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Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies

Applying for a visa - Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS)

The University of Bedfordshire has been approved by the UK Government (through the United Kingdom Border Agency) as a Highly Trusted Sponsor and can therefore sponsor students to study in the UK. Before applying for your visa (or a visa extension) you will need a CAS from the University of Bedfordshire as your sponsoring institution. This will be issued to you as a number which you will need to state when submitting your visa application.

Please note that the information on this page applies to new students. If you are a current student, there is information on the process and the help the International Student Support Team can provide on our immigration pages

  • If you are a new student applying for a new visa to study at the University of Bedfordshire, you will be provided with a CAS once you have meet the full conditions of your offer and confirmed how you will be funding your studies; however, please be aware that you cannot use the CAS to apply for a visa earlier than three months prior to your start date
  • If you are a current undergraduate or postgraduate taught student and are applying for a visa extension, you will need to visit the International Office
  • Please note that if you are not attending any formal lectures, tutorials etc as part of a taught degree programme or undertaking supervised research-based activities as part of a research degree you will NOT be eligible for a CAS 
  • If you are a new student, you will be able to submit your visa application within three months of the commencement of your studies. If you apply earlier than this three month period, your application will be refused. Your CAS will be valid for six months. 

CAS letter

As the first step, the University will apply to the UK Border Agency (UKBA) on your behalf for a CAS. This electronic CAS application will provide the UKBA with detailed information (see below). When it has received the CAS, the UKBA will allocate a number to the CAS and inform the University of this number.  

The CAS number is a vital piece of information for you and it will be notified to you by the University as part of a CAS Statement. This document will be sent to you by email and will repeat the information submitted to the UKBA with the CAS application. This includes personal information about you, data about your programme of study, any amounts paid  towards your tuition fees to date, and crucially (for new students only) the statement stipulates which key documents (typically a degree certificate or transcript) the University reviewed in making the decision to grant you a place on the programme named in your CAS.

It is important that you check the information associated with your CAS as you will need to ensure that this matches the information you provide when making your visa application. 

Prospective students

Prospective undergraduate students

The CAS will be issued by International Admissions to students who have:

  • Satisfied all the conditions of their offer
  • Provided the University with their passport number either directly or via UCAS Track
  • If you have applied via UCAS you will also need to make the University of Bedfordshire your firm choice

If you have a conditional offer, you will need to do the following before we can issue you with a CAS:

  • Send us the results of your academic examinations (if relevant)
  • Send us the results of English language qualification (if relevant)
  • Make a pre-payment of 50% of your fees before we can issue a CAS.
  • Ensure you have sent us a copy of your current and valid passport
  • Meet any other conditions of your offer (where relevant)

If you are booked onto a Pre-Sessional English Language course, and have met all other conditions, your CAS will be for both the language course and your undergraduate degree programme.

In order for us to ensure we are prepared for your arrival please ensure that you, or your representative, notify us by email at international-admissions@beds.ac.uk when you have used your CAS to apply for a visa. Please also notify us when your visa has been issued. 

As the CAS letter will be sent to you by email it is very important that we have your correct email address. Please ensure that you update us as soon as possible if your email address changes.

A CAS may be issued earlier than three months prior to the commencement of your studies, but you will not be able to use it to apply for your visa before this three month period.

Prospective postgraduate taught students

The CAS will be issued by the International Admissions to students who have:

  • Satisfied all the conditions of their offer
  • Provided the University with their passport number (where available)

If you have a conditional offer, you will need to do the following before we can issue you with a CAS

  • Send us the results of your academic examinations (if relevant)
  • Send us the results of English language qualification (if relevant)
  • Make a pre-payment of 50% of your fees before we can issue a CAS.
  • Ensure you have sent us a copy of your current and valid passport
  • Meet any other conditions of your offer (where relevant)

If you are booked onto a Pre-Sessional English Language course, and have met all other conditions, your CAS will be for both the language course and your undergraduate degree programme.

In order for us to ensure we are prepared for your arrival please ensure that you, or your representative, notify us by email at international-admissions@beds.ac.uk when you have used your CAS to apply for a visa. Please also notify us when your visa has been issued. 

Reporting responsibilities

The UKBA have specific regulations in place which we must follow.

According to these regulations we are required to notify the UKBA of the details of any student who:

  • Fails to enrol at the University of Bedfordshire, by no later than 10 working days after the end of their prescribed enrolment period
  • Misses 10 expected interactions (for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students this will be non-attendance at tutorials or absence from examinations or non-submission of coursework etc). For Research students the maximum threshold will be where the student has missed, without explanation, two consecutive supervisory meetings of the 12 annual meetings required by the University and has failed to respond to emails or other communications in between those meetings. Departments may, however, be in a position to report absences within a shorter period of time where daily attendance in laboratories is expected for example or where the student has become completely uncontactable
  • Stops attending either because they have withdrawn or been withdrawn from the course or has said they are leaving, within 10 working days of this being confirmed
  • Defers their studies after their arrival in the UK

Additionally, we may report students to UKBA who do not have their visa/passport and/or biometrics card scanned by the University. It is very important that the University scans a copy of new and extension visas.

If your visa has expired and you have not applied for a CAS, we may also report this fact to the UKBA.

What should you do?
  • Make sure we have your current email address as most, if not all, correspondence with you will be by email 
  • Ensure that you send us all relevant documents (such as transcripts) and that you also accept the offer of a place as quickly as possible to enable us to request a CAS for you promptly. The University will need time to check documentation and then make the CAS application to UKBA
  • If you have not already provided the University or, if you are applying for an undergraduate course, UCAS, with your passport number, please ensure that you do so as soon as possible
  • Please apply for your visa, or make a visa renewal, as early as possible as it can take up to 15 working days and sometimes even longer for the UK visa authorities to consider your visa application 
  • Make sure you register with the University at the appropriate time after arrival
  • If for any reason you are not able to register with the University within the appropriate time you must inform us of this
  • If for any reason you do not register with the University you must inform us of the reason
  • Make sure you inform us of any circumstance that might mean that we will report you to UKBA under our reporting responsibilities

The visa process is designed to be as efficient as possible and we look forward to meeting you on arrival at the University.

Bedfordshire University

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