that since July 2025 students can no longer count on moving into care work after the course, and advise choosing a course with a sponsored job at its end. Compare the whole year, and the job, before the deposit.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. The same three applications serve all three routes. Chevening asks one-year taught master's courses only; the CSC takes up to three choices in order.

On a January start. Choose from the universities with a January 2027 intake still open: Northumbria (applications by 30 November 2026), Birmingham (most courses by 30 October 2026), Hertfordshire (its January 2027 intake is open), Coventry (its MSc International Business Management starts in January 2027). Teesside's January 2027 dates read "To be confirmed": do not plan a January start at Teesside until it prints them.

Step 3. Get your papers ready

Request your transcript this week. It is the paper you control least. You can do this while you choose your courses.

Do.

1. Request your transcript from your university's transcript office or portal: the copy your university releases to you (often marked "Student's Copy"), and an official copy sent straight to each university that asks for one.
2. Find your degree certificate, your WAEC result and your NYSC certificate, and scan each clearly.
3. Check that your passport is valid for your whole stay, about 17 months from the month before your course, and renew it now if not.
4. Check that your name and date of birth read the same on every paper.

Where. Your university's transcript portal (the portals are below); the Nigeria Immigration Service at passport.immigration.gov.ng, opens in a new tab for a passport.

What you need. Your matriculation number and the name you were admitted with; for a passport, your NIN slip, a birth certificate or a declaration of age from a high court, your local government or indigene certificate and a passport photograph.

Cost. A transcript costs ₦5,000 (ABU, by email abroad) to ₦25,000 (UNILAG uploaded to a portal, UNN sent abroad), for each university that wants an official copy. A new passport: ₦100,000 for 32 pages and 5 years.

Time. Only ABU states a time for a transcript: 24 to 48 hours for an e-copy. A new passport takes 42 days; a re-issue 21.

Watch out. Pay for your transcript only through your university's own portal. UNILAG: "under no condition should applicants make payment to any individual or organisation under the pretext of fast track."

You are done when your transcript is requested or in your hands, and your degree certificate, your WAEC result, your NYSC certificate, your evidence since graduation and a passport valid for your whole stay are scanned in one folder, under one name.

If it goes wrong. If your transcript has not come within a month, email the records office with your payment reference for the date it will be sent. If a name differs across your papers, fix it before Rekoja applies (below).

Next. Apply through Rekoja (Step 4).

If you want to know more: your papers

What the universities ask. Leeds wants "Your official degree certificate and transcripts showing your degree class/grade and the grades obtained in each unit or module", with a grading scale if the transcript does not show one; for its MPH, "Your degree transcript must be signed and stamped." Edinburgh wants a transcript issued by your university's registry, and does not accept a personal electronic copy of your student record. LSE wants a PDF that is not password-protected at the application stage, and the secure version later if it offers you a place. Coventry wants "All academic transcripts" with your application. Whether a university takes a copy you upload or wants your university to send it directly is on its admissions page: read it before you pay for official copies.

Your transcript, by university.

• University of Lagos: records.unilag.edu.ng, opens in a new tab. Official transcripts go only to institutions, scholarship boards and embassies, never to you, and never through a third party. It uploads a transcript to a university's own application portal if you give it the link, username and password. Transcript ₦10,000, extra copies ₦1,000, "Soft Copy (File Upload)" ₦15,000; its Senate's notice of 2023 sets the total for a transcript uploaded to a portal at ₦25,000. An "English as a Medium" letter is ₦5,000 and can be sent to any address. Your student copy comes through the student portal, under Results, "Student Academic Transcript". Pay by Remita or at any bank; no refund once paid. Use Chrome on a computer; track your application on the portal. Email only: records@unilag.edu.ng; visits Tuesday and Thursday, 10am to 2pm.
• University of Ibadan: undergraduate at academic.ui.edu.ng, opens in a new tab. Any personal address you give is treated as a Student's Copy and watermarked; only an institution's address gets an official transcript. Its portal's own fee list: ₦20,000 to a foreign address, ₦10,000 within Nigeria, ₦10,000 for a Student's Copy; two other UI pages print lower older figures, so pay what the portal shows. Help line 080 2084 1489, record@stu.ui.edu.ng.
• University of Nigeria, Nsukka: iTranscript, opens in a new tab. ₦25,000 for a foreign transcript, ₦12,000 local, sent by email by default; a hard copy adds courier charges. It takes no student-copy requests: address a request to yourself and it is delivered to you. Apply with the name you were admitted with and your exact matriculation number, or it is delayed. Proof of English Proficiency is available at a charge. unn.itranscript@unn.edu.ng, 08059284511, 08168744236.
• Obafemi Awolowo University: tps.oauife.edu.ng, opens in a new tab, the only place to apply and pay. Use an institution's email address for an official transcript; one you request for yourself is marked "Student Copy". Its public pages show no fee or time before you make an account. transcript@oauife.edu.ng. "Payment of cash to any individual, company or agent is prohibited."
• Ahmadu Bello University: transcript.abu.edu.ng, opens in a new tab. An international e-copy is ₦5,000 ($12), an international hard copy ₦50,000 ($120), paid online first; e-copies in 24 to 48 hours, hard copies in 5 to 7 days. etranscript@abu.edu.ng, +234 (0) 8068085620 (also WhatsApp), Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm.
• A polytechnic, for an HND: no polytechnic's page in this guide states how it sends a transcript abroad. Write to your polytechnic's registry for how it sends a transcript to a UK university, what it costs and how long it takes.

You pay for each official copy sent. UNILAG's ₦25,000 is for each upload to a university's portal, and UI's ₦20,000 for each foreign address, so you pay once for each university that wants an official copy: ₦75,000 for three at UNILAG.

Your degree certificate. Leeds and Edinburgh each ask for it with the transcript. If you never collected it, UNILAG charges a demurrage of ₦10,000 for a certificate not collected the year after convocation, plus ₦5,000 for every further year.

Your WAEC result. Several universities take your WAEC English as your English evidence (Step 1), and some check it:

• Northumbria asks you to upload your WAEC or NECO certificate "along with a copy of your scratch card", and before the CAS, "any verification documents such as WAEC Pin/NECO Pin".
• Leeds asks you to share your result through WAEC's website so it can verify it.
• To check your own result on WAECDirect, opens in a new tab you need your 10-digit examination number and a result checker e-PIN; WAEC's Results Verification portal, opens in a new tab sells a PIN usable five times in one year for one exam number, in naira or dollars. Neither page prints a single PIN's price.
• If a university asks WAEC to confirm your result directly, WAEC's Confirmation of Result costs ₦39,000 for an overseas institution, plus a WAEC scratch card at ₦13,000, a sworn affidavit, two passport photographs and two 9x4 envelopes; WAEC sends it to the institution, never to you.
• WAEC does not replace a lost certificate: it issues a statement of result or an attestation instead, for a fee it does not print.

Your NYSC certificate, and what you have done since you graduated. No university in this guide asks for your NYSC certificate. Keep it ready anyway: UKVI weighs the time since you last studied, and applicants who were asked about a gap after their degree in 2025 and 2026 say UKVI wanted "Official, verifiable documents to demonstrate what you have been doing since your graduation". Put in one folder your NYSC certificate (or your exemption certificate or exclusion letter), your job letters, your payslips and your bank statements showing your salary. If your NYSC certificate is lost, NYSC issues a letter of confirmation in its place for ₦20,000. An unclaimed certificate is at NYSC Headquarters, for ₦5,000 to ₦20,000 by its age. NYSC's Certification Department: 08034313026.

Your passport. You need it to apply, to book a UKVI-approved English test (in the name on your passport), for the visa, and at the UK border, where "It should be valid for the whole of your stay." A one-year course with the visa's months before and after runs about 17 months: if your passport ends before then, renew it now. Apply and pay at passport.immigration.gov.ng, opens in a new tab; you then appear at the passport office you chose for your photograph and fingerprints. 32 pages for 5 years: ₦100,000. 64 pages for 10 years: ₦200,000. Prices exclude bank charges. A fresh application takes 42 days after enrolment; a re-issue 21 days.

The same name on every paper. Your CAS carries your personal details as your passport shows them, and a difference between the papers your university used and your visa form can get the visa refused. If they differ:

• Your passport: the Nigeria Immigration Service changes passport data online, with your birth certificate or declaration of age, your state of origin certificate, an application letter, a court affidavit, a newspaper notice and your passport data page (and your marriage certificate for a change after marriage). A correction of data costs ₦30,000 in administrative charges and takes 42 days.
• Your transcript: UNN tells you to apply in the name you were admitted with, and that a different name "will greatly delay the processing of your transcript".
• Your NYSC certificate: NYSC corrects a name spelling, a date of birth or a class of degree only within three months of your online registration.
• Your university: Northumbria: "You must include official evidence of name change if your documents are not in your current name."

Applicants who were granted in 2025 and 2026 list a sworn affidavit for a name difference among the papers they uploaded.

Translations. Every paper not in English needs a certified translation by a professional translator or company, with its confirmation that it is accurate, the date, the translator's full name and signature, and contact details.

From applicants who did it. Applicants granted in 2025 and 2026 list among their uploads: the CAS, the bank statement, the degree certificate and transcript, the TB certificate, WAEC or NECO, the NYSC certificate, employment and reference letters, a CV, a statement of purpose, a letter explaining a gap, and an affidavit for a name difference.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. The transcript, the passport and the NYSC certificate are the ones the CSC and the Federal Scholarship Board ask for. Request the transcript once, for all of them.

Step 4. Apply through Rekoja

Send Rekoja your courses and your details. Rekoja applies to each university with you.

Why apply through Rekoja?

• One search for courses at many universities, in your words.
• Rekoja applies to each university with you and follows each one up.
• You pay nothing to Rekoja to be placed.
• Enrol through Rekoja and get a Rekoja grant of up to ₦500,000 towards your move. Paid after you enrol. See the terms under "If you want to know more: your application", below.
• Your plan carries you from your offer to your first term, with a reminder when a step needs you.
• Rekoja's desk can help you prepare your papers.

Do.

1. Check your courses: the up to three you saved in Step 2.
2. Give your full name as on your passport, your email and your WhatsApp number.
3. Tap Apply through Rekoja. Rekoja uses your details to apply for you and to message you about your applications, and shares them only with ApplyBoard and the universities you chose.
4. The desk messages you on WhatsApp for your papers (Step 3), your personal statement and your two referees. Send them the same week.

