Proof of funds for a visa: how much, and how long money must be held (2026)

What does proof of funds actually mean?

Proof of funds is the evidence that you can pay for your trip or your course, for yourself and anyone with you, without working unlawfully and without running out. It is not a single number. An officer wants to know the amount is there, that it is in a form you can actually use, that it has been yours for long enough to be real, and that you can say where it came from.

Most applicants focus only on the amount. The amount is the easiest part to fix and the least likely to cause a refusal on its own. The harder parts are the holding period and the source, and those are where good files and bad files separate. The bank statements guide covers how an officer reads the account itself; this guide is about the money behind it.

How much money do you need, by country?

The figure is set by the government and changes, so a number without a date beside it is worth little. Below are the amounts verified against the official sources on the day of writing. Confirm the live figure for your own application year before you rely on it.

The UK figures in detail

As of 6 November 2026, the gov.uk Student visa money page lists 1,171 pounds for each month of the course, up to a maximum of 9 months, for a course outside London, and 1,529 pounds a month for a course in London, which gov.uk defines as the City of London and the 32 London boroughs. These figures changed at the end of 2025, when they rose from the previous amounts, which is exactly why a dated figure matters.

The Canadian figures in detail

For study permit applications on or after 1 September 2026, outside Quebec, the IRCC proof of financial support page lists 23,448 Canadian dollars for a single applicant, 29,192 for two people and 35,888 for three, for living expenses for one year. This replaced the earlier figure of 22,895 dollars that applied to applications up to 31 August 2026. Tuition and travel are on top. The Canada study guide covers the wider process.

The German blocked account

Germany asks most students to open a blocked account holding a year of living costs before the visa is issued. As of 6 November 2026, the amount cited by official sources is 992 euros a month, or 11,904 euros for the year, in force since January 2025. You draw down a set amount each month after you arrive. The Germany study guide explains how the blocked account fits the rest of the application.

Australia and the money you cannot verify

Australia is a useful warning about verifying figures. The Home Affairs evidence page sets out the rule clearly: a Student visa applicant must show either enough money for travel, tuition, living and school costs for the first 12 months, or annual income above a specified amount from a parent or partner who is not travelling with them. The exact dollar figure for living costs sits on a separate financial capacity page, which did not load for us on the day of writing. Rather than copy a number from a blog, read it off the Home Affairs page yourself before you apply. The Australia study guide covers the route.

How long does the money have to be held?

The holding period is the part applicants most often get wrong, because it is different in every country and because there is no holding period at all for some routes.

The UK 28-day rule

As of 6 November 2026, the gov.uk Student route requires the money to be held for at least 28 days in a row. The 28 days are counted back from the closing balance on your most recent evidence, and that evidence must be dated no more than 31 days before you apply. The balance must not fall below the required figure on any day in that period, or the clock resets.

Canada reads six months

IRCC asks for bank statements for the past 6 months, including the month you applied or the month before, with the source of the income shown. There is no single day on which a magic balance has to appear. Instead the officer reads half a year of activity, which rewards a steady history and exposes a late injection of cash.

Germany holds a whole year

The blocked account is the strictest holding rule of all. The full year of living costs is locked away before the visa is issued and released to you in monthly portions after you arrive. It is proof of funds and a budgeting mechanism in one.

Australia and genuine access

Australia has no fixed seasoning figure of the UK kind, but it does ask for genuine access to the funds. Money you cannot actually reach, such as a loan that is never disbursed, does not count. The spirit is the same as everywhere else: the money must be really available to you for the trip.

What forms can the money take?

Proof of funds is not always a bank balance. Different routes accept, or require, different instruments, and using the wrong one wastes real money.

A plain bank balance

The most common form. Money in an ordinary bank or savings account you can access immediately, evidenced by a statement or a bank letter. The UK rejects overdrafts, cryptocurrency, stocks and shares, pensions and unregulated accounts, which tells you the kind of money every route prefers: regulated cash you can spend now.

A blocked account

Used by Germany and some other European routes. The money is locked and released monthly. It is not a balance you can draw on freely, which is the point.

A certificate or a loan

• Canada accepts a guaranteed investment certificate from a Canadian financial institution.
• The UK accepts a student loan, shown by a loan letter dated within 6 months, outside the 28-day test.
• Canada accepts proof of a student or education loan from a bank, and proof of a scholarship.

A loan taken from a bank under a proper scheme is legitimate. A short-term personal loan taken only to inflate a balance for the application is not, and it reads as exactly what it is.

A sponsor

Where a parent or relative funds the trip, the money can sit in their account, but the route will want their statement, a letter of support and proof of the relationship. Our guide to sponsor and affidavit letters sets out what those documents must contain.

Do tuition, travel and family count on top?

