What is CAS Letter (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies)?

Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) is a very important document you need to know if you are planning to study in the UK.

You must have a CAS before applying for the UK Student Visa (Tier 4 General). CAS is an electronic document issued to you by the college or university that you have chosen to study at. Your CAS will be valid for student visa application for six months from the date of issue.

Your institution will also send a unique reference number that will match up with your CAS. You must mention this reference number on the Tier 4 visa application form. The visa official processing your application will check this number and corroborating document to confirm that you have an unconditional offer from the university.

Your college will also send along the information they have used to generate your CAS. This is called as a 'CAS statement' and it is sent to you by email. The CAS statement is not required for your Tier 4 visa application but it gives all the information about your course and sponsor and some information about money that you need to complete your Tier 4 visa application form.

In case there are any inconsistencies between the information used by the university to create the CAS and the information you provide on your application form, then your visa application could get refused.

The CAS statement tells you the following information:

• 14 digit reference number for the CAS
• Sponsor License Number (SLN) of the university where you intend to study
• Start and end dates of your course
• Title of the course
• Tuition fees for the first year or the entire course.
• Any tuition fees that you have already paid to the university
• Any accommodation fees that you have already paid
• Assessment of your English language ability i.e. IELTS or TOEFL scores

The important thing to note is that you may obtain CAS from several different universities. However, before you apply for your Tier 4 student visa you must decide which university you intend to study and use the CAS from that university in your application. Once you do that, any other CAS you have been issued will become 'obsolete'. This means that you will not be able to use them for the visa application. When your student visa has been granted and you enter the UK, you must study at the university/college that issued your CAS.

Read more articles related to getting admission to UK universities:

Study in UK: Documents required for applications

Study in UK: Student account of application and admission process

Steps to UK college admissions: Enrolment Timeline to plan your applications

Difference between Undergraduate application process to US and UK universities