Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS)
You must have a CAS before making an application as a Tier 4 (General) student. A CAS is an electronic document that your college, school or university issues when they make you an unconditional offer. Your CAS will be valid for use in a Tier 4 application for six months from the date that it was generated.
Your Tier 4 sponsor will send you the unique CAS reference number, which you will need for your Tier 4 application. They should also email you the information that they have used to generate your CAS, usually called the 'CAS statement'. The CAS statement itself is not required for your Tier 4 application, but it gives you all of the information about your course and Tier 4 sponsor, and some of the information about money, that you need to complete your Tier 4 application form. If there are any discrepancies between the information used by your institution to generate the CAS and the information on your application form, then your application may be refused.
If you currently have a Tier 4 visa for the UK, or if you previously had one or a pre-Tier 4 student visa, your CAS needs to confirm that you are making academic progress in your studies. For information about this see the section called 'Academic progression' in the Home Office's Tier 4 policy guidance.
In some cases, your institution may issue you with a single CAS to cover both a pre-sessional course and a main course of study. You may be issued with a single CAS if you meet all of the following requirements:
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You intend to study at a higher education institution (HEI - see page 9 of the Home Office's Tier 4 policy guidance for the definition of an HEI)
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You have an unconditional offer for the pre-sessional course
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You have an unconditional offer for your main course (or your place on your main course is conditional on you achieving an English language ability of CEFR B2 in all four components, and your pre-sessional course will enable to achieve this)
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You intend to study both courses at the same institution, or at partner institutions
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Your pre-sessional course will last less than three months
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Your main course will be at degree-level (RQF 6 / SCQF 9) or above
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There will be a gap of no more than one month between the end of your pre-sessional course and the start of your main course
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If you have a single CAS, it will give the start date as the start of your pre-sessional course and the end date as the end of your main course.
If you are issued with a single CAS before you have an English language level of CEFR B2 in all four components (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and you still have not obtained this level in all four components after you have completed your pre-sessional course then your institution will report this to the Home Office and you will not be able to progress on to your main course of study. Instead your visa will be curtailed and you will have to either leave the UK or apply for further leave to remain.
You may obtain a CAS from several different institutions. However, before you apply for your Tier 4 visa you must decide where you intend to study and use the CAS from that institution in your application. At this point any other CAS that you have been issued will become 'obsolete', and you cannot use them in a Tier 4 application. When your Tier 4 visa is granted and you use it to enter the UK, you must study at the institution that issued your CAS.