Where. On Rekoja: the route's page, or Step 4 of your plan.

What you need. Your courses; your papers from Step 3; a personal statement for each course that you write yourself; two referees; your English evidence (Step 1).

Cost. Nothing. You pay nothing to Rekoja to be placed. Where a university charges its own application fee, the course list shows it on the course under "Application fee".

Time. Universities answer in about a week to eight weeks: Coventry aims to give an initial decision within one week, Leeds within ten working days once it has every document, LSE in about eight weeks once both references are in.

When to send it. Rekoja's advice: send your applications by the end of January 2027 for September 2027. For January 2027, the universities' own deadlines: Birmingham's most courses by 30 October 2026, Northumbria's by 30 November 2026.

Watch out. Tell Rekoja every visa refusal you have had, for any country. Universities keep your deposit if you hide one: Hertfordshire keeps your whole deposit if you did not declare "your full immigration history including visa refusals in your application".

You are done when Rekoja has sent your applications, and each university has written to you.

After you tap. Your plan shows "Rekoja is applying for you." Once the desk has sent your applications, it reads "Rekoja sent your applications on" and the date. When an offer comes, tick "I got an offer" and go to Step 5. If a university says no, pick another course (Step 2).

If it goes wrong. If a referee has not written within a week, call them; Edinburgh sends a referee only one email, and the reminder is yours. If your course is not on Rekoja's list, apply on your own (below).

Next. Accept your offer (Step 5).

If you want to know more: your application

The Rekoja grant: its terms. Enrol through Rekoja and get a Rekoja grant of up to ₦500,000 towards your move. Paid after you enrol.

• Who: students Rekoja applies for (Step 4: Apply through Rekoja) who then enrol at that university.
• How much: a fixed amount for each country of study, up to ₦500,000.
• When: after your university confirms that you have enrolled (Step 11).
• How: paid in naira into your own bank account in Nigeria.
• It is not a place, a visa or money off your fees. It comes after you enrol, so it never counts towards the money you show for the visa.
• Rekoja may change these terms for students who have not yet applied; a change never touches a student who already has.

How to tell a safe helper. Judge anyone who applies to universities for you by five tests. Rekoja meets each one.

• No charge to be placed. Rekoja charges you nothing.
• You write your own statement. Edinburgh warns that having someone else write your statement, copying, or using AI apps such as ChatGPT can be treated as fraud.
• Every refusal declared. Rekoja declares every refusal you tell it of, to every university.
• Fees paid only to the university. You pay each university only through its own payment page or the partner it names, never through anyone else (Step 7): Coventry "strongly advises students to avoid making payments to agents".
• Nobody promises a place. LSE says agents who promise entry to LSE are lying, and that "Unscrupulous agents have been known to charge large sums to applicants, and then to submit fraudulent transcripts and references."

The agent stories applicants repeat most are of bad advice: not declaring an earlier refusal, a form filled with errors, an applicant who could not answer UKVI's interview because he did not know what his own application said. Read every line Rekoja sends in your name, and know your own application.

Your personal statement. Write a separate one for each course, yourself. Hertfordshire asks you to say why this course, why this university, why the UK, and your career aims. Leeds wants no more than one A4 page; Edinburgh no more than 3,500 characters, about 500 words. Write it from what you will say in your interviews (Step 5): why the course, how it follows from your degree and your work since, what you will do after it.

Your referees. Ask two people this week: your project supervisor or a lecturer who taught you, and, if you have worked for some years, your line manager. Leeds and LSE prefer academic referees and accept professional ones if you have been out of education for more than five years. Hertfordshire wants two signed academic references on headed paper. Edinburgh's referees should have their references ready within 5 working days of your application, and Edinburgh emails each referee only once; a referee's contact must not be a personal email address. LSE does not take a reference from family or friends. Manchester and Edinburgh contact your referees themselves; Hertfordshire and Coventry take the letters from you.

What each university needs.

• Coventry: all your transcripts, one academic reference, your personal statement, your degree certificates (or a work reference if you are employed), your English score and a copy of your passport; at the least, your passport, your academic certificates and your English certificate.
• Hertfordshire: two signed academic references on headed paper and your personal statement; its six-page form cannot be saved before you finish it, so have everything ready before it is opened.
• Leeds: your degree certificate and transcripts with each module's grade and a grading scale, your English evidence if you hold it, and, by course, a CV, references or two referees' contacts, and a statement of no more than one A4 page. An application not submitted is deleted after 200 days.
• Manchester: your certificates or transcripts, your English evidence, and your referees' details (it asks them through its referee portal). A translation must be on official letterhead with the translator's name, contact details, credentials, date and signature.
• Northumbria: your WAEC or NECO certificate "along with a copy of your scratch card", and "official evidence of name change if your documents are not in your current name".
• Teesside: its Qualification Check, usually £30 (about ₦54,000).
• Birmingham: official transcripts translated into English, showing the subjects and the grades.
• Edinburgh: a degree certificate and a transcript issued by your university, one or two references by course, and your statement.

The universities' own application fees. Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Sussex and Birmingham name no application fee, though some Birmingham courses charge £50 (about ₦89,000). LSE charges £95 (about ₦169,000), not refunded once your application is acknowledged, and £105 (about ₦187,000) for a third choice or more. Some Edinburgh courses in arts, humanities and social sciences charge a fee its page does not state. Northumbria's, Teesside's and Hertfordshire's pages do not say whether they charge one; the course list shows the fee on each course. Manchester cannot make you an offer until your application is complete.

Applying on your own. If your course is not on Rekoja's list, or you choose a direct award such as Teesside's Alumni Scholarship, you apply to each university on its own site. No Rekoja grant applies to that course. Then:

1. Make an account on each university's applicant portal with a personal email you check every day (Manchester asks for a personal email address).
2. Fill the form. Declare every visa refusal you have had, for any country, where the form asks.
3. Upload your transcript, your degree certificate, your English evidence, your passport, your CV and your personal statement.
4. Give your referees' details, or upload their letters, as each university asks.
5. Pay the application fee where there is one (Step 7, Paying in pounds from Nigeria), and submit.

You are done when each university has acknowledged your application by email (Manchester sends your user ID), and each shows it complete. Coventry's deadline is the one in your offer letter.

From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2026 describe an offer two to five weeks after applying (one at Salford applied in the third week of April and held an offer by early May).

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. The same three applications, the same referees and the same statement work serve all three. The CSC wants your references as signed PDF letters uploaded by its close, from at least two people.

On a January start. Birmingham's application deadline for most January 2027 courses is 30 October 2026; Northumbria's is 30 November 2026. Apply this week.

Your offer

Back to the short stages

Step 5. Accept your offer

Accept the offer you want, meet its conditions, and get ready for the university's interview.

Do.

1. Accept the offer on the university's portal. You can apply to many courses but accept and enrol on only one.
2. Meet each condition by the date in your offer letter, and upload the proof to the portal the same day.
3. Find your course's CAH3 code on your offer letter (the subject code that decides whether your course needs ATAS, the Foreign Office's clearance for some sensitive subjects), and get the university's answer on whether your course needs ATAS.
4. Prepare your answers aloud: why this course and its modules, why this university and the UK, what you will do after, who pays and the exact amounts, where you will live.

Where. Your university's applicant portal.

What you need. Your offer letter, the proof of each condition, and the answers above.

Cost. Free. Some Manchester courses ask an acceptance deposit.

Time. Meet your conditions by the date in your offer letter; Leeds wants them met six weeks before the course starts, and Birmingham by 30 August 2027. ATAS, if your course needs it, takes at least 30 working days.

Watch out. Most universities now interview a Nigerian applicant before the CAS, applicants say. Know your course's modules by name.

You are done when you hold an unconditional offer, accepted, and you know whether you need ATAS. Tick "My offer is unconditional": Rekoja's desk sees it.

If it goes wrong. If you cannot meet a condition by the date, write to the university and request a deferral. Coventry gives applicants whose conditions are outstanding at the deadline the option to defer to the next intake; Leeds permits no deferrals.

Next. Keep your money in one account for 28 days (Step 6). Start it now: universities check it before the CAS.

If you want to know more: your offer

Conditional or unconditional. A conditional offer waits for something more: Birmingham's examples are "your undergraduate degree certificate, your English Language test results or a reference". An unconditional offer has no conditions left. Only an unconditional offer leads to a CAS: "You must have an unconditional offer of a place on a course with a licensed student sponsor." If you have an unspent criminal conviction, Birmingham wants it disclosed within 14 days of accepting.

Acceptance deposits. Some Manchester courses ask an acceptance deposit within four to six weeks of the offer, and withdraw the offer if it is not paid. You can cancel within 14 days. This is separate from the deposit before the CAS (Step 7).

ATAS. Some courses in sensitive subjects at master's level need an ATAS certificate before you apply for the visa, and Nigeria is not excused. Your university usually prints your course's CAH3 code on your offer letter. If your course needs ATAS, apply on the ATAS service, opens in a new tab as soon as you hold the offer: it takes at least 30 working days (6 weeks), longer from April to August, there is no fast track, and the page states no fee. The certificate is valid for 6 months for a visa application. If you are refused, you wait 90 days to apply again for the same course. "If you submit false or unverifiable information produced by AI, your application will be refused." Questions: ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk.

The university's interview. Coventry sends you a link to book its credibility interview within three working days of receiving your deposit; it is usually online, sometimes by phone or in person, and covers "Your country decision", "Your university decision", "Your course decision", "Your career plans" and "Your finances": "Make sure that you are very clear about the source and availability of your money". Greenwich may have you do a practice UKVI interview with its CAS team before the CAS, and advises you not to make the extra payment it requires before the CAS until you have passed. Teesside has you complete a questionnaire on its applicant portal. Hertfordshire tells every applicant from overseas to expect a UKVI interview as well. Northumbria's office in Lagos runs free mock credibility interviews for its applicants.

