Current students: How to apply for a CAS

If you are a current student, you will need to apply for a CAS from the Student Immigration Compliance Team for one of the following reasons:

Extension

If you are resitting, repeating or have requested a course change, your Student visa may expire before your course completion date. In order to continue or complete your course, you would therefore require an extension to your grant of leave by way of a new Student visa.

Change of course

If you are requesting a change of course (ie a different course for which you were originally granted a CAS and Student visa) you may have to apply for a new CAS and a new Student visa.

Intermission

If you are returning from intermission and your previous Student visa sponsorship was withdrawn, you will require a CAS to apply for a new Student visa to return to the UK to study. If your intermission was due to medical reasons you may be required to provide a note from your doctor to your Division confirming that you are fit to return to your studies.

We will not issue a CAS to anyone who has a debt to the University. Please refer to our Student sponsorship and CAS issuing policy.

Your CAS will be produced based on your financial status at the time you request the CAS and will state any tuition and accommodation fees outstanding to the University.

If you have made a fee payment after we have assigned your CAS please contact the Student Immigration Compliance Team. We will liaise with the Income Office regarding your payment and update your CAS accordingly.

It is recommended that if you intend to make any fee payments, you do so prior to applying for your CAS.

1. Complete and sign a CAS application form, including completing the checklist and signing the declaration. If you are returning from intermission, this will be processed no more than 3 months prior to your return date.

• If you are applying from overseas, you will need to select 'Yes' in answer to that question
• You will then need to fill in the required additional fields to allow you to move to the next section. 

2. Complete and sign the Terms and Conditions of Student sponsorship.  

Depending on your circumstances, you may need to demonstrate that you have enough money to pay for your course and support yourself in the UK.  

Applying from within the UK

If you are applying in-country and if you’ve been in the UK with a valid Student/Tier 4 visa continuously for at least 12 months, you may not need to provide financial documents.

Applying from outside of the UK

If you are applying from outside the UK, you may need to demonstrate evidence of your finances.

We may need to see evidence, in accordance with UKVI guidance, that covers course fees for the following year of study (or the whole course if your course will last for less than a year), plus living costs up to a maximum of nine months. If you are applying from overseas, we also require you to show an additional £500 on top of the tuition and living costs, to cover any currency fluctuations.

Please refer to GOV.UK Student visa money guidance for an outline of the requirements.

The evidence you send us must be in the form of one of the following:

• Money held in a bank account in your name (bank statements in your name)*
• Money held in a bank account in your parent/guardian’s name (bank statements in their name, along with a letter confirming the relationship between you and them, their consent to use their finances for your study and official documentation confirming your relationship. This can be a birth, adoption or guardianship certificate)*
• Official Government financial sponsorship
• Official International Scholarship Agency financial sponsorship
• Official International Company sponsorship
• Official University financial sponsorship
• Government education loans (for example: US Federal Aid)

*If you will be using funds in either your own or parent’s bank account then you should demonstrate that you have held the required amount of funds at all times for a consecutive 28 day period, ending no more than 31 days before the date of your visa application. The funds must be in the account on the last day of the bank statement period and for the whole of the 28 day period before the statement ends.

You should pay particular attention to the detailed requirements of the documents you can use as well as the documents that cannot be accepted. Please carefully read through the Student Route guidance for a full set of requirements and links to other appropriate resources/guidance such as Appendix Finance of the Immigration Rules.

You will need to return the required documents to the Student Immigration Compliance Team via visacompliance@kent.ac.uk:

• Your completed CAS application form and Terms and Conditions of Student sponsorship document (which were completed in step 2 of this process)
• A scan of your current, valid passport
• A scan of your current, valid Student/Tier 4 visa (for students who need an extension or change of course only)
• A scan of your most recent Student/Tier 4 visa (for intermitting students only)

Please email your financial documents in a separate email from the above information in order for us to securely store them in your case file. Your information will be treated confidentially and only provided to those staff in the University who will be reviewing the documentation for the purpose of issuing your CAS. The information will be deleted from our email system once received, then transferred and held securely in your case file until your visa application has been decided. We will delete your financial information once we have been made aware of your visa decision.

We will not consider your application until we are in possession of all required and correct documents/evidence. Failure to provide the correct information and in the right format will lead to delays in assessing your CAS application.

Once the Student Immigration Compliance Team is satisfied that you have provided all the required and correct supporting evidence, we will review your CAS request and may request further documentation or complete additional checks prior to issuing your CAS. We aim to process CAS applications in 10 working days.

If your request is granted, we will email your CAS to your University of Kent email address and you can use it to apply for your Student visa. For help with submitting a Student visa application to the Home Office, we strongly recommend that you seek advice from Kent Union Advice Centre as they can offer free immigration advice to all University of Kent students.

In the rare event that your CAS request is refused, you will be informed of the reasons why. Please see our Student sponsorship and CAS issuing policy.