You should be aware that there has recently been a family housing crisis-which is affecting the majority of the UK and not just Swansea and the surrounding area. As a result there is very little available family accommodation and properties are very expensive. We have further information about short and longer term accommodation available in our UK Travel and Accommodation: An International Students' Guide, so please ensure you are reading that too.
Wherever possible, you should try and arrange accommodation before you leave your home country and also make sure that you are budgeting accurately for rental costs (it is standard that an accommodation contract will expect you to pay for several months upfront). If you cannot pre arrange your accommodation, you should think about coming to the UK before your family and bringing them over once you have accommodation/schooling in place. This can avoid both unneccessary distress and significant financial outlay- as you will likely have to stay in temporary accommodation (e.g. a hotel) while looking for family suitable accommodation and this could take some time. It is important to note that even if you have applied for/been granted visas together, you do not need to travel together as a family. If a dependant's 90-day travel vignette expires, it can be renewed at any point (giving an extra 30 days travel from date of renewal).
If you are applying to come to the UK under the Student Route, you will need to confirm/evidence to the UKVI that you have living costs for a minimum of 9 months available to you (on top of your fees) before travel and in order to be granted a visa. You will need to sign a declaration confirming that these funds are specifically to support you and your family once you arrive in the UK. Livings costs needed to secure a UK Student Route visa are currently £9,207 for the main applicant plus £6,120 per dependant (plus the visa fees and Immigration Health Surcharge payments). For example, a 1 year Master's Degree student with a family of 5 would need to confirm they have approx £33, 571 upfront and which is specifically for initial UK living costs.
You should expect that a significant part of these funds will go towards securing your accommodation and initial UK set up costs. Further information about UK Finances and Living Costs have been provided for you.
If you have read the guidance and you have dependants applying for immigration permission under the Student Route, our supplementary Leaflet on Applying for visas found in our Immigration for Dependants section will help you prepare for that.
Please note: If you are bringing children and hope to enrol them in school it is important that you plan to have secured your accommodation and be in the UK at the beginning of the school year (by 1st September or 1st January) and that you have the correct visas for the whole family.
You can apply for school places from overseas (as long as you have already secured your accommodation) and we urge all families to do this if they can. Please see our for information around that. Arriving in the UK on time prevents unnecessary upset to both your children and the staff and children within our local schools.