Prepare, from the course's own page. UKVI weighs "the credibility of the applicant's rationale for, knowledge of, and research into the proposed course of study and the sponsoring institution", the course's link to your plans after study, your living arrangements in the UK, and where your money came from. It does not refuse you for not knowing bus routes. So prepare, in your own words:

• why this course: its modules by name, and how they follow from your degree and your work;
• why this university, and why the UK and not another country;
• what you will do after the course, and where;
• who pays, from what, and the exact amounts: the tuition, the deposit, the living money;
• where you will live in the UK;
• your study gap, if you have one, with your evidence (Step 3).

From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 say the pre-CAS interview is now routine, and that it covers why this course, why this university and its modules, how the course follows from past study or work, why the UK, who pays and from what, the tuition and living costs, where you will live, your plans after study, the other universities you looked at, what you will do if refused, and the 20-hour work rule. One applicant in May 2026 says interviewers expected rankings, facilities, a comparison with one or two universities in other countries, and the course modules. The refusals applicants describe most in 2025 and 2026 followed weak answers at UKVI's interview: "generic and vague". Prepare the list above aloud, and know your course's modules.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. An unconditional offer is what Chevening asks by its own deadline; the CSC selects you on your study plan and your reasons for the course, which are the answers you prepare here.

On a January start. Northumbria's last date to pay the deposit is 13 December 2026; Birmingham's to meet conditions is 14 December 2026. ATAS takes at least 6 weeks: if your course needs it, a January start is out of reach unless you apply for ATAS this week.

Step 6. Keep your money in one account for 28 days

Put the fees you still owe and the money to live on in one account. Leave it there 28 days in a row.

Do.

1. Choose one account at a bank that has told you in writing that it answers UKVI's email about your statement.
2. Put the whole amount in before you pay the deposit: the whole tuition plus the living money. At Northumbria, £30,677 (about ₦54.7 million).
3. Leave it 28 days in a row. If you pay the deposit (Step 7) from it, keep the receipt: the balance must never fall below the tuition still owed plus the living money (at Northumbria, £25,177, about ₦44.9 million).
4. Get the statement covering the 28 days and your bank's letter confirming the balance. If the money is your parent's, add your birth certificate and their signed letter.

Where. Your bank.

What you need. The account, the money, your parent's consent letter and your birth certificate if it is theirs, and the paper behind any large sum.

Cost. Your bank's charge for the statement and the letter; ask it. The money itself stays yours.

Time. 28 days in a row, ending no more than 31 days before you apply for the visa. Start as soon as you hold the offer.

Watch out. One day below the amount starts the 28 days again.

You are done when the money has sat 28 days and you hold the statement and your bank's letter, dated within the last 31 days. Tick "My 28 days are done" with the date they ended: your plan prints "Apply for your visa by" the date 31 days later.

If it goes wrong. If the money dips below the amount on any day, the 28 days start again: count from the day it is back. If your university wants a statement before the 28 days are up, get from it in writing the date it needs it by.

Next. Pay your deposit and get your CAS (Step 7).

If you want to know more: your money for the visa

Universities now check your money before they issue your CAS (Step 7), and UKVI checks it again with your visa application. Nigeria is not on the list of countries excused from sending money evidence, so you send it with your application.

What you show. Two amounts, added together:

1. The tuition you still owe for the course. For a course of one year or less, the whole course fee, as your CAS states it. What you have already paid the university (your deposit, any instalment) is taken off, if your CAS shows it or you hold the university's receipt.
2. The living money. For a visa applied for on or after 30 November 2026: £1,203 (about ₦2.1 million) a month outside London, up to 9 months, £10,827 (about ₦19 million) in all; £1,570 (about ₦2.8 million) a month in London, £14,130 (about ₦25.2 million) in all. London means the City of London and the 32 London boroughs. A part month counts as a full month.

If you paid the university a deposit for a room in its own accommodation, up to £1,570 of it (about ₦2.8 million) comes off the living money, as your CAS states it. A payment to a private landlord does not.

The worked example. The figure your balance is checked against on each of the 28 days is the one you must show on the day you apply: the tuition still owed after what your CAS or your receipt shows paid, plus the living money. At Northumbria, a one-year course at £19,850: once the £5,500 deposit is paid, £14,350 (about ₦25.6 million) of tuition still owed plus £10,827 of living money outside London, £25,177 (about ₦44.9 million); before it, £30,677 (about ₦54.7 million). The safe order: put £30,677 in. If you pay the deposit from this account during the 28 days, the balance falls to £25,177, which is still the amount you must show, so the run is not broken. Keep the deposit receipt with your statement. Never let the balance fall below the lower figure on any day. Teesside's own worked example, for its £17,000 fee and £4,000 deposit, shows £13,000 still owed plus £10,539 of living money at the old monthly rate, £23,539; at the rate from 30 November 2026 it is £13,000 plus £10,827, £23,827 (about ₦42.5 million). Pay more of the tuition before you apply, with the university's receipt, and you show that much less.

A university scholarship. Coventry and Hertfordshire apply their scholarships only after you enrol, so they are not paid before your visa. Show the fee your CAS states as owed. If you hold a scholarship and your CAS does not show it taken off, hold the full fee, or have the university show the reduced fee on your CAS before you apply. The Rekoja grant comes after you enrol and never counts here.

The 28 days. "You must have this money for at least 28 days in a row. The end date of the 28-day period must be within 31 days of the date you apply for your visa." The 28 days are counted back from the closing balance on your most recent statement, and your evidence must cover the whole 28 days. The day you apply is the day you pay the visa fee online. The amount must be in the account on every one of the 28 days: a day below it breaks the run.

Whose money counts.

• Your own money, in an account you control.
• Your parent's money, in an account your parent controls, with proof that they are your parent (your birth certificate) and their written consent to your using it. Coventry asks "an original birth certificate and a signed letter confirming they're willing to sponsor you and that you're their child."
• Your partner's money, in an account your partner controls, if your partner is in the UK or applying at the same time.
• A student loan from a government, a government-backed loan company, or an educational loans scheme run by a lender regulated for student loans (below).
• An official sponsor's money: a government, a university, an international company or organisation, the British Council.

What does not count: an overdraft, cryptocurrency, stocks and shares, pensions, an account at a bank not regulated in its country or one without electronic records, and "Promises of future third-party support". A friend's or an uncle's account does not count. Money from a brother, an aunt or anyone else counts only once it is given to you and sits in your own account or your parent's, with the paper showing where it came from; money lent to sit there and go back is never yours. A joint account or a business account is not named on any page in this guide: get your university's visa team's answer in writing before the 28 days start.

The account. Any personal current or savings account at a regulated bank, as long as you can take the money out at once. Coventry names "a fixed deposit" among the evidence it takes; UKVI asks that "The account must allow immediate access to the money". If your money is in a fixed deposit and your bank will not confirm in writing that you can withdraw it at once, move it to a savings or current account and start the 28 days there.

The evidence. A bank statement (paper or downloaded), a building society passbook, a certificate of deposit, or a letter from your bank. It must show your name (or your parent's), the bank's name and the amount, be dated no more than 31 days before you apply, and cover the whole 28 days. UKVI may check your evidence with your bank, and if it cannot, your application can be refused. Get your bank's written answer on whether it confirms statements to UKVI by email, and from which address. No page in this guide says whether the statement must carry the bank's stamp or signature: your university's visa team says what it wants to see.

The naira rate. The naira figures in this guide are at the CBN's rate. UKVI converts your naira at OANDA's rate (www.oanda.com, a currency website) for the day you apply. Before the 28 days start, convert the pounds you must show into naira on OANDA's converter and put in more than that. In the week you apply, convert again: if at that day's rate the balance fell short on any of the 28 days, top it up and count the 28 days again.

Where the money came from. UKVI weighs "whether the applicant has a credible source of funds" and "how the applicant was able to acquire the necessary funds", and your university checks the same before the CAS. Keep the paper behind any large sum: the sale agreement for land or a car, the payslips behind savings, your parent's business records. Money lent to sit in your account and go back after the visa is not your money. Showing it as yours is false information: the Immigration Rules refuse an application where the applicant "used deception by ... making false representations or providing false documents or false information" (SUI 9.1).

After you apply. If the money in your account falls "substantially below" the amount before UKVI decides, UKVI must be satisfied it went on your tuition, your accommodation deposit or other costs of the course. Keep it in the account until you are in the UK. The statement your university checks before the CAS and the one you send UKVI are usually different: before the visa, get a fresh statement covering the last 28 days, ending no more than 31 days before the day you apply.

A loan. A student loan letter must be dated no more than 6 months before you apply; say the loan is a student loan from a government, a government-backed company or an educational loans scheme; say there are no conditions on its release other than a successful visa application; state the amount; say it is to you; and say the money will reach you, or the university, before you travel. The lender must be regulated by "the official regulatory body for purpose of issuing student loans" in Nigeria. With such a loan the 28 days do not apply. No Nigerian lender's page in this guide says it writes this letter: get the lender's answer in writing, naming the body that licenses its student loans, before you rely on it.

• Access Bank's Advance for School Fees, opens in a new tab lends up to ₦20 million, for up to 12 months, to salaried customers and business owners, for their own or their children's school fees "at all stages ... to tertiary levels", and pays the money to the school's account. Its page does not say whether a school abroad can receive it, or whether it writes the loan letter the visa asks. Email schoolfeesadvance@accessbankplc.com with both questions.
• FirstBank's FirstEdu loan is for private schools, not for students.

From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 say a bank's letter can take weeks, and describe three refusals or near-refusals for money: a statement whose arithmetic was wrong; one where the officer took off the deposit but not a £3,000 scholarship; and a statement from a bank that did not answer UKVI's email, until the applicant went to the bank's head office. They also describe universities asking where a large sum came from before the CAS, a student asked at the airport to show that his money was still there, and people asked for a newer statement after their money had been returned to "the real owners". The totals they describe to reach the UK run from about ₦20 million to ₦50 million. Check your arithmetic line by line against your CAS, keep the paper behind every large sum, and leave the money where it is.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. A scholar sponsored for tuition and living costs shows the sponsor's letter instead of 28 days of money. On the paid route, the money is yours to show.

On a January start. A visa applied for before 30 November 2026 is decided under the old amounts: £1,171 (about ₦2.1 million) a month outside London, £10,539 (about ₦18.8 million) for 9 months; £1,529 (about ₦2.7 million) in London, £13,761 (about ₦24.5 million). On or after 30 November 2026, the new amounts above. Your 28 days must end before you apply, so put the money in place this week.

