This guidance page is for applicants, or current students who are starting a new course.
If you are a current student at the University and need a CAS due to an extension, intermission or change of course, please see the current student guidance page.
1. Apply to the University of Kent for your new course
You should apply for your course early enough to take into account application and University deadlines. You must accept our offer officially and meet all outstanding conditions of your offer. The CAS team can only begin assessing you for a CAS once you have received and accepted an unconditional offer of study.
If you are applying from outside of the UK you can apply for a CAS from up to six months before the start date of your course.
If you are applying from within the UK you can be issued a CAS from up to three months from the start date of your course.
2. Your application is reviewed
The CAS team will conduct a review of your file and request any missing information after your offer has become unconditional. This may include contacting you to conduct an immigration history and/or financial check.
Why? UKVI impose specific financial requirements for Student visa applicants and this is a good chance for us to identify upfront that your financial documents are acceptable for obtaining a successful Student visa. The financial check at Kent is based on UKVI rules so it is essential that we confirm you are able to meet these rules to avoid a visa refusal.
When? We will notify you if you need to provide us with financial documents when we assess you for a CAS. If we request any information from you it is important that you supply the appropriate documents as quickly as possible to allow us time to review your documents. Any delay at this stage may cause a delay in the issue of your CAS.
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.
You can contact the Income Office for your tuition fee amount and refer to GOV.UK Student visa money guidance for an outline of the requirements.
The financial 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.
Data protection: The financial documentation you provide to us is stored securely, never passed on to anyone outside the University and is only used for the purposes of conducting the financial document check for assessing you for a CAS.
Fee payments to the University
You can pay your tuition and accommodation fees before you submit your visa application to UKVI.
If you (or your parent/guardian) have made payments to the University of Kent towards your tuition fees and/or University accommodation, this can be recorded on your CAS. Please note that, even if you have paid your accommodation fees in full, we are only able to confirm a maximum of £1,334 on your CAS under UKVI rules. Please also note that we can only list payments made for University of Kent Canterbury campus accommodation. Any payments for private accommodation, or Liberty Quays accommodation at Medway campus, cannot be listed on a CAS.
Please note that bank transfer payments can take around a week or more to arrive and be processed to your student account. We are not allowed to list any payments on the CAS until we have the verification from the Income Office. Some payments, particularly bank transfers, can take a week to be processed and received by the University. In busy periods, such as the summer, this can take longer.
Once a visa application has been submitted, UKVI only accept updates up to a certain point in their processes and we have no control over this, so unfortunately cannot guarantee to add fee payments to the live CAS after the visa application has been submitted.
The Finance website has more information on how to make a payment. It also includes a form for updating your CAS to include payment of fees.
If you wish to receive advice about your financial documents and how they may or may not comply with UKVI guidance, you should send these documents and an explanation of your situation to the Kent Union Advice Centre.
3. Your 'pre-CAS' is issued
The University will issue you with an electronic pre-CAS document before issuing you with a formal CAS number. The pre-CAS is a draft version of the CAS. The pre-CAS will be sent to you via your student portal on KentVision, our application system.
This is your opportunity to check that the details are all correct and you must approve the pre-CAS before we will issue your actual CAS. We will only issue you with a pre-CAS once we are satisfied you meet the conditions of our Student sponsorship and CAS issuing policy.
You must approve the pre-CAS and accept the University’s terms and conditions of Student visa route sponsorship in order to receive a CAS number.
Hard copies are not required
CAS are not provided in hard copy or via email to applicants. The details available in your Kent portal are all that is needed to make your visa application. Your CAS is held online by UKVI, so you do not need to submit a hard copy of this information as part of the visa application because they already have it.
Your last chance to make any course changes
Please note that once your CAS is issued, it cannot be altered. We therefore urge you to make sure that the pre-CAS accurately reflects the course that you want to study. If you wish to change your course, it must be done before the CAS is issued.
4. Your CAS is issued
The CAS team will then issue you with your CAS number.
Your CAS can only be used for the visa application to study the course you applied for at the University of Kent. If you do not take up your place your CAS will be withdrawn (cancelled).
What happens if my CAS is not issued?
Depending on the reason that we cannot issue your CAS, you may be able to defer your place to a future entry point. Both the Admissions and CAS teams, as well as Kent Union Advice Centre, are here to support you.
5. Apply for your Student visa
Please see our guidance on how to apply for a Student visa (previously called a Tier 4 visa), depending on whether you are applying from inside or outside of the UK:
Further help
For further help:
- Contact the CAS team for CAS related queries
- Contact the Admissions team for any applicant or potential applicant queries
- Contact Kent Union Advice Centre for general CAS and visa advice