Getting Your UK Student Route Documents in the Right Order

The CAS is the anchor document

Your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies is issued by the licensed student sponsor once you have an unconditional offer and have met their requirements, usually including paying a deposit. It is an electronic record with a reference number, and it lists the course, the dates, the fees, any deposit paid and the qualifications the institution relied on to make the offer.

Read the CAS carefully the moment you receive it. Check the spelling of your name against your passport, your date of birth, your nationality, the course title, the start and end dates and the fee figures. Errors here are common and they must be corrected by the institution before you apply, not afterwards.

The qualifications listed on the CAS are the ones the Home Office may ask you to produce. If the institution has listed a certificate you cannot locate, sort that out before applying. A CAS has a limited validity period, so plan your application around it rather than letting it sit.

Maintenance funds and the holding period

You generally need to show funds covering any outstanding course fees for the first year plus living costs for a defined number of months, at rates that differ depending on whether your institution is inside or outside London. Those rates are published and are revised from time to time, so use the current figures.

The rule that catches people is the holding period. Funds usually need to have been held for a continuous period of consecutive days ending shortly before the application date, and the closing balance on the statement must not have dropped below the required amount at any point during that period. One dip on one day breaks it.

Read the rules on whose money counts. Your own account or a parent or legal guardian's account with written consent and proof of relationship is normally acceptable. A friend's account, a company account or an account belonging to a sibling is generally not. Where a loan letter is used, it must come from an acceptable source and be in the required form.

• Count the holding period in consecutive days and check no day fell below the threshold
• Use the current published maintenance rates for your institution's location
• If a parent's funds are used, include written consent plus birth certificate evidence
• Check whether your sponsor has already certified maintenance on the CAS, which can remove the requirement

English language, ATAS and academic technology

English language requirements for the Student route depend on the level of the course and on whether your institution is permitted to assess your English itself. Many higher education providers can, in which case the CAS will confirm how the assessment was made. For other courses a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider at an approved centre is required.

Do not book a test until you have confirmed which route applies to you. Applicants regularly pay for a test they did not need, or take an unapproved test that cannot be used.

Some postgraduate courses in sensitive subjects require an ATAS clearance certificate before you apply. It is obtained separately, it takes time, and the application will not succeed without it where required. Your institution should tell you if it applies; ask explicitly rather than assuming silence means no.

Tuberculosis testing, dependants and other add-ons

Applicants who have been living in certain listed countries need a tuberculosis test certificate from a clinic approved by the Home Office. Only approved clinics count, the certificate has a limited validity, and the test must be completed before you apply. Look up the approved clinic list for your country rather than using a local hospital.

Dependants are only permitted on the Student route in limited circumstances, and the rules on which courses allow dependants have been tightened in recent years. Check the current position for your specific course level before making family plans.

The immigration healthcare surcharge normally applies, at the rate published by the authority for the relevant period. Government fees and the surcharge are payable directly to the Home Office and are always separate from any service fee charged by an assistance provider such as ourselves.

Working out your timeline

Work backwards from your course start date. You can usually apply up to six months before the course begins if you are applying from outside the UK. Before applying you need the CAS, the maintenance funds held for the full qualifying period, any TB certificate, any ATAS clearance and any English test result.

The maintenance holding period is what dictates the earliest sensible application date. If money needs to sit untouched for a set number of days, start that clock well before you plan to submit and do not move funds in the meantime, including transfers between your own accounts.

Build in a margin for the unexpected: a CAS correction, a test slot, a clinic appointment, or a bank taking a week to issue stamped statements. Students who apply in the final fortnight before enrolment are the ones who end up deferring, and a deferral usually means a new CAS and a fresh application.

Arriving and staying compliant

Your permission will carry conditions, including limits on how many hours you may work during term time and the types of employment you may not undertake. Those limits are enforced, and breaching them affects your studies and your immigration record.

You must also keep the institution informed of your address and engage with your course. Sponsors have reporting duties, and a student who stops attending will be reported. If something goes wrong with your studies, speak to your international student office early; there are usually options, and almost all of them narrow the longer you wait.

Keep digital copies of your CAS, your application, your grant notice and your financial evidence for the whole of your stay. If you later apply to extend or to switch to a work route, having the original file to hand makes a great deal of difference.