Step 7. Pay your deposit and get your CAS

Pay your deposit on the university's own payment page. Then pass its checks and get your CAS, the number you need for the visa.

Do.

1. Read the university's refund page: what it keeps if your visa is refused.
2. Pay the deposit through its own payment page or the partner it names (Flywire or Convera). Keep the receipt.
3. Pass its checks: its interview, its money check, its document check.
4. When the CAS comes, check every line against your passport and your receipts the same day.

Where. Your university's applicant portal and its payment page.

What you need. Your unconditional offer, accepted; your money in place (Step 6); your English evidence; your certified qualifications; and the deposit.

Cost. The deposit: £2,000 (about ₦3.6 million) at Leeds to £8,000 (about ₦14.3 million) at Coventry. It is part of your tuition, not on top of it.

Time. A CAS comes no earlier than six months before your course: from March 2027 for September. From deposit to CAS, a few days at Teesside once your money is checked; applicants describe a day to a month.

Watch out. A wrong line on your CAS can get your visa refused. Write to the university the same day for a corrected CAS.

You are done when you hold your CAS, every line checked against your passport and your receipts. Tick "I have my CAS" with the date it came.

If it goes wrong. If the CAS does not come and your course date is near, write to the university's CAS team for the date it will issue. If your deposit cannot leave Nigeria in time, write to the university for a later date, and to Flywire to extend a Form A payment (Paying in pounds from Nigeria, below).

Next. Do your TB test (Step 8).

If you want to know more: the deposit, the CAS and paying in pounds

The deposit, by university. Each sets its own, and each asks it before the CAS:

• Coventry: £8,000 (about ₦14.3 million) for Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya; it recommends paying at least three months before the course.
• Northumbria: £5,500 (about ₦9.8 million), in one payment. Pay the second part on or before enrolment: 50% of £19,850 is £9,925; less your £5,500 deposit, £4,425 (about ₦7.9 million). The rest, £9,925 (about ₦17.7 million), before the end of your first semester.
• Hertfordshire: £5,000 (about ₦8.9 million) at the least, more on some courses.
• Sussex: £5,000.
• Teesside: £4,000 (about ₦7 million).
• Birmingham: £3,000 (about ₦5.4 million).
• Greenwich: £3,000 within 28 days of the offer, and, for a Nigerian, 50% of the tuition before the CAS.
• Manchester: £2,500 (about ₦4.5 million), once the offer is unconditional.
• Leeds: £2,000 (about ₦3.6 million) in its 2026/27 wording, by four weeks before the course.
• Edinburgh: £1,500 (about ₦2.7 million), £2,500 at the Business School, by the date in the offer letter.

Applicants in 2026 report deposits raised for Nigerians at several universities, Hertfordshire's among them at £10,000. Pay the deposit your offer letter or the university's portal states on the day you pay.

What is refunded if your visa is refused.

• Coventry usually refunds the deposit if your visa is refused, with the refusal as evidence; it keeps £4,000 where the refusal was for false documents or deception, or where you gave incomplete or incorrect information.
• Northumbria refunds it if your visa is refused, or granted too late for you to join the course, or you do not meet the academic conditions, or within 14 days of accepting; not for a refusal based on false documents or incorrect information, and not if you go to another university.
• Teesside refunds it if you are refused a visa, with "a full copy of the Home Office refusal documentation", unless a false statement, a false document or an omission is found. It keeps the deposit if it assigns you a CAS and you do not apply for a visa with it.
• Hertfordshire refunds it in full before a CAS is issued; after the CAS it keeps £250 (about ₦446,000). It keeps the whole deposit for non-genuine documents, an undeclared refusal, or a refusal for deception. It asks UKVI the reason for every refusal.
• Birmingham refunds it if you are refused a visa, unless the refusal is for a fraudulent application.
• Manchester refunds it if your visa is refused, unless for fraudulent documents.
• Edinburgh refunds it if your visa or ATAS is refused, except for a fraudulent application, insufficient funds or incorrect documents.
• Greenwich refunds it only if all six of its conditions are met, among them a copy of the refusal letter, proof that you tried to overturn the refusal (an administrative review outcome), and a refusal not caused by an avoidable error such as missing money evidence.
• Sussex: "Deposits are usually non-refundable and non-transferable."

The checks before the CAS.

• Coventry: you must have accepted the offer, met all its conditions, paid the deposit, and passed its credibility interview (Step 5).
• Northumbria: accept the unconditional offer on its portal, pay the deposit and press the deposit button on the portal (deposits are not checked otherwise), and register on CAS Shield (the online system Northumbria uses to check your papers before the CAS; Teesside uses it at enrolment) with copies of all your qualifications, certified in English, and your WAEC or NECO pin. If your bank does not honour the deposit after your CAS is issued, the CAS is cancelled.
• Teesside: it issues the CAS only once it is satisfied with your money documents; its UKVI immigration history check normally takes 5 working days, and the CAS then usually comes within 5 working days.
• Hertfordshire: the CAS comes once you have met every academic, non-academic and financial condition and accepted the offer.
• Greenwich: possibly a practice UKVI interview first; then the 50% payment.

When the CAS comes. A university issues the CAS no earlier than six months before your course starts. Birmingham issues its last CAS for September 2027 by 3 September 2027. Greenwich sets its CAS request deadlines about four to five weeks before the course.

What your CAS shows. Check every line the day it comes:

• your personal details, exactly as your passport shows them;
• its 14-digit reference number and the university's sponsor licence number;
• the course title, and its start and end dates;
• the tuition for the first year (the whole course if one year or less), and what you have paid;
• any accommodation fee paid to the university;
• the qualifications the university used to offer you the place;
• how your English was assessed, and, for a SELT, the provider, your reference number and your score in each part.

"If there are any discrepancies between the information used by the university to generate the CAS and your application form, then your visa application may be refused."

How long it lasts. Apply for your visa within 6 months of receiving the CAS. A CAS can be used for one visa application only, granted or refused.

Your university housing. Teesside offers its own accommodation only once you have your CAS; you accept within the time on the offer, usually 14 days, with a £150 (about ₦268,000) deposit. Northumbria: "You should not travel to the UK without securing some accommodation in advance." Apply for a room as soon as your CAS comes. A deposit paid to your university for its own room comes off the living money you show (Step 6).

From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 report universities asking for the deposit and a statement before the CAS interview; CAS times from the same day to four weeks after the interview; a university's CAS places filling before the deadline; a CAS refused because of past refusals, with the deposit refunded; and, in August 2026, a university withdrawing CAS from applicants while UKVI was still deciding. They say the deposit's refund rule decides what you lose if the visa is refused. Read the refund page, pay early, and keep every receipt.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. A fully funded scholar pays no deposit: Leeds, Manchester, Sussex, Birmingham and Edinburgh each take a sponsor's letter instead. The CAS is the same paper on every route.

On a January start. Northumbria: deposit by 13 December 2026, and request your CAS by 16 December 2026; it issues January CAS from October 2026. Birmingham: deposit by 7 December 2026, CAS issued 14 to 18 December 2026. Hertfordshire's £4,000 Super Early Bird Payment Scholarship for January 2027 goes to a self-funded applicant whose £5,000 deposit has cleared by 31 October 2026, applied after registration. Northumbria gives £500 off for a January 2027 deposit paid by 30 October 2026.

Paying in pounds from Nigeria. From the deposit on, your payments are in pounds: an application fee at some universities, the deposit, the visa and the health surcharge (Step 9), and the rest of your tuition (Step 12). Settle how you will pay before you need to.

• Pay the university only through its own payment page or the partner it names. Hertfordshire: "Do not risk your money by using third parties offering attractive exchange rates or incentives, always pay directly through official University payment platforms." Coventry takes payment only through Convera, and no cash, cheques or bank drafts. Hertfordshire names Flywire and Convera; Greenwich, Flywire; Teesside, its own online payment first and Flywire next, and advises against a bank transfer, which "can take ten working days or more"; Northumbria's international payment page lets you "Pay in your own currency online by card or bank transfer"; Edinburgh takes a debit or credit card or a bank transfer in its Applicant Hub.
• Small fees by card. An application fee (LSE's £95) and the health surcharge are paid by debit or credit card. Before your first payment, get your bank's answer on whether your card pays online in pounds and what its foreign spending limit is, and have the limit raised if it is lower than the payment. Coventry: "you are NOT able to make a card payment in GBP from an overseas card", so you pay Coventry through Convera.
• Paying through Flywire in naira. Flywire gives you a temporary bank account in Nigeria to pay into. The instructions last 48 hours, you transfer the exact naira amount, and one payment can be no more than $20,000 (about ₦26.7 million) in naira; by card the limit is the same. At Northumbria, the rest of your tuition after the deposit, £14,350 (about ₦25.6 million), fits in one Flywire payment at this guide's rate; if the naira weakens, it will not. If your payment is above the limit, get Flywire's written answer on whether you can pay one invoice in two payments. If the amount is above your bank's online transfer limit, the transfer fails and you go to your bank's branch. The exchange rate for a naira payment is set by Flywire's partner banks in Nigeria; Flywire does not set it and does not match a better one. If your bank asks who Flywire is, give it the Authorization Letter, the first page of Flywire's payment instructions.
• Paying in pounds through a Form A. To send pounds from your bank, you fill a Form A on the CBN's Trade Monitoring System, opens in a new tab (TRMS). Flywire's steps: create the payment on Flywire, choose Nigeria and "International Bank Transfer" in pounds (not NGN), and download the payment instructions; on TRMS, register as an individual with your BVN, choose "Education Fees", answer "Yes" for "Valid for Forex", give Flywire's sort code and account number, and SWIFT as the payment mode. Attach: your valid passport, a tax clearance certificate (whose certificate your bank wants when a parent pays, and where it is issued, is your bank's to say: get it in writing), the school's offer letter, your transcripts and diploma (for a master's), and Flywire's payment instructions and authorisation letter. Flywire warns that Form A applications and bank allocations "are taking significantly longer than expected" for want of foreign exchange in Nigeria, and extends the due date for a payment made through a Form A if you request it through its web form. TRMS support: +234 (0) 708 065 1239 and +234 (0) 1 2361615, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
• At your bank. Access Bank's FX Service Portal, opens in a new tab takes a request for school fees online and generates an electronic Form A. Its page states a limit for school fees of "15,000 USD or its equivalent" a semester (above it, get the bank's written answer on how it pays the rest), and asks your BVN, a valid email, the phone number linked to your BVN, the admission letter, the school bill, your first degree certificate for a postgraduate course, the payment details on the school's letterhead, and evidence of any change of name or of your relationship to the student. School fees can be paid by you or for you; a travel allowance (PTA, $4,000 a quarter on its page) only by the traveller, within 14 days of travel. The CBN's Foreign Exchange Manual of June 2026 sets the limit; your bank says which limit it applies today. For any other bank, ask at your branch, in writing: "What is your limit for school fees paid abroad, what documents do you need, how long does it take, and what do you charge?" Keep the answer.
• Who pays, and refunds. The payer can be you, a family member or someone else; Coventry may ask for evidence of how the payer is related to you, and Hertfordshire counts a family member paying as you being self-funded. A refund goes back to whoever paid, by the same method: Coventry refunds through Convera, "in the same method and to the same account"; Teesside "to the original payer"; the visa's priority fee "into the same bank account you used". Applicants say a refund lost value in the exchange: one who paid Sunderland through Flywire got her refund back "less 600k" naira in January 2026.
• From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 call Flywire the most reliable to pay with from Nigeria, at a rate that costs more naira per pound than the street rate (one applicant in June 2025 paid about ₦2,272 a pound through Flywire against about ₦2,170 on the street), and say Form A at the bank rate stopped working for them for want of foreign exchange. Applicants paid the visa fee and the surcharge with a naira or a dollar card.

