Several Russell-Group institutions, led by Imperial College London, have updated their tuition-fee deposit policies effective 1 August 2026. The revised wording guarantees a full refund where an applicant is unable to enrol due to a Home Office visa refusal—provided the decision letter is supplied within 30 days of notification. The move aligns university terms with the UK Competition & Markets Authority’s 2025 guidance on fair contract terms, which warned that “non-refundable deposits may be unenforceable where factors outside a student’s control—such as visa denials—prevent enrolment”. It is also seen as a response to intensifying competition from Australian and Canadian universities, many of which already operate no-quibble refund policies. For mobility specialists the changes reduce financial risk when sponsoring employees’ dependants on self-funded programmes. Previously, deposits of up to £10,000 could be forfeited even when an applicant had made timely attempts to meet CAS deadlines. Institutions will still withhold deposits where the refusal is based on deception or a pre-existing entry ban. Imperial’s policy goes further by permitting deferral to the next intake without extra cost if a student misses the first enrolment window pending an Administrative Review. Education agents expect peers such as UCL and Manchester to follow suit before the autumn recruitment fairs in South-East Asia. Families should note that refund applications require a copy of the full UKVI refusal letter—not merely the e-mail notification—and that banks can take up to six weeks to credit overseas accounts. Sponsors may therefore need to supplement living-cost budgets temporarily if enrolment is delayed.
