UK Student visa from Turkey: documents and translations

The timeline from offer to arrival

The application can only be made once the university or college has issued a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS), which usually requires the offer to be accepted and a deposit paid. You may apply up to six months before the course starts if applying from Türkiye, and the visa is normally granted to arrive shortly before the start date. Working backwards from the course start: allow a few weeks for the Home Office decision, a few days for a visa application centre appointment, one to two working days for translations, and, most importantly, the 28 days during which the money must sit untouched in the account. Families who begin at the CAS and work forwards often discover that the money was moved a week too late.

What the CAS commits you to

The CAS records the course, the fees already paid and the qualifications the institution used to make the offer. The Home Office may ask to see those qualifications, and if the CAS names a Turkish diploma, it must be produced with a certified translation. It also states whether the institution assessed your English itself, which degree-level sponsors may do, or whether a secure English test is required. Read the CAS line by line before ordering translations, because the wording of the qualification on the CAS is what our translation of the diploma should match. Our Student visa page explains the certification format; the UCAS page covers the earlier stage, where the same diploma and transcript translation is often first needed.

Money: the rules that catch Turkish applicants

Unless the CAS shows that fees and maintenance are already paid, you must show the outstanding first-year fees plus a monthly living allowance for up to nine months, at the London or outside-London rate set by the Home Office, held for 28 consecutive days in an account in your name or a parent’s. The statement must end no more than 31 days before the application date. When the money is in a parent’s account, three extra documents are needed: the parent’s statements, a letter from the parent consenting to the use of the funds, and proof of the relationship, normally your birth certificate or the family nüfus kayıt örneği. Turkish families frequently prepare the consent letter as a muvafakatname before a notary, which is not required by the Home Office but is accepted; the notary’s attestation is translated with it. Bank statements are translated in full, every page, with the bank’s stamps and the balance on each date visible. The Home Office converts lira at its own rate on the application date, so check the sterling figure shortly before applying.

Qualifications and translations

• Lise diploması and school transcript for undergraduate courses.
• Lisans diploması and university transcript for postgraduate courses; a temporary graduation certificate (geçici mezuniyet belgesi) where the diploma is not yet printed, with a note explaining what it is.
• English test certificate: issued in English, no translation.
• ATAS certificate for certain science and engineering courses: applied for online in English.

All Turkish documents follow the general GOV.UK certification rule: a written statement that the translation is a true and accurate translation of the original document, the date, and the translator’s or translation company’s full name and contact details. Each of our pages carries those items with the signatory’s signature and the company’s registry details.

Applicants under 18

A student under 18 needs written consent from both parents (or the parent with sole responsibility) to the application, to travel, and to the living and care arrangements in the UK, together with evidence of the relationship and the parents’ identity documents. Turkish families usually produce this as a notarised muvafakatname; we translate the consent and the notary’s certification as one document. Where the parents are divorced, the custody order may be requested.

Fees and processing

The application fee and the immigration health surcharge per year of study are set on GOV.UK and change; budget for both plus the English test and any priority service. Decisions from Türkiye usually take a few weeks after biometrics. Our translation of a typical undergraduate set (one month of statements, a consent letter, a birth certificate, a lise diploması and transcript) comes to £60–90 and is ready in one to two working days, with express service for 60% more; no UK VAT is charged. The Student visa checklist lists everything in order.

Where student files fall down

• The 28-day period interrupted by a transfer between accounts, restarting the clock.
• Parent’s money with no translated proof of relationship.
• A diploma translation whose degree title does not match the CAS because a different translator did the UCAS copy.
• A temporary graduation certificate presented as a diploma without explanation.
• A scanned bank statement with the final page missing, so the closing balance cannot be seen.