Your visa

Back to the short stages

Step 8. Do your TB test

Book a chest X-ray at a clinic on gov.uk's list for Nigeria. Say it is for a UK Student visa.

Do.

1. Pick a clinic on Tuberculosis testing in Nigeria, opens in a new tab and book.
2. Pay by bank transfer to the clinic's account on gov.uk's page, before the day, with your passport number as the reference.
3. Go with your passport and the transfer receipt, and collect your TB certificate on the day if you are clear.

Where. IOM in Abuja (No. 55 Hassan Musa Katsina Road, Asokoro), Benin City (No. 1 Frederick Ilekhuoba Close, off Boundary Road) and Lagos (No. 1 Isaac John Street, G.R.A. Ikeja); in Lagos also Q-Life Family Clinic (Victoria Island), St. Nicholas Hospital (57 Campbell Street, Lagos Island) and The Consultants Practice (25 Raymond Njoku Street, Ikoyi). There is no clinic elsewhere.

What you need. Your passport, and the transfer receipt for the fee.

Cost. $94 (about ₦125,000) at IOM, paid in naira at the UN exchange rate; ₦120,000 at the three private clinics in Lagos. No clinic takes cash.

Time. An appointment usually within a few days; "At busy times you may have to wait 10 days for an appointment, especially during the UK student visa peak season between June and September."

Watch out. Take it in the month before you apply. The certificate lasts 6 months from the X-ray, and it must still be valid on the day you apply. The visa is refused without a valid certificate.

You are done when the clinic hands you your TB certificate.

If it goes wrong. If June to September leaves no early appointment, book as soon as you know the week you will apply.

Next. Apply for your Student visa (Step 9).

If you want to know more: the TB test

St. Nicholas Hospital also takes payment on its website, and Q-Life gives its payment details when you book. If you live far from Lagos, Abuja or Benin City, plan the TB test and the visa centre as one trip where you can: the TB certificate is handed to you on the day, and most visa centres offer an appointment within 5 working days. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 say they paid IOM between about ₦130,000 and ₦142,000 in naira, by transfer, and printed the receipt.

Step 9. Apply for your Student visa

Apply on gov.uk and pay. Then give your fingerprints and photo at a visa centre in Lagos or Abuja.

Do.

1. Fill the form on gov.uk's Apply for a Student visa, opens in a new tab from your passport and your CAS. Declare every refusal.
2. Pay the visa fee and the health surcharge. Write down the reference number that starts with GWF.
3. Book your appointment with VFS Global and upload your papers.
4. Go to your appointment with your Appointment Confirmation letter, your passport and the printout of your document checklist.

Where. gov.uk; VFS Global in Abuja, Lagos (Ikeja) or Lagos (Victoria Island), Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00.

What you need. Your passport and a full copy of it, including the pages showing travel to other countries; your CAS reference number; your money evidence (Step 6); your parent's consent letter and your birth certificate, if the money is your parent's; your TB certificate; your ATAS certificate, if your course needs one; certified translations of any paper not in English; a debit or credit card for the fee and the surcharge.

Cost. £558 (about ₦995,000) for the visa, and about £1,164 (about ₦2 million) for the health surcharge. Most visa centres offer free appointments.

Time. "The earliest you can apply for a visa is 6 months before you start your course." A decision usually within 3 weeks of your appointment.

Your deadline. Within 31 days of the end of your 28 days (Step 6), and within 6 months of receiving your CAS.

Watch out. Check your email and your spam folder every day from your appointment. UKVI may call you to an interview: "If you are asked to attend such an interview you must do so ... otherwise your application is likely to be refused." Do not book your flight until you have the decision.

You are done when UKVI emails you its decision. Tick "I have applied", then "My visa is granted" when it comes.

If it goes wrong. If you are refused, your refusal letter says whether you can ask for an administrative review: within 28 days, £80 (about ₦143,000), on the evidence you sent. Or make a fresh application with a new CAS and new evidence that answers each reason (below, and Part 5).

Next. Travel to the UK (Step 10).

If you want to know more: the visa

When. You must apply within 6 months of receiving your CAS, and while your money statement is no more than 31 days old. For September 2027, apply from March 2027, once your CAS has come and a statement covers 28 days. Do not wait for the summer: June to September is the TB clinics' busy season (Step 8).

You come alone. A taught master's brings no family on the Student visa. gov.uk: "If your postgraduate level course starts on or after 1 January 2024, it must be either: a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8) a research-based higher degree". The one exception is a student sponsored by a government, which a self-funded student is not.

On a research master's. Your partner and each child apply online from Nigeria as your partner or child, with your application number.

No police certificate. The Student visa asks for none: the Immigration Rules for students contain no criminal record requirement, and the Home Office's list of routes that need an overseas criminal record certificate does not include students. You still declare any conviction on the form, and UKVI can refuse for a serious one.

Nigerians can still apply. Since 26 March 2026 the Student visa has been closed to nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan; Nigeria is not on that list.

The form. The form first asks where you will live in the UK, whether you hold an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, and the country where you will give your fingerprints and photo: choose Nigeria and your centre. "Once you have confirmed your location you will not be able to change it." Then register an email and a password of at least 10 characters with three of: a capital letter, a small letter, a number, a symbol. The form emails you a link to come back to it; it logs you out after 25 minutes of inactivity, so save as you go. Answer every question about yourself exactly as your passport shows it, and every question about your course from your CAS: its reference number, the course dates, the fees. Where the form asks whether your university has assessed your English, answer yes if your CAS says it did. If your CAS dates and the dates on your form differ, your health surcharge is worked out wrong and UKVI asks you to pay more.

The health surcharge. £776 (about ₦1.38 million) a year for a student. Your visa covers your course plus 1 month before it and 4 months after it (2 months after, for a course under 12 months), and the surcharge is charged on that length, in half-years rounded up: a visa of more than a year and up to 18 months costs a year and a half. For a one-year master's that is about 17 months, so £1,164 (about ₦2 million). The form works out your exact amount from your CAS dates. You pay it "by debit or credit card", in the one currency the payment screen sets for Nigeria, at the day's rate. If you do not pay it within 7 working days of the email, your application is turned down.

Your papers. You do not post anything. You upload copies to VFS Global when you book your appointment: upload them yourself while you book, and if you do not have them all, log back in and upload until the day before your appointment. Follow the document checklist the gov.uk form gives you. Upload clear colour copies, A4. You keep your originals. UKVI does not need the qualification papers your university used for your offer when the university has a track record (Step 2); keep them ready anyway, because UKVI can still ask for them.

The visa centre. VFS Global's UK visa pages for Nigeria, opens in a new tab. Premium centres, where an extra fee applies, are in Benin, Enugu (Tuesday and Wednesday), Ibadan (Thursday), Kano (Wednesday) and Port Harcourt (Tuesday to Friday). VFS's page states no amount for that fee: read it on the booking screen before you choose the centre. Most centres offer free appointments within 5 working days; in some places a standard appointment costs £76.50 (about ₦136,000). VFS's Document Upload Assistance at the centre, where it scans your papers for you, carries a fee its page does not state: upload yourself, free. Changing your appointment is free. If you miss it, you can rebook within 5 days for a fee, without a new application. You must attend within 240 days of submitting, or start a new application.

A faster decision. If your centre offers it for a Student visa, you choose it when you book: priority, £500 (about ₦892,000), a decision usually within 5 working days of your appointment; super priority, £1,000 (about ₦1.78 million), usually by the end of the next working day (two working days if your appointment is at a weekend or on a bank holiday). "Paying for optional services does not mean your application is more likely to be successful." It is not refunded if you are refused, and not usually if UKVI needed more information from you. UKVI has warned applicants in Nigeria about travel agents who take money for priority or super priority and never buy it. Check your receipt from VFS: every service on it must match what you paid for.

Your appointment day. Bring your Appointment Confirmation letter, with its QR code, for security at the gate; your valid passport; the printout of your document checklist from gov.uk. The centre takes all ten fingerprints with a digital scanner, so keep your fingers free of henna, cuts and marks, and your photo with nothing over your face or head unless for religious or medical reasons. Arrive on time: more than 15 minutes early and you wait; late, and you may have to rebook. You cannot send anyone in your place. Your passport comes back to you the same day. UKVI interviews most students. At the centre you may be asked, in English, about your course and your university; you may also be called later to a longer credibility interview, by phone or video, on your course and modules, your university, your education and visa history, your money and your plans after study.

The wait. "You'll usually get a decision on your visa within: 3 weeks, if you're outside the UK", counted in UK working days from your appointment. It takes longer if your documents need checking, you are called to an interview, or UKVI needs more evidence; UKVI contacts you within the 3 weeks if so. If 3 weeks pass with no word, contact UKVI. Answer any request the same day. Do not touch the money in your account. By its online email form, £2.74 (about ₦4,900) a query, with a reply within 5 days; or by phone on +44 (0)300 790 6268, option 1, 24 hours Monday to Friday, at 69 pence a minute; from Nigeria, if 0300 numbers do not connect, +44 (0)203 875 4669. Its staff cannot advise you on your own case.

