How to get a student visa to study abroad in 7 steps

A good number of international applicants don’t know how to go about getting a student visa to study abroad, and for this reason their hope of going to school abroad gradually fades because without a student visa, one cannot study abroad.

If this is your first time applying to study abroad, you may be wondering what a visa is, I will explain. A visa is a document that permits you to enter another country, so anyone that wants to enter a foreign country would generally need a visa and since its college you want to attend, you would need a student visa to study abroad.

You won’t be allowed to travel abroad and attend a university if you don’t have a student permit (visa). You won’t also be allowed to study abroad if you hold another type of visa, say tourist visa. For example, if a citizen of South Africa gets a tourist visa and travel to the United States, he/she won’t be allowed to attend a university even when already in the country. To be permitted to attend school, the person must apply and obtain a student visa, what some other countries like Canada call student permit.

Getting a student visa is not difficult, provided you qualify for it. This is what this post is all about because there are no tricks to having a study visa, all there is to obtaining a student permit is to qualify for it.

Simply put, once you qualify to receive a student visa, you will certainly be given a student visa when you apply. But first, you need to qualify.

What documents are required to get a study visa?

Foreign embassies don’t issue visas for fun, so there are basic factors that are considered and documents required before a student visa is given. So instead of rushing to apply for a study visa to school and to your disappointment watch your application denied, I advise you check the factors below. These factors qualified me and eventually led to my successful visa application to study in Australia. It is my hope that it helps you as much as possible.

1. Have and accept an offer of a place

Having and accepting an offer of a place on a course at a college abroad is what I consider the first step towards getting a student visa. Here is a clear illustration: Collins is a citizen of Kenya who desire to study in the UK. What he first need to do is to apply to the college he wants to study, and have an offer of a place on his desired course, after which he accepts the offer and immediately proceed to apply for a study visa to enable him move to the UK.

The single most important point in my illustration is that having an admission offer in the UK college qualified Collins for a study visa. Now he can apply to the UK embassy in Kenya for a study visa and be approved to move to the UK to commence studies. Most times, the school where you got an offer will advise you on the necessary steps to take to apply for a visa, but first, you must have received an offer of admission to get this assistance because the University of Sydney really helped me in my visa application process after accepting my offer of admission, and I eventually studied on full scholarship there.

So in the ladder of studying abroad, having an accepting an offer of a place comes before visa.

2. Have an international passport

International passport is a document you collect from your country that serve as a proof of identifying you abroad, so it is essential to have a passport, else you won’t qualify to receive a student visa. Every other factor will be useless in this post without an international passport – its a must have.

Although my university didn’t request me to upload my passport while applying for a place, some universities require that international applicants upload a copy of their passport or input their passport number along with their course application. And even though the school you apply to don’t request for your passport at the time of application, they will eventually ask for it once you have been give an offer of a place. USYD required me to send a copy of my passport when I accepted my admission offer, although your school may chose to adopt a different approach.

The bottom line is that whether your international passport is required at the time of applying to a college or after receiving an offer of a place, you won’t be qualified to get a student visa if you don’t have an international passport.

3. Have an acceptance letter

Simply having an offer of a place to study abroad is not enough, you need to accept the offer and receive an acceptance letter which is an important document required to obtain a study visa. You won’t be able to succeed with word of mouth at a foreign embassy about your admission without an acceptance letter.

My cousin Anita got an offer of a place on a course at Lancaster University, UK last month. She accepted the unconditional offer, submitted her international passport and was mailed her confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS), including necessary steps to take in applying for a Tier 4 visa (UK student visa). She eventually applied for a study visa, and her application was successful. The remarkable thing in her case is that the entire visa application process was easy as soon as she had gotten the basics right. The process of obtaining my study visa to study in Australia was even easier, but first, I got the basics right.

Having an acceptance letter puts you in a strong position to have a successful visa application, and getting a student visa wouldn’t be hard.

4. Proof of language competence

Your ability to communicate in the primary language of your preferred country to study is among the factors that qualifies you for a student visa. Again, you will need to back your ability with ‘proof of language competence’ – a document that prove that you can speak, write, read, and understand the language, if not completely but to a large extent.

Most non-English speaking countries such as Russia, Japan, China, Spain, have it differently. Those countries require applicants to do a one-year language course on arrival in the country to enable them learn the language used in learning before starting their studies. In this case, international applicants are given a student visa to enter the country even without showing competence in the language.

However, there is a set-standard in English-speaking countries. International applicants studying in English countries are required need to prove their competence in English by taking approved English tests, passing it and obtaining a minimum score that shows such an applicant will be able to learn and communicate in English. Some universities in English-speaking countries go further to conduct Skype interview for international applicants to prove their ability to speak and understand English.

You won’t be given a student visa to study in the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the USA if you don’t prove your competence in English language. Find out more about taking English-language tests to prove competence.

5. Prove you can afford studying abroad

Studying abroad takes finance and you won’t be qualified to obtain a student visa if you can’t afford the finance that comes with studying abroad. I studied on full scholarship in Australia so I wasn’t required to prove that I could finance my studies, so my scholarship confirmation letter saved the day. I learned from my new friends in Australia in my first-year who weren’t on scholarship that they submitted financial statement of their sponsors along with their visa application before they got a visa to move to study in Australia.

So you will be required to prove that you can afford studying and living abroad if you want to get a student visa, and depending on the country you are going, what is considered as ‘afford’ could vary. For some people, they have parents and sponsors who can really afford sending them abroad to study but for the rest of us, this is where scholarships are very important. Find out how to secure scholarship to study abroad.

If you want me to send new scholarship opportunities to you, let me have your email.

6. Have no criminal record

It is important to have a clean bill of health in criminality if you want to study abroad. Having a criminal record can lead to you being unqualified to enter another country, which means you won’t be given a student visa to travel. I believe a background check is ran on international applicants who need a student visa to attend college abroad and if you seem a threat to public peace, you are most certainly not going to be able to travel abroad.

So ensure you are a law abiding citizen in your country even as you take steps to study abroad. It could well count for you.

Those are the factors that determine your eligibility for a study visa and I consider them the most important steps to take towards getting a student visa.

7. Start your visa application

Now that the factors that determine your chance of getting a study visa to study abroad has been checked, you can proceed to applying for a student visa at the embassy of the country you desire to study. Depending on the school you got an offer of a place, you can get advise on how to go about applying for a student visa or permit like my cousin got. If you want to study in the UK, you will need to apply for a Tier 4 student visa, just as you will need an F, M, or J visa to study in the US, while other countries have their country-specific student visa.

I advise you apply for your student visa a bit early, like about two to three months before the start date of your course so you can’t get your visa on time. For me, I applied two months before the start date of my course and got my Subclass 500 student visa to study in Australia three weeks after applying, and then I was able to conclude preparations in time, and traveled abroad.

It’s not so hard to get a student’s visa to study abroad after all, is it? I bet you would agree it isn’t if you follow the steps outlined above.

If you like this post, please leave a comment below sharing your thought. You could also leave a comment if there are questions you would like to ask. I’m happy to help.

Maxwell Tega

Maxwell is a Dietitian with passion for showing people hope. With nearly a decade experience helping people make key decisions on education and career, you can find him almost everywhere on this site. From answering admission and scholarship questions to creating tutorials and helping others live their best lives though nutrition. Connect with me on Twitter.