The UK raised the money it asks students to show, and the new figure applies to anyone who applies from 30 November

The biggest immigration news in Europe this week was not a ban, a quota or a new visa. It was a change of a few pounds in a monthly figure, buried in a statement of rules that took effect on Thursday. The UK's latest changes to its Immigration Rules came into force on 8 October, and for most students the line that matters is the maintenance requirement, which goes up from 30 November. It is small enough to miss and exact enough to cause a refusal, because the rule is a number you have to meet to the pound.

What changed this week

The Home Office laid its statement of changes, numbered HC 584, on 3 September 2026. Most of it took effect on 8 October. It covers a wide spread of routes: the EU Settlement Scheme, the Skilled Worker route for victims of modern slavery, Hong Kong BN(O) families, the Visitor route and Erasmus+, which the UK is rejoining from 2027. It also adds a provision for Long Residence applications: where the decision maker is not satisfied the Long Residence requirements are met but thinks the person may qualify as a family member or under the private life rules, the application is varied to that route and not simply refused.

None of that is the story for a prospective student. The line that is, sits further down the same document and takes effect on a different date. Applications made before 8 October are decided under the old rules, and the student maintenance changes follow on 30 November.

The new figures, and who they catch

From 30 November 2026 the monthly maintenance figure in the Student route rises from £1,529 to £1,570 for study in London, and from £1,171 to £1,203 for study outside London. The figure used where accommodation has already been paid also moves from £1,529 to £1,570. In percentage terms that is a rise of about 2.7 percent on both figures. Reporting on the explanatory material says the increase is meant to keep the requirement in step with the maintenance loans available to home students in 2026/27.

The rules multiply these monthly figures over the months of the course, up to a cap that the current rules set, so the real cost is the monthly rise times those months. For a student on a one-year master's the extra comes to a few hundred pounds. For someone whose family has calculated the exact amount to the pound and parked it in a fixed deposit, a few hundred pounds is the difference between a clean file and a refusal.

Why the date matters more than the amount

The transitional wording is exact. An application made before 30 November 2026 is decided under the rules in force on 29 November. An application made on or after that day meets the new figures. So the choice that families control is the date the application is submitted, and nothing else about it. Funds that were enough on 29 November are not enough on 30 November.

The practical risk is the file that is nearly ready. A student with a confirmation of acceptance in hand, funds in the account and an application that slips by a week because a document came late can cross the line, and the extra money has to be in the account for the required period before the application, not on the morning of it. If you are close to the line, count the days.

The bigger UK change that has not happened yet

Everything above is in force or has a date. What is not is the larger change that people are actually afraid of: a longer, earned route to permanent settlement. The Home Office consulted on it from November 2025 to February 2026, and the proposal was a ten-year baseline for most people, with reductions for high earners and longer periods for some groups. Reporting this week says the final policy and its transitional arrangements are still to come, that nothing in the 8 October statement implements it, and that applicants on most routes will need to show English at B2 level from 26 March 2027.

It is worth being strict about the difference. A consultation proposal is not a rule. People who are planning around ten years should know that the number is where the Government started, that it has said it will publish the policy before the first people who arrived in 2022 would qualify under today's rules, and that the transition for people already in the system is the part nobody can yet state with confidence.

Also this week: Denmark's new route for 2027

Denmark will introduce a collective-agreement-based work scheme from 1 January 2027. Employers must be certified in advance by the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration, offer a job covered by a qualifying collective agreement, hire a national of one of 16 designated third countries, and meet salary requirements that are lower than on some other Danish work routes. It is a route for employers who qualify, and it does not exist for a worker acting alone. If you are in a trade covered by a Danish collective agreement, ask whether your target employers are likely to seek certification.

Also this week: Spain's draft law and the closed comment window

Spain's Interior Ministry held a public consultation on a draft law amending the foreigners' law, which ran from 23 September to 6 October 2026. The window is now closed. A draft is not law: it creates no new right or obligation until it is approved, published and in force, and Spanish student visas, residence permits and work authorisations work as they did last week. We covered the main outline of this reform when the Government approved it in August, and the useful thing to do now is to keep your own plans on the rules that exist.

What to do with a week like this

If you are applying for a UK student visa, put the date of application in writing and compare it to 30 November. If you are thinking about the UK for the long term, plan on the current rules and treat the proposed settlement change as a risk to price in, not a fact. If you are looking at Denmark, check which employers in your trade sit under collective agreements. And if your main target is Spain, nothing this week changed anything you need to do.

Frequently asked questions

Important notice: this article is for general educational purposes only. The UK maintenance figures and dates are taken from the statement of changes laid in September 2026, and the settlement reform described is a proposal that has not been enacted. The Danish scheme and the Spanish draft law may change before they take effect. Check the rules that apply on the day you apply, and speak to a Visagrad expert before building a plan on any of it.