Withdrawing. You can withdraw before a decision from your application account ("Section 6: further actions"). The visa fee comes back only if you have not yet given your fingerprints and photo; the health surcharge comes back in full.

If you are refused.

• An administrative review: within 28 days of the decision, £80 (about ₦143,000), online. It looks again at the evidence you sent; you cannot add new documents. It can take 12 months or more. It is cancelled if you make any other visa application.
• A fresh application: answer every reason in the refusal letter with new evidence, and declare the refusal. You need a new CAS: a CAS cannot be used twice. Send your full refusal letter to your university and to Rekoja the day it comes: Hertfordshire's compliance team wants it, and your deposit refund depends on it (Step 7).
• Your money back: the health surcharge is refunded in full within 6 weeks, to the card that paid it. The visa fee and any priority fee are not refunded.

From applicants who did it. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 describe mid-year decisions in one day to two weeks, and four to ten weeks for applications made in December, for those asked for documents, and for those interviewed. The refusals they describe most were "not a genuine student" after UKVI's interview: "generic and vague" answers; one applicant saw the interview email in her spam folder the night before. Others were asked for proof of what they had done since graduating; UKVI called some applicants' employers. Applicants who declared earlier refusals, to the university and to UKVI, describe being granted. Apply as soon as your CAS and your 28 days allow, prepare the interview from your course's modules, and watch your spam folder.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. The same visa, the same TB test, the same centres. A Commonwealth Scholar's visa fee and surcharge are paid by the FCDO, and a Chevening Scholar's fee is waived; on the paid route you pay both.

On a January start. Apply the day your CAS comes. Applicants who applied in December waited four to eight weeks or more, past their start date. Get your university's latest arrival date for January in writing.

Travel and your first term

Back to the short stages

Step 10. Travel to the UK

Set up your UKVI account, link your passport to your eVisa, and fly.

Do.

1. Follow your decision email to create your UKVI account, confirm your identity with the app on a smartphone, and link the account to your eVisa. Check every detail on your eVisa against your passport.
2. Get a share code on View and prove your immigration status, opens in a new tab. For your university, choose "To prove my immigration status for anything else": that code begins with S.
3. Book your room, at least for your first weeks, and your flight, for no earlier than the start date on your visa.
4. Pack your hand luggage (below).

Where. Your UKVI account, on gov.uk.

What you need. A phone number and an email address you can use every time you sign in; your valid passport; your GWF number from Step 9; a smartphone for the identity app.

Cost. Free: "You do not need to pay to set up a UKVI account or access your eVisa."

Time. Up to 1 month before your course starts, and never before the start date on your visa: "You must not travel to the UK before the start date given on your visa, no matter when your course starts."

Watch out. "You must travel with a valid passport or travel document that you've added to your UKVI account." Your carrier may not let you board if your details are wrong.

You are done when you have landed, with your passport, your share code and your CAS in your hand.

If it goes wrong. If your eVisa is wrong, report it on gov.uk's Report an error with your eVisa, opens in a new tab. UKVI fixes most errors within 5 working days, and complex ones within 15. Help also comes through the eVisa webchat, opens in a new tab.

Next. Enrol at your university (Step 11).

If you want to know more: travel

A share code proves your immigration status to an airline, the border, your university, a landlord or an employer, with your date of birth. It lasts 90 days and can be used many times.

A new passport before you fly. If you change your passport before you fly, update your UKVI account yourself if your passport is biometric; if you cannot, UKVI does it for £154 (about ₦275,000).

Your last date. Your university also sets the last date you can arrive and enrol, on your CAS (Step 11): Northumbria tells you not to travel after it.

Your room. Northumbria: "You should not travel to the UK without securing some accommodation in advance." Book your university room (Step 7), or at least your first weeks, before you fly. Applicants who arrived without a room in 2025 and 2026 describe weeks in hotels; one paid less than £125 a week for an Airbnb in Sunderland.

Meet and greet. Northumbria's meet and greet takes you from Newcastle's airport, bus or train station to your university room if you book it ahead; Teesside's student ambassadors meet you at Durham Tees Valley or Newcastle airport and take you to your new home, free.

Your hand luggage, in Northumbria's list:

• your passport, linked to your eVisa;
• a printout or digital copy of your UKVI account page showing your eVisa, with your share code;
• your visa decision email, printed;
• your ticket;
• your TB certificate;
• your offer letter and your CAS;
• evidence that you can pay your tuition and your accommodation;
• the originals, or certified copies, of every document named on your CAS;
• pounds in cash for your first days.

Coventry adds your flight confirmation or boarding pass, your academic and English documents as listed on your CAS, your ATAS certificate if you need one, and a letter from the body that awarded your degree.

Cash. Declare £10,000 (about ₦17.8 million) or more in cash, for you or for your family together, to UK customs: online or by phone up to 72 hours before you travel, or at the red channel ("goods to declare") when you land. Undeclared cash can all be seized, with a penalty of up to £5,000 to get it back. Customs helpline: 0300 322 9434, 24 hours.

At the border. Your passport is checked and your fingerprints may be checked against your eVisa. You will usually be asked why you are coming. A Nigerian passport holder cannot use the eGates. Your passport should be valid for your whole stay.

From applicants who did it. Applicants say that linking the eVisa before travel is compulsory and that people forget it, and that an arriving student was asked at the airport to show that his money was still in his account. Link your passport, print your statement, and carry both.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. The same eVisa, account and border. A scholar's flight is booked by the scholarship; on the paid route you book your own.

On a January start. Leeds Beckett, for example, runs its arrival service from 16 to 30 January 2027, with free taxis from Leeds Bradford Airport and free coaches from Manchester Airport on set days. Your own university's arrival page gives its own.

Step 11. Enrol at your university

Enrol and finish the right to study check before the last enrolment date on your CAS.

Do.

1. Do your university's enrolment and its right to study check, with your passport, your share code, your boarding pass and your CAS.
2. Pay what your university requires before you enrol (Coventry: at least £8,000 of your tuition; Northumbria: the second part on or before enrolment).

Where. Your university, in person or online, as its arrival page says (below).

What you need. Your passport, your share code, your boarding pass or flight confirmation, your CAS and the original documents your CAS names.

Cost. The tuition your university requires before enrolment.

Time. Before the last enrolment date on your CAS. Northumbria's check takes up to 5 working days to verify.

Watch out. After the last enrolment date on your CAS, you cannot enrol. Northumbria tells you not to travel after it; Coventry will not enrol you if you have not arrived, done your right to study check and enrolled by its enrolment closing date.

You are done when your university confirms that you are enrolled. You can then download a student status letter from your student portal (Coventry) for your bank and your doctor. Tick "I have enrolled".

Then claim your Rekoja grant. If you applied through Rekoja, Rekoja checks your enrolment with your university. Once it is confirmed, message Rekoja's desk with your enrolment letter, and the desk pays your Rekoja grant into your own bank account in Nigeria (the grant's terms, under Step 4).

If it goes wrong. If your payment from Nigeria may arrive late, pay early: Coventry advises paying no later than 10 working days before its enrolment deadline, because payments through Convera from Nigeria can take longer.

Next. Set up your first weeks (Step 12).

If you want to know more: enrolment, by university

• Coventry: a face-to-face right to study check at its Student Centre, 1 Gulson Road, Coventry CV1 2JH, 9am to 3.30pm on weekdays, with your passport, your share code, your boarding pass or flight confirmation, your CAS and the original documents your CAS names. You must have paid at least £8,000 of your tuition to enrol.
• Northumbria: you start the right to study check from home and finish it on arrival by uploading your passport, your share code with its expiry date and your boarding pass; it takes up to 5 working days to verify.
• Teesside: online enrolment can be done from anywhere once you hold your CAS; you enter your share code in CAS Shield.
• Leeds Beckett: an online part, with your passport, birth certificate and visa documents, then an International Check-in in person with your passport, your boarding pass, your share code, your CAS and your student ID. A driving licence is not accepted as ID.

Step 12. Set up your first weeks

Register with a GP, open a UK bank account, and pay your fees on the dates your university sets.

Do.

1. Register with a GP surgery near your home, online, on the NHS's Register with a GP surgery, opens in a new tab.
2. Open a UK bank account with your passport, a document with your UK address (your accommodation contract) and your university's letter that you are a student.
3. If you will work, look in your UKVI account for a National Insurance number; if you have none, apply on Apply for a National Insurance number, opens in a new tab.
4. Pay each tuition instalment before its date.

Where. Online for the GP and the National Insurance number; your bank's app or branch.

What you need. Your passport, your accommodation contract, your student status letter; for the GP, your confirmation of enrolment and the IHS number you received with the visa.

Cost. Free to register with a GP and to apply for a National Insurance number.

Time. A GP usually within 5 days of the surgery getting your details; a bank account up to two weeks, and 10 to 15 days before it is fully working; a National Insurance number up to 4 weeks after you prove your identity.

Watch out. You may work up to 20 hours a week in term. Do not plan your fees on it.

You are done when you are registered with a GP and your account is open, in your first weeks.

If it goes wrong. If you miss an instalment, your university can withdraw you from the course and report you to the Home Office. Pay before the date.

Next. Apply for the Graduate visa (Step 13), when your course ends. Read it in your first term: the job you want after the course decides what you do this year.

If you want to know more: your first weeks

Your GP. The NHS says you need no ID, proof of address or proof of immigration status to register. Leeds Beckett tells its students that a local surgery asks for their passport details, their confirmation of enrolment and the IHS number they received with the visa, so have them ready.

What the NHS costs you. Your surcharge covers NHS care from the day your visa starts. You still pay for:

• prescriptions: £9.90 (about ₦18,000) an item in England; a prepayment certificate costs £32.05 for 3 months or £114.50 for 12, and saves money if you need more than 3 items in 3 months or 11 in a year;
• NHS dental treatment: £27.90 for an examination (Band 1), £76.60 for fillings or extractions (Band 2), £332.10 for crowns or dentures (Band 3);
• eye tests.

