Opening a UK Bank Account on a Student Visa

What the law actually says about opening a UK bank account on a Student visa: the immigration status check a bank must run, the fee-free account with basic features that designated banks are obliged to offer, and why no page can tell you which bank will take which document.

Checked 21 March 20268 min readWritten by the Rowan Editorial Team

Section: Student & Graduate
Reading time: 8 min
Last checked: 21 March 2026
Source: The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
Rowan does not: Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.

In short

A bank must run an immigration status check before opening a current account. Section 40 of the Immigration Act 2014 stops it opening one for a person in the UK who needs permission and does not have it.
Status is proved with a share code from your UKVI account. It lasts 90 days and can be reused inside that period.
Designated banks must offer a fee-free account with basic features to a consumer legally resident in the UK who has no other UK account with those features. It has no overdraft.
A designated bank must open or refuse that account within 10 business days of a completed application.
No official source publishes which banks accept which documents, so ask the bank before you go in.

Two published rules shape this. A bank must run an immigration status check before opening a current account, under section 40 of the Immigration Act 2014, and must not open one for someone who needs permission to be in the UK and does not have it. Separately, the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015 oblige banks the Treasury has designated to offer a fee-free account with basic features to a consumer legally resident in the UK who has no other UK account with those features, and to decide within 10 business days. Everything else — which documents a bank wants, which account it offers — is that bank's own policy, and no official source records it.

Why You Need a UK Bank Account

A UK account is what wages from part-time work are paid into, what rent and bills are paid out of, and what a direct debit runs from. It is also where money sent from home usually lands.

If you are opening a bank account on any UK visa, the rules are the same. Nothing in immigration law makes a student account different from anyone else's.

The Rule That Sits Behind the Questions a Bank Asks

Section 40 of the Immigration Act 2014 says a bank or building society must not open a current account for a "disqualified person" unless it has carried out a status check showing that the person is not one. A disqualified person is someone who is in the UK and requires permission to be here but does not have it. A student holding valid permission is not disqualified, and the check is what the bank is doing when it asks you to prove your status.

That is the only part of account opening set by immigration law. Everything else — which documents a particular bank wants, which account it will offer you, how long its own process takes — is the bank's own policy. No official source publishes which banks accept which documents, so this guide names none and gives no timetable.

Proving Your Status

Biometric residence permit cards stopped being issued at the end of 2024. Permission is held online as an eVisa in a UK Visas and Immigration account, and is shown to a bank with a share code from view and prove your immigration status on GOV.UK. You give the code and your date of birth; the bank sees your status rather than the whole eVisa.

A share code lasts 90 days.
It can be used as many times as needed in that period.
A new one can be generated at any time.

Set the UKVI account up and read what it says about you before you need it. An error in the name, date of birth or conditions is easier to raise with the Home Office before a bank runs into it.

What Banks Usually Ask For

There is no government list, and asking the bank first saves a wasted trip. What banks generally need to establish is the same three things:

Who you are. Your passport is the usual document.
Your immigration status. A share code, as above.
Where you live in the UK. A tenancy agreement, a university accommodation letter, or a letter from your university confirming your enrolment and the address it holds for you.

A university enrolment letter is worth asking your international student service for as soon as you enrol, because it can carry both your course details and your address. Some banks also ask for the CAS number.

The Account a Designated Bank Must Offer

The Payment Accounts Regulations 2015 oblige banks that the Treasury has designated to offer an account "with basic features" to a consumer who is legally resident in the UK and who either:

holds no other UK payment account with those features, or
is not eligible for any of that bank's other accounts.

What that account is, and is not:

It takes deposits, cash withdrawals, direct debits, standing orders, card payments and online payments in sterling.
No fee is charged for those services in sterling, and no fee or interest where a payment fails for want of funds.
It carries no overdraft.
The bank must open or refuse it within 10 business days of a completed application.

The same regulations say a bank must not discriminate against consumers legally resident in the UK by reason of nationality or place of residence when they apply for an account, and that it must refuse where the law requires — including where the immigration status check under the Immigration Act 2014 shows a disqualified person.

If You Are Refused

Ask the bank for the reason. Then ask whether you were considered for an account with basic features, which is the account the Payment Accounts Regulations oblige a designated bank to offer and which has lighter conditions than a full current account. If a refusal seems to turn on your nationality or on where you used to live, that is what regulation 18 prohibits, and the bank's complaints process is the route to raise it.

Your university's international student service sees these refusals every autumn and is worth asking before you try a fourth bank.

No Proof of Address Yet

If you have no tenancy agreement, a university accommodation letter or an enrolment letter carrying the address the university holds for you may do instead. Whether it does is the bank's decision, not a published rule.

Trouble Getting Into Your UKVI Account

Nothing is posted out, so there is no card to wait for, but people do get stuck setting the account up. GOV.UK sets out routes for people without a valid passport, without an expired permit card, or without a smartphone, and the Home Office can be contacted about an account that will not open.

Money Sent From Home

Money sent from abroad reaches a UK account by international transfer. Rates and fees are set by whoever moves the money and no official source publishes a comparison, so this guide names no service.

Keep the records. Appendix Finance of the immigration rules governs the money shown for a Student visa extension: funds earned or acquired in the UK must have been earned lawfully and while you held permission, the account must be in your name or in a parent or legal guardian's with their written consent and proof of the relationship, and an overdraft does not count.

Related Guides

For official guidance on financial requirements, see the GOV.UK Student visa financial requirements page and the financial evidence guidance.

Questions and answers

Which UK banks accept Student visa holders?

There is no published list. Each bank sets its own account conditions and its own list of documents, and no official source records which banks accept which. What the law does say is that a bank must carry out an immigration status check before opening a current account, under section 40 of the Immigration Act 2014, and must not open one for a person who is in the UK and needs permission to be here but does not have it. A student with valid permission is not in that group.

What documents do I need to open a student bank account?

Banks decide this themselves; there is no list set by government. In practice they need to establish who you are, where you live, and your immigration status. Biometric residence permit cards are no longer issued, so status is shown with a share code from the view and prove service on GOV.UK. A share code lasts 90 days and can be used as many times as needed inside that period. Ask the bank what it wants before you go in, because the answer differs between banks.

Does a bank have to open an account for me if I am a student on a visa?

Not any account you choose, but the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015 create a narrow duty. Banks that the Treasury has designated must offer a fee-free account with basic features to a consumer who is legally resident in the UK and who either holds no other UK payment account with those features, or is not eligible for the bank's other accounts. The bank must open or refuse the account within 10 business days of a completed application. It must refuse where the law requires it to, including where the immigration status check shows a disqualified person.

What if a bank refuses to open my account?

Ask the bank for its reason, and ask whether you were considered for an account with basic features, which is the one the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015 oblige a designated bank to offer. The same regulations say a bank must not discriminate against a consumer legally resident in the UK by reason of nationality or place of residence when they apply for an account. Your university's international student service deals with these refusals regularly and is worth asking.

This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.

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