Yes, and this is a common shortfall. Students budget for living costs and forget the rest, then find their evidence is thousands short.

• Tuition. The UK living cost is on top of the first year of tuition on your CAS. Canada asks for living costs plus tuition.
• Travel. Canada specifically asks for transportation to and from Canada. Australia includes travel in its 12-month figure.
• Family. Each person who travels with you adds to the figure. The UK adds a monthly amount per dependant, and the Canadian table rises with family size.

How do you show where the money came from?

Proving the money exists is only half the task. An officer also wants to know it is lawfully yours. For Canada the page says so directly, asking for documentation of the source of the income in the statements.

Keep the paper for every large sum

A property sale needs the sale deed. A gift needs a gift deed and the giver’s own evidence. A gratuity or a matured savings plan needs the letter from the employer or the institution. Business income needs receipts or invoices and a tax record that fits. The bank statements guide explains why an unexplained credit is treated as a borrowed one.

What about proof of funds for a visit visa?

A visitor does not have a fixed living cost figure in the way a student does, but the money question is just as real. You have to show you can pay for the trip and the return journey, and that you have a settled life and the means to come back to it.

The German mission for Pakistan, for a Schengen visit, asks for six months of bank statements and three months of salary slips. The logic is the same across visit routes: a steady financial history that fits your stated job and income, not a balance that appeared for the application. The Schengen visa guide and the UK visit visa guide explain the visitor side in more detail.

How do you plan your proof of funds, step by step?

The order below keeps the money honest and the evidence on time. The one thing you cannot buy at the last minute is a holding period, so start with the calendar.

1. 1

   Work out the exact amount for your route

   Read the official page for your visa and add up what it asks for: living costs for the right number of months, the first year of tuition, travel, and an amount for each family member. Use the figure for the year and date you will apply, because these numbers change.

2. 2

   Decide what form the money will take

   A plain balance is one option. Some routes accept or require a blocked account, a guaranteed investment certificate, a loan letter or a sponsor. Choose the form the official page names for your route, and do not assume a method that works for one country works for another.

3. 3

   Put the money in place and let it settle

   Where the rule gives a holding period, keep the balance above the figure for that whole period. Where there is no fixed period, build the balance months ahead so the account shows a steady history rather than a late jump.

4. 4

   Document where every large sum came from

   For any big credit, keep the proof: a property sale deed, a gift deed, a gratuity or maturity letter, business receipts. Proof of funds is also proof that the money is yours and lawfully acquired, not only that it exists.

5. 5

   Gather the evidence in the required format

   Get official statements or letters that cover the exact period, a blocked account confirmation or a loan letter where used, and any sponsor documents. Check the dates against the rule before you submit, because evidence that is a few days outside the window is wasted.

What goes wrong most often?

Budgeting for living costs only

The applicant shows the living cost figure and forgets tuition, travel or a dependant, and the evidence falls short of the total the route actually requires.

Using an out-of-date figure

A number copied from a two-year-old blog, or from last year’s rule, no longer matches the page. The UK figures changed at the end of 2025 and the Canadian figure changed on 1 September 2026, so an old number can leave you under the line.

Missing the holding period

The money is there, but it arrived too late for the UK 28 days, or the account shows six months of near-empty history before a sudden jump for Canada. The amount is right and the timing is wrong.

The wrong instrument

An applicant tries to prove funds with shares, crypto or property for a route that wants cash in a regulated account, or opens the wrong kind of account for a blocked-account country.

No source for a large sum

A genuine sale or gift sits in the account with no document to explain it, so a lawful credit is read as borrowed money parked for the application.

A realistic example

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real client. Usman, 23, from Multan, has an offer for a master’s at a university outside London, with tuition of a known amount on his CAS. His parents are funding him.

• The funds sheet. He reads the gov.uk money page, writes down 1,171 pounds a month for 9 months plus the first year tuition, dates it, and gets the total in pounds and in rupees.
• The form. The money will sit as a plain balance in his father’s savings account, which his father controls, with a consent letter to follow.
• The holding period. His father moves the full sum in well ahead and leaves it untouched, so the balance stays above the figure for a clear run of more than 28 days.
• The source. A large credit from a plot sale three months earlier is backed by the sale deed, filed next to the statement.

When Usman applies, the amount is right, the money has sat still long enough, and every large sum has a document behind it.

The version that goes wrong

Now imagine Kamran, applying for the same course. He works out the living cost but forgets the tuition sits on top, so his evidence is short from the start. A relative tops up the account three days before he applies to cover the gap, with no document to explain it, and the balance would fall again afterwards. The evidence is both short of the real total and shaped like a borrowed balance. The application is refused, and he loses the fee and the intake.

Key takeaways

Frequently asked questions