The NHS Low Income Scheme helps with these costs if your income is low and your savings are under £16,000: apply online or on form HC1; helpline 0300 330 1343. Emergencies: 999. NHS helpline: 111.

Your bank account. Open it once you are living in the UK and enrolled. Your passport is not proof of your Nigerian address. Lloyds lets someone aged 18 or over, living in the UK, with a valid passport, apply for its Classic Account in its app, free while in credit. HSBC opens its standard Bank Account from abroad in its app for someone 18 or over with ID and proof of address, with no monthly fee, a £300 daily cash limit and a 2.75% charge on card spending outside the UK. Lloyds warns: "Be wary of offers for help with currency exchange, tuition fees, or living costs." and "Don't be a money mule." Leeds Beckett tells its students to allow up to two weeks to open an account, and 10 to 15 days before it is fully working; carry enough cash for those weeks. Keep your UK statements: you need them for later Home Office applications.

Your National Insurance number. Some people with an eVisa already have one in their UKVI account. If you do not, and you will work, apply online once you are in the UK, with your passport and a photo of yourself holding it. You can start work before it comes if you can prove your right to work. It stays the same for life. Helpline 0800 141 2079, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Council Tax. A household where everyone is a full-time student pays no Council Tax, the local charge on a home. To count, your course must last at least 1 year and involve at least 21 hours of study a week. If you get a bill, apply to your local council for the exemption: you must apply even if you qualify. If someone in your home is not a student, the bill comes with 25% or 50% off. gov.uk does not say whether a 12-month taught master's meets the 1-year line: send your local council your university's student status letter with the question in writing, and keep its answer.

Your tuition, on your university's dates.

• Coventry, 2026/27: £8,000 to enrol, then 34%, 33% and 33% of the rest; for a September enrolment on 16 November, 15 December and 15 January; for January, on 15 March, 15 April and 14 May. No fee or interest is charged.
• Northumbria: pay the second part on or before enrolment: 50% of £19,850 is £9,925; less your £5,500 deposit, £4,425 (about ₦7.9 million). The rest, £9,925 (about ₦17.7 million), before the end of your first semester.
• Teesside: in full, or in three or five equal instalments; set the plan up as soon as your invoice arrives, because Teesside allows instalments only through that plan.
• Hertfordshire, for September 2026 starters: 50% by 12 October, 75% by 4 January, 100% by 12 April; for January 2027: 50% before registering or by 8 February 2027, 75% by 3 May 2027, 100% by 3 August 2027. Its September 2027 dates are not yet printed: get them from Hertfordshire in writing (nigeria@herts.ac.uk) before you pay the deposit.
• Greenwich: 50% before registration, the rest in up to five monthly instalments.

Applicants still cite Teesside in 2024, where Nigerian students who missed instalments after the naira fell were withdrawn from their courses and reported to the Home Office, one of them close to finishing her dissertation. The rest of your tuition is money you hold before you travel (Step 6), not money you earn here.

Police registration. It ended on 4 August 2022. If anyone tells you to register with the police, you no longer need to.

Working while you study. For a full-time master's at a university with a track record: up to 20 hours a week during term, and full time in the vacations, including before your course starts. The time after your course has ended counts as outside term. You may not be self-employed, work as a professional sportsperson or sports coach or as an entertainer, or fill a permanent full-time job, and you may not claim public funds (benefits). One breach can end your visa. Give your employer a share code (choosing the option to prove your right to work), or your immigration documents; your employer must also check your term dates, and Leeds Beckett tells its students to give the employer a printout of their course's term and vacation dates from the university's website. The minimum wage from April 2026 is £12.71 (about ₦23,000) an hour at 21 and over, and £10.85 at 18 to 20. Your employer takes Income Tax from your wages; the first £12,570 (about ₦22.4 million) a year is not taxed. You usually pay National Insurance too.

Do not plan your tuition on work. Hertfordshire advises you not to depend on finding work in the UK to pay for your studies. Applicants in 2025 and 2026 say most employers avoid students because of the 20-hour limit, that jobs are scarce in smaller towns, and that no account they know of paid the tuition balance from part-time work. "Planning to work and pay remaining tuition fees is just madness because you are not sure of getting that job sooner." Students in 2025 and 2026 describe agency shifts, security work after a short paid course, and weeks or months before a first job.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. The same enrolment, GP and bank account. A scholar's tuition is invoiced to the scholarship; yours is yours to pay on time.

On a January start. Coventry's January instalments fall on 15 March, 15 April and 14 May 2027; Hertfordshire's on the dates above.

After your course

Back to the short stages

Step 13. Apply for the Graduate visa

Once your university reports that you finished, apply in the UK for 18 months to stay and work.

Do.

1. Wait for your university to tell the Home Office you completed the course: "You do not have to wait until you've graduated or have been given a certificate."
2. Apply online on gov.uk's Graduate visa, opens in a new tab pages with your passport and your CAS reference number from your Student visa.
3. Prove your identity with the app or at a UKVCAS service point (a centre in the UK where you give your fingerprints and photo).

Where. In the UK, online.

What you need. A UK master's from a university with a track record; your passport; your CAS reference number.

Cost. £937 (about ₦1.7 million) to apply, and the health surcharge at £1,035 (about ₦1.8 million) a year: for 18 months, £1,552.50 (about ₦2.8 million). Both are paid when you apply.

Time. A decision within 8 weeks. "Your visa will start from the day your application is approved." Apply before your Student visa ends, 4 months after your course's end date (2 months for a course under 12 months).

Watch out. Do not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you have the decision, or your application is withdrawn.

You are done when you hold the Graduate visa.

If it goes wrong. The Graduate visa is applied for in the UK, before your Student visa ends. If that date comes first, choose another option below before it, or leave.

If you want to know more: after your course

The Graduate visa. It lets you stay and "work in most jobs; look for work; be self-employed", travel abroad and return, and do voluntary work, with no sponsor. It cannot be extended. "2 years if you apply on or before 31 Dec 2026; 18 months if you apply on or after 1 Jan 2027." On this guide's route your course ends in 2028, so yours is 18 months. You must have studied in the UK for the length of your course (term breaks and weekends away still count for a one-year master's), and be in the UK when you apply. Your family can stay with you on the Graduate visa only if they came as your dependants on your Student visa; a child born in the UK during your visa can apply too. A taught master's student has none, so on the Graduate visa you stay alone.

If you work in health or care. gov.uk tells a doctor, a nurse, or anyone working in health or adult social care to check the Health and Care Worker visa instead: "It's cheaper to apply for and you do not need to pay the annual immigration health surcharge."

A further course. You can extend your Student visa inside the UK for a new course at a higher level, or at the same level if related to your course or your career. Apply no earlier than 3 months before it starts, before your visa ends, within 6 months of your new CAS, for a course starting within 28 days of your visa's end. £558 and the surcharge; money to show if you have been in the UK less than 12 months; a decision usually within 8 weeks.

Going home. Leave before your visa ends.

From graduates who did it. Nigerians in the UK in 2025 and 2026 say many graduates of earlier years counted on moving into care work, and that this is no longer open to new students. UKCISA's reading of the official Graduate Outcomes survey found 13% of international taught master's graduates of 2022/23 unemployed and looking for work, against 3% of UK graduates. Choose your course for the job, in Step 2, and start applying for graduate jobs in your first term.

Same as Chevening and the Commonwealth Master's. This is where the routes part. A Chevening Scholar must go home for two years and cannot apply for the Graduate visa; a Commonwealth Scholar must go home within a month and cannot switch to the Graduate route. On the paid route, the choice is yours.

On a January start. Your course ends in early 2028: the Graduate visa is 18 months for you too.

Part 4. What can stop you

These are the problems applicants meet, in the order they meet them, and what you do about each.

Your deadlines

Write each date down the day it arrives. University pages print no hour for their deadlines: send everything days before.

What stops people, and what you do

Your degree class or an HND. Each university sets its own line (Part 1, Check that you can start). Apply to courses that name your class. With an HND, apply through Rekoja and the desk asks each university for you; applying on your own, send the email in Part 1 to each university before you pay anything.

Your course is not on Rekoja's list. Apply to the university yourself (Step 4, Applying on your own). The Rekoja grant is only for courses you apply for through Rekoja.

An account made on the list's site. Rekoja applies for you: you do not need one. Send your courses to Rekoja (Step 4).

A transcript that does not come. Request it in your first week (Step 3), through your university's portal only. If it has not come within a month, email the records office with your payment reference for the date it will be sent. Never pay anyone who offers to "fast track" it.

A name that differs across your papers. Fix it before you apply (Step 3). Your CAS takes your name from your passport, and a mismatch between the papers your university used and your visa form can get the visa refused.

An English result too old, or the wrong test. A SELT must be under two years old when you apply for the visa, and your university may count from the course's start. If your test is not a SELT and your university wants one, take IELTS for UKVI (Step 1).

A university with no dated deadline. Coventry's deadline is the one in your offer letter. Send your applications through Rekoja by the end of January 2027 for September 2027, and before 6 December 2026 for Manchester's staged courses or 11 December 2026 for the first round of Edinburgh's Master of Public Health.

A deposit raised, or a slow CAS. Pay the deposit your offer letter states on the day you pay, read the refund rule first, and choose universities that publish their CAS dates (Step 7). Applicants report deposits raised for Nigerians in 2026 and CAS places filling before the deadline: pay early.

The university's interview. Prepare it from your course's modules and your money's papers (Step 5). It decides your CAS, and UKVI asks the same questions.

Money short, or the arithmetic wrong. Add the tuition your CAS shows as still owed to the living money at the rate in force on the day you apply. Take off only what your CAS or a receipt shows as paid. Check your naira against OANDA's rate in the week you apply, and top up if it falls short (Step 6).

A large sum with no paper behind it. Keep the sale agreement, the payslips or the business records behind every large deposit into the account (Step 6). Never show money that is not yours.

A bank that does not answer UKVI. Get your bank's written answer on whether it confirms statements to UKVI by email, before the 28 days start (Step 6). If UKVI says it cannot verify your statement, go to your bank's branch the same day and have it answer UKVI, in writing.

A Form A that does not clear. Start a pounds transfer weeks before the deposit is due, and have Flywire extend the due date (Step 7, Paying in pounds from Nigeria). Or pay in naira through Flywire, up to $20,000 a payment.

