Confirmation of studies (CAS)

The Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) is the foundation of your Student visa application. Without a valid CAS, you cannot apply. This guide explains what a CAS is, what information it contains, how to get one, and what to do if there are problems.

Checked 17 March 20268 min readWritten by the Rowan Editorial Team

Section: Student & Graduate
Reading time: 8 min
Last checked: 17 March 2026
Source: The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
Rowan does not: Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.

In short

A CAS is a database record with a reference number, not a physical document.
It must have been issued no more than 6 months before the date of your application.
Your sponsor must hold a Student sponsor licence and still be on the Register of Student Sponsors on the date of the decision.
A CAS used in an application that was granted or refused cannot be used again.
The details on the CAS also set your work conditions and whether you can bring dependants.

A CAS is a unique reference number assigned by your UK university or college confirming your place on a course. It is a database record, not a paper document, and it carries your course details, fees, and how the sponsor assessed your academic and English ability. It must have been issued no more than 6 months before you apply, and it must not have been used in an application that was granted or refused.

What a CAS Contains

Your CAS contains key information that the Home Office uses to assess your Student visa application:

Your personal details: Full name, date of birth, nationality, and passport number.
Course details: Course title, level (such as undergraduate or postgraduate), start and end dates.
Fees: Total course fees and any deposits already paid.
Academic qualifications: The qualifications you used to gain your place, and whether your university has seen the originals.
English language: How you met the English requirement — for example an approved English test (a Secure English Language Test), an assessment by the sponsor, or another accepted form of evidence.
ATAS clearance: Whether your course requires Academic Technology Approval Scheme clearance (relevant for certain postgraduate courses in sensitive subjects).

The Home Office checks the CAS record against your application. The guidance also notes that the information on the CAS determines your work conditions and whether you can bring dependants, so an error there follows you into the grant.

How to Get a CAS

You cannot request a CAS directly from the Home Office. It is issued by your university or college. The typical process is:

Accept your offer of a place and meet all conditions (academic qualifications, English language, deposits).
Your university checks that you meet the Student visa requirements and that their sponsor licence allows them to sponsor you.
The university assigns a CAS to you through the Home Office system that licensed sponsors use, the sponsorship management system.
You receive a CAS statement (usually by email) containing your CAS reference number and all the details listed above.

How long this takes is set by the institution, not by the Home Office, and GOV.UK publishes no figure for it. Some sponsors assign a CAS only after a deposit has been paid; others assign it once all conditions of the offer are met. Your sponsor can tell you their own timetable.

Checking Your CAS

Before you apply for your visa, check every detail on your CAS carefully:

Is your name spelled exactly as it appears on your passport?
Is your date of birth correct?
Is the passport number correct? If you have recently renewed your passport, make sure the CAS shows the new number.
Are the course dates accurate?
Do the fees and deposit amounts match your records?
Is the English language assessment method correctly recorded?

If anything is wrong, contact your university immediately. They can withdraw the CAS and issue a corrected one. Do not apply with an incorrect CAS.

CAS and Financial Evidence

The fees shown on your CAS set how much financial evidence you must show. The guidance describes the requirement as outstanding course fees for the first academic year, plus living costs for up to 9 months. Living costs are £1,529 a month for a course in London and £1,171 a month outside London.

Fees you have already paid reduce the amount, but only if the CAS confirms the payment or you provide a receipt from the sponsor. A deposit paid to the sponsor for accommodation the sponsor provides can also be offset, up to a maximum of £1,529, and only where the accommodation is the sponsor's own — payments to third parties are not counted.

The funds must normally have been held for 28 days in a row. That rule does not apply if you are relying on a student loan or an award from an official financial sponsor. You do not need to show funds at all if you are applying from inside the UK and have held valid permission here for at least 12 months on the date of application.

CAS for Visa Extensions

If you need to extend your Student visa, for example because you are progressing from a foundation course to a degree, or from a bachelor's to a master's, you need a new CAS. Your new institution (or the same institution if you are continuing) must issue a fresh CAS for the new course.

See our Student visa extension guide for the full process.

What If Your CAS Is Withdrawn?

A sponsor can withdraw or cancel a CAS, and so can the Home Office. The guidance is explicit that a valid CAS must not have been withdrawn or cancelled since it was issued, and that a caseworker must refuse an application made with an invalid CAS.

If your CAS is withdrawn before you apply, you need to resolve the issue with your university or find a new course at a different institution that will issue a new CAS.

Related Guides

For official information, see the GOV.UK Student visa page and the Student route immigration rules.

Questions and answers

What is a CAS number?

A CAS, or Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies, is a unique reference number assigned by a UK university or college that holds a Student sponsor licence. It is a database record rather than a physical document, and it holds your personal details, your sponsor, your course, your finances, and the documents the sponsor used to assess your academic and English language ability.

How long is a CAS valid?

The Home Office guidance says the CAS must be issued no more than 6 months before the date of your application. A CAS issued more than 6 months before you apply does not meet the validity requirement, and the application may be rejected. If yours passes 6 months, ask your sponsor for a new one.

Can I use the same CAS for a visa extension?

No. The guidance says a CAS must not have been used in a previous application, unless that application was rejected as invalid, withdrawn or declared void. A CAS used in an application that was granted or refused cannot be used again, so an extension needs a fresh CAS from your sponsor.

What if there is an error on my CAS?

Contact your sponsor. They can withdraw the incorrect CAS and assign a new one. The Home Office checks the CAS record against your application, and a caseworker must refuse an application made with an invalid CAS.

Can I get a CAS from more than one university?

You submit one CAS with an application, for the course you intend to study. Sponsors assign a CAS from a limited allocation, so many will only assign one once you have firmly accepted the place and met the conditions of the offer.

This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.

All guides Free tools