CAS Letter: Processing Time, How to obtain, Why and When CAS is required

A CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) letter is a prerequisite for getting a UK student visa. International students require a General student visa (Tier 4) to be able to live and study in the UK. Students without a CAS letter are not issued a student visa. 

Students can submit the CAS number as proof of receiving an unconditional offer from the university. The UK visa officials use this number as a confirmation of admission and then kickstart the general student visa issuance process. If the information provided to the university to create the CAS does not match with the information provided in the application, the student’s visa application is rejected. 

A student can obtain a CAS letter from multiple universities. The student should decide which university he/ she intends to study and use the CAS letter from that university in the Tier 4 student visa application. Once this is done, the CAS letters from other universities become obsolete which means that the student will not be able to use them for the visa application. More details about the CAS letter UK are discussed below.

Table of Contents

• What is a CAS Letter?
• Why is the CAS Number Required by the UK Visa Officials?
• How to Obtain a CAS Number?
  
  • When Can the Student get the CAS Number?
• How Does the University Send the CAS?
• CAS Letter Processing Time
• CAS Sample Letter

What is a CAS Letter?

The Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) letter is an electronic document that includes the CAS number which is a unique reference number assigned to a student by the respective university in which he/ she is taking admission in. It is sent to the candidate by the UK university on the email ID that he/ she uses to carry out the application process. The CAS number should be entered in the student visa application and is valid for six months from the date of issue. The university/ college offering admission to the student is considered as an ‘immigration sponsor’ that issues the CAS letter UK. The CAS letter will also have the information that was used by the university to generate the CAS number. Listed below are the details available in the CAS statement:

• 14-digit CAS number
• Details of the sponsor like name, license number, address, etc
• Details about the student like name, gender, birth country, birthplace, nationality, date of birth, passport, etc
• Course details such as name, ID, qualification awarded, duration, and course type (full-time or part-time)
• Basic requirements such as SELT, ATAS, English language level attained, test provider, etc
• Details related to the accommodation like provision of accommodation, accommodation fees, etc
• Work placement details

Why is the CAS Number Required by the UK Visa Officials?

A CAS number acts as proof of an unconditional offer of admission to a UK university. The visa officials use the CAS number to confirm that the applicant has been accepted into a particular UK university/ college and then proceed to the General student visa issuance process. In the case of the number used by the university proves to be inconsistent with the information provided by the applicant, the visa application is rejected. A single CAS number is valid for only one visa application and expires six months after it is issued.

How to Obtain a CAS Number?

The process of getting a CAS letter UK is simple but lengthy. Some UK universities send the CAS letter on their own but certain other universities require the student to apply for the CAS number. New applicants receive the CAS letter a maximum of 4 months before the start of the course if they have accepted an unconditional admission offer from a UK university and have paid the necessary deposits for the particular course. The entire process of getting a CAS letter UK is divided into different stages and explained below:

When Can the Student get the CAS Number?

Students obtaining a CAS letter depends on the university they are enrolling in. Certain universities like Kingston University require the students to send a request for a CAS number. Other universities such as the University of Nottingham sends the CAS number on their own. One can request for a CAS number or the UK university sends the CAS number when:

• The applicant has accepted the unconditional offer from the university
• He/ she has made the required deposit to finalize their seat at the university
• The time remaining for the start of the course in the UK university is less than 3 months

How Does the University Send the CAS?

Different UK universities follow their own process for sending the CAS number. The general process of sending the CAS letter by a UK university is explained below:

• Firstly, the UK university sends an email to the student on the ID used for admission
• Students are required to login to the link provided in the email
• The applicant can get an option to check his/ her CAS statement on the dashboard
• In certain cases, the students may have to request a CAS number by attaching documents such as academic proofs, financial documents, Tuberculosis (TB) certificate, an ATAS certificate to get the CAS statement. The students receive a link to their CAS statement after submitting the documents. 
• The CAS statement will have all the important information related to the admission of the candidate. Students will also have to fill in some additional details in the statement
• The applicant then has to verify if all the information in the CAS statement is true
• If there are any errors in the details on the CAS statement, the student should send the admission authorities an email pointing out the errors and corrections. 
• Once the details are filled in and submitted, another email is sent to the student
• This email has the final CAS statement and the CAS number. The student may be asked to log in to their account to access the CAS number
• Finally, the students are advised to take a printout of the CAS statement for any future reference. However, only the CAS number is required for the student visa application for the UK.

CAS Letter Processing Time

The UK university generally takes about 10 days to send the CAS number to the students after confirmation of all details in the statement. If the UK CAS letter processing time exceeds 20 days, one must send an email to the admission committee and bring their attention to the delay. The CAS letter validity is 6 months and a CAS number is valid for only one visa application.

UK CAS Sample Letter

A sample CAS letter has been provided below as a reference for students:

University Name 

 CAS Statement

CAS Number: Your CAS number will be shown here           

Date of Issue: 26/05/2019

Personal ID: Your application reference number will appear here

Name: Your full name

Address: Your current address

 

Nationality: Your nationality

Passport Number: Your passport number

Sponsor License Number: The sponsor license number of the university in which you have taken admission (Eg: 4KU1B)

Unconditional Offer for: The name of your selected program

Academic Level: The level of your program (Eg: NQF Level 7)

Start Date: The date on which your course officially begins

End Date: The date on which your course officially ends

Mode of Study: Full-time

Last Enrollment Date: Enrollment ends on this date

ATAS Required: ATAS certificate required (yes/no)

Location of Study: The site in which the majority of your study will be conducted

 

Course Fee: The cost of your program in Pounds

Course Fee Paid to Date: The amount of fees that you have paid

Receipt Number: Payment Receipt number

Living Cost: 820 Pounds per month

Accomodation Fee Paid to Date: N/A

Receipt Number: N/A

How suitability was assessed: Proof that you provided as part of your application

Course Title: Title of your previous program

Course Type: The level of your previous program

Awarding body: Name of your previous institution

English Course Title: Previous English language program (if applicable)

Grade: Grade received from your previous course