- Institutions including the University of Hull and the University of Kent have been refusing to refund tuition fee deposits for students who have had their visa rejected
- More than 40% of Pakistani applicants were refused a study visa for the UK this year, compared to just 6% in Q1 2025
- Some students feel they were not made aware of the refund policy or the risk to their investment based on previous visa rejection rates, especially those counselled by a third party agent
- One agent reports a student with a gun demanding a deposit refund as tensions rise in markets with high rejection rates
As the UK transitions towards tougher Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics set by the government, The PIE News understands many institutions have still been accepting non-refundable deposits and issuing CAS numbers to students for the spring and winter intakes. This despite a high risk of visa rejection for several key markets.
Both University of Hull and the University of Kent have acknowledged that it is their policy not to refund deposits where an applicant has failed a UKVI credibility check or been refused a visa. Both institutions have been contacted for comment, with Hull placing responsibility for visa denials strictly at the government’s door.
Emergency visa breaks have been enforced for Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon by the UK government – preventing universities from issuing CAS numbers. However, much larger source countries for student applications deemed to be high risk such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana have remained open for CAS issuance.
Students from these countries have instead experienced a spike in visa rejections, often failing credibility interviews, mooted to be part of a heightened response to the government’s clampdown on potential asylum seekers.
While some universities have opted to stop recruiting from these markets altogether, others have chosen to install higher upfront tuition payments and have been actively advertising non-refundable deposit policies as a deterrent for higher-risk applicants.
Meanwhile, a flashpoint has emerged between students, agents and institutions. In Pakistan, one agent reported that a student with a gun caused a serious security incident while demanding the return of a deposit being withheld by a UK university.
Using publicly available application and visa issuance data from Q4 in 2024 and 2025, projections reveal some universities are potentially seeing millions of pounds in non-refundable tuition deposits as a result of rejection rates that far exceed the government’s required 5% threshold.
The PIE has investigated the extent of the problem by canvassing some of the biggest recruiting agents for the UK to estimate how many students are impacted, with several respondents reporting between 50-100 live cases currently in dispute over failed credibility interviews triggering withheld deposit payments during the January intake.
CAS issuance in exchange for non-refundable deposits
More than 40% of Pakistani applicants were refused a study visa to the UK this year, compared to just 6% in Q1 2025, with CAS issuance for Pakistani students coming to the UK falling by 72% in year-on-year comparison.
The University of Hull has a refund policy that states deposits will not be returned to students who are not issued with a visa by UKVI, with the university requiring a minimum deposit payment of £4,000 before a CAS is issued for visa application.
A refund will not be given where an applicant has received a visa refusal notice of cancellation of their permission [to study] from UK Visas and Immigration
University of Hull
Based on 2024/25 data showing a high volume and share of entrants from Pakistan, the university would have seen early evidence of higher visa rejection rates ahead of the January 2026 intake. More recently, Q1 2026 Home Office data reveals more than a 600% increase in visa rejection rate from Pakistan between October 2025 to March 2026 leading up to this year’s winter intake.
A spokesperson for the University of Hull gave a statement to The PIE, saying: “The University of Hull takes matters of administrative process very seriously.
“Decisions on visa applications rest entirely with UKVI and are outside the university’s control. We have published refund policies that govern how visa refusals and refunds are handled, and these policies are applied consistently. Under the university’s refund policy, tuition deposits are not refundable where a visa application is refused on credibility grounds.”
Elsewhere, the University of Kent also advertises a non-refundable deposit policy. If rejection rates for Q4 (winter intake) were applied to the institution’s 24/25 entrants, Pakistan alone would take its institutional average rejection rate to above the new BCA metrics at 7.6%, and Pakistan would account for nearly 30% of visa rejections.
Many other UK universities also enforce non or partial refund policies for deposit payments, often deducting administration fees from the total if they are returned.
Social media scanning reveals hundreds of rejected students claiming to have been unaware of refund policies or the high chance of visa rejection. Some are questioning the use of the term ‘deposit’ as deliberately misleading and say they are escalating cases to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA).
Many students believe that as the sponsor, a university has considered evidence connected to their application and finances and deemed them to be compliant by issuing a CAS number.
Seeking advice on social media in relation to the autumn intake, one student said that their chosen university had kept their £8,000 deposit after they were refused a study visa.
“I’m hoping to get some advice because I genuinely don’t know what else to do now,” they said, claiming that they had paid £8,000 in a deposit for a postgraduate degree at a UK university. However, their student visa was denied by UKVI on credibility grounds “not because of any financial issue, fake documents, or misleading information”, they said.
[“The university] refused the refund and applied section 4.2.2, which is meant for cases where the applicant has used fraudulent documents, given misleading information, or ‘is not a genuine applicant’. To make it even more confusing, [they] offered me a deferral for next year, meaning they still consider me a legitimate applicant. The policies contradict each other, and their decision feels arbitrary and unfair,” the student said.
UKVI does not have a standard policy that dictates university tuition deposit refunds. Instead, the UKVI student sponsor guidance places the responsibility on individual universities to set their own fair and transparent deposit, cancellation, and refund terms in line with UK consumer law.
Have you been impacted by the refusal to return a tuition fee deposit? Comment below or email us at editorial@thepienews.com