The TB clinic's summer wait. Up to 10 days from June to September. Book as soon as you know the week you will apply (Step 8).

UKVI's interview email in your spam folder. Check your inbox and your spam folder every day from your appointment. Missing an interview without good reason can get you refused.

A decision later than your start date. If 3 weeks pass, contact UKVI. Get your university's latest arrival date in writing, and keep it informed. Apply early so this does not happen (Step 9).

A refused visa. Read the letter the day it comes. Within 28 days you can ask for an administrative review (£80), on the evidence you sent; or make a fresh application with a new CAS and new evidence that answers each reason, declaring the refusal. Send the letter to your university for your deposit (Step 7), and to Rekoja. The health surcharge comes back within 6 weeks; the visa fee does not. If your refusal was more than 28 days ago, go to Part 5, Your Student visa was refused.

Arriving with no room. Secure at least your first weeks before you fly (Step 10).

A missed instalment. Your university can withdraw you from the course, as Teesside did to Nigerian students in 2024, and report you to the Home Office. Hold your whole tuition before you travel (Step 6) and pay each instalment before its date (Step 12).

Part 5. If you already did some of this

Start at the first step you have not finished.

You have chosen your courses on the universities' own sites. Search Rekoja's course search by the course's subject (not the university's name), and look for your university on the list (Step 2). If they are on the list, send them through Rekoja (Step 4). If not, apply on your own (Step 4, Applying on your own).

You already applied to a university yourself. That application stays yours: carry on from Step 5 when its offer comes. The Rekoja grant is only for courses you apply for through Rekoja; for any further course, use Rekoja's search (Step 2).

You hold your transcript and your degree certificate. Go to Step 4 once your courses are picked.

You already hold an IELTS result. Check its date and its type. A SELT (IELTS for UKVI) serves the visa and every university; standard IELTS Academic serves Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester but not a university that wants a SELT. It must be under two years old when you apply for the visa, and at Leeds and Birmingham at the course's start. If it will be too old, sit again before you apply (Step 1).

You have a referee's letter already. Check that it is signed, on headed paper, and recent; Hertfordshire wants two such academic letters. If a university contacts your referees itself, tell them to expect its email (Step 4).

You have applied and are waiting. Start Step 6 now: your money's 28 days take a month, and universities check them before the CAS.

You hold a conditional offer. Meet its conditions by the date in the letter (Step 5), and start your money (Step 6).

You hold an unconditional offer. Accept it, check whether you need ATAS, prepare for the interview (Step 5), and put your money in place (Step 6).

Your money has sat 28 days. Pay your deposit from the account and keep the receipt: the balance must never fall below the tuition still owed plus the living money (Step 6, The worked example). Then get your CAS (Step 7).

You hold your CAS. Check every line against your passport and your receipts the same day (Step 7). Then book your TB test (Step 8) and apply for the visa (Step 9), within 6 months of the CAS.

Your Student visa was refused, in 2025 or since.

1. Read your refusal letter and find the exact reason. For money, it is usually one of: the amount short of the tuition still owed plus the living money; the 28 days broken; a statement more than 31 days old; a bank UKVI could not verify; or a source of funds UKVI did not believe. If your letter cites ST 12 or FIN (the money rules of Appendix Student and Appendix Finance), the refusal was on money. If it cites SUI 9.1, it was for deception, and Chevening's Student visa guide warns that deception can lead to a ban "for up to 10 years": read your letter for any ban before you spend on a new application.
2. The administrative review is only within 28 days of the decision, and on the evidence you sent. If that time has passed, you make a fresh application.
3. Correct what caused the refusal: the full amount, at the rate in force on the day you will apply (from 30 November 2026 the living money is £1,203 a month outside London, £10,827 in all), converted at OANDA's rate for that day (Step 6, The naira rate), for 28 days in a row, in a regulated bank that has told you in writing that it answers UKVI, with the paper behind every large sum.
4. You need a new CAS. Send your university your refusal letter: Hertfordshire's compliance team wants every refusal, and applicants say a new university sends a refused applicant's case to its compliance team and often interviews again. Before you pay any deposit, get the university's written answer on whether it will issue you a CAS. Read Step 7's refund rules before you choose where to pay: Edinburgh keeps the deposit for a refusal for insufficient funds; Greenwich keeps it for an avoidable error such as missing money evidence. Claim your old deposit's refund from the university that holds it, with the letter (Step 7). Applying through Rekoja, tell the desk every refusal: it declares it with your new application.
5. Declare the refusal on every application, to the university and to UKVI. UKVI weighs "previous visa applications ... including reasons for any visa refusals", and Hertfordshire keeps the whole deposit of anyone who did not declare one. Whether to upload a letter answering each reason of the refusal is your university's visa team's call: get its answer in writing.
6. Your old offer was for a course that has started. Get your university's written answer on whether it will make you an offer for September 2027 (Coventry offers applicants with outstanding conditions a deferral to the next intake; Leeds permits none). If it will not, pick a new course (Step 2) and apply again (Step 4), then walk Steps 5 and 6. With the offer in hand, go to Step 6 and walk from there. One applicant refused in September 2025 for the arithmetic of her statement describes being granted on a fresh application, with a new CAS, in January 2026.

You applied for the Commonwealth Master's or Chevening and are waiting. Do not pay a tuition deposit while you wait (Leeds's advice). Keep your university places alive, and walk this guide from Step 5 once the result comes. If you are not selected, the paid route is open to you.

You hold an HND. Apply through Rekoja and the desk asks each university for you; applying on your own, send the email in Part 1 to each university before you pay any fee.

Your visa is granted. Start at Step 10: open your UKVI account and link your passport before you book your flight.

Part 6. The time, step by step

• Step 1, checking: today. An English test, if a course asks one: a sitting within 28 days of booking; IELTS results in 1 to 5 days.
• Step 2, your course: one evening on Rekoja's search.
• Step 3, your papers: ABU's e-transcript in 24 to 48 hours; no other university's portal states a time. A new passport in 42 days; a re-issue in 21.
• Step 4, applying through Rekoja: your applications in by the end of January 2027; Coventry's initial decision in about a week, Leeds's within ten working days, LSE's in about eight weeks.
• Step 5, your offer: conditions by the offer letter's date (Leeds, six weeks before the course); ATAS at least 30 working days.
• Step 6, your money: 28 days in a row.
• Step 7, your CAS: no earlier than six months before the course; a few days once the university's checks pass, up to a month at busy times as applicants describe.
• Step 8, your TB test: within a few days (up to 10 in June to September).
• Step 9, your visa: the visa centre within 5 working days at most centres; a decision usually within 3 weeks, or 5 working days with priority.
• Step 10, travel: up to 1 month before the course.
• Steps 11 and 12, your first weeks: enrolment before the date on your CAS; a GP within about 5 days; a bank account up to two weeks; a National Insurance number up to 4 weeks. Work: 20 hours a week in term.
• Step 13, after the course: the Graduate visa decided within 8 weeks, then 18 months.

The whole journey: no official page states it. On this guide's route, from choosing your courses in October 2026 to your first term in September 2027 is about eleven months. On a January start, about three months, if you move this week.

Part 7. The money, all of it

Every amount in the order you meet it, for one year at Northumbria (a one-year course at £19,850, outside London), for you alone. For paying in pounds, see Step 7, Paying in pounds from Nigeria.

The money in your account for the 28 days: £30,677 (about ₦54.7 million) before the deposit, and never less than £25,177 (about ₦44.9 million) once the deposit is paid: the tuition still owed and the living money (Step 6).

What you get back after you enrol: the Rekoja grant. Enrol through Rekoja and get a Rekoja grant of up to ₦500,000 towards your move. Paid after you enrol, into your own bank account in Nigeria (the grant's terms, under Step 4). It is not in the totals above, it is never taken off a fee, and it never counts towards the money you show for the 28 days: you hold the whole amount first, and the grant comes after.

What the total leaves out. Your flight; your first weeks' room and its deposit (applicants describe about £125 a week for a hotel or an Airbnb outside London, and a shared room from about £800 a month in outer London); your travel to the TB clinic and the visa centre; your polytechnic's transcript fee, if you hold an HND; the months of the year after the 9 the visa counts; cash for your first two weeks; your bank's charges and the exchange rate on each payment; the WAEC confirmation (₦39,000 and a ₦13,000 scratch card) if a university asks it; Teesside's qualification check (£30); prescriptions and dental treatment in the UK; and the Graduate visa after the course, £937 (about ₦1.7 million) and £1,552.50 (about ₦2.8 million) of surcharge.

At other universities, the same four amounts (the tuition, the living money, the visa and the surcharge):

• Teesside, at its 2026-27 fee of £17,000: £29,549 (about ₦52.7 million).
• Birmingham's MSc International Business for September 2027, £34,830: £47,379 (about ₦84.5 million).
• In London, the living money is £14,130 (about ₦25.2 million) in place of £10,827.

What a university's scholarship takes off. Coventry's Group Scholarship, £2,000 a year (2026/27); Northumbria's for Nigeria, £6,000 (September 2026 and January 2027; September 2027 being announced); Hertfordshire's Chancellor's International Scholarship, £500 to £4,000; Manchester's Global Futures, £19,000 (September 2027, by 20 April 2027). A scholarship applied after enrolment does not lower the money you show for the visa unless your CAS shows it (Step 6).

If your family holds less. ₦25 million, for example, is about £14,000: it pays a deposit and part of the tuition at any university in this guide, but not the tuition still owed plus the £10,827 the visa asks you to show for 28 days. Part 1, Check that you can start, says what to do, in order.

Only if you need them. Priority, £500 (about ₦892,000), or super priority, £1,000 (about ₦1.78 million); a standard visa centre appointment where one is charged, £76.50 (about ₦136,000); an administrative review after a refusal, £80 (about ₦143,000); a UKVI email enquiry, £2.74; updating your UKVI account for you, £154 (about ₦275,000); an acceptance deposit on some Manchester courses.

Your family. None of your family can come with you on a taught master's (Step 9).

On a January start. A visa applied for before 30 November 2026 shows £10,539 (about ₦18.8 million) of living money outside London, £288 less.

The official pages behind this guide were read between 6 and 10 October 2026 (the statement of changes HC 584 on 6 September 2026), and the guide was read whole on 10 October 2026.