Student route: CAS

Our Admissions team are responsible for issuing CAS to eligible applicants who will be:

• making a Student application to start a new course at the University of Essex. This includes current Essex sponsored students now holding an offer to begin a new Essex course, and some pre-sessional students studying at the University of Essex International College.

Please continue to read the information below on starting a new course, as this applies to you.

Our International Services Team (IST) are responsible for issuing CAS to eligible registered Essex students who wish to make:

• a Student application to complete their current Essex course
• a Student application before changing to a different course part way through their programme (following advice from IST)

If you are a current Essex student and you require Student immigration permission to complete the course you have already started, the information below doesn’t apply to you. You can find out how to request a CAS in our Student Directory pages. If you are in the UK you will need to make sure you request your CAS at least 3 months before your current visa is due to expire.

If you would like to make a new Student route application, you will need to send us a copy of the outcome notification and seek advice before we can confirm if we are able to issue you with a new CAS. Please follow the instructions on the Student route outcome page.

Most postgraduate applicants and direct undergraduate applicants are required to pay a deposit before we start our CAS process, although there are some exemptions. Please read the Tuition Fee Deposits Policy (.pdf) , including how much the deposit is and who can make the payment. UCAS applicants are not required to pay a deposit. Please look out for emails from the Admissions team about paying your deposit, and pay particular attention to any deadlines.

The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) applies to all international students and researchers (apart from exempt nationalities) who are subject to UK immigration control and are intending to study or research at postgraduate level in certain sensitive subjects.

The subjects and research areas are those where knowledge could be used in programmes to develop Advanced Conventional Military Technology (ACMT), weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or their means of delivery. Researchers and students in these sensitive subjects must apply for an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate before they can study or start research in the UK.

Students and researchers who are nationals of EU countries, the European Economic Area (EEA), Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the United States of America do not need an ATAS certificate.

If you need Student immigration permission to study with us and require an ATAS certificate, your offer letter will provide information about this and we will include that ATAS is applicable on your CAS. Please be aware that the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) advise that ATAS applications will take 20 to 30 working days to be processed and you will need the ATAS certificate before your place at Essex can be confirmed and a CAS is issued to you.

Read the government website for information about the ATAS requirements and our ATAS information.

Please let us know that you wish to change your course as soon as possible, do not wait for your CAS to be issued first. It is essential that your CAS is issued with the correct course details, any changes we are unaware of could mean that you aren't able to obtain a Student visa in time to start the course.

If you’ve been issued with a CAS and submitted your Student route application, you will need to  contact us immediately. If you’ve had the outcome and been issued with Student immigration permission it will be to study the course on your CAS and you may not be able to change your course without obtaining a new CAS/Student visa first.

We and the Home Office do not recommend that you book travel to the UK ahead of receiving your Student immigration permission, if there is a chance that you will not have your visa in time to travel. Read our Coming to the UK pages for more guidance on what you should do before travelling to the UK.

The University has a responsibility to check that you are a genuine and credible student before issuing you with a CAS. To be considered a genuine student, we must be satisfied that your reason for wanting to come to the UK is to study. To be considered a credible student, we must be satisfied that you have the ability and means to successfully complete your proposed study in the UK. 

Some applicants will be invited to a credibility interview, via Zoom, with a member of staff based in your region. 

• For October 2024 applications onwards, if you are required to attend a credibility interview it will be a condition of your offer. 
• If you have applied for October 2024 entry and your offer letter does not state that you will need to attend a credibility interview, then you will not normally need to attend an interview
• However, the necessary checks will still be carried out on the information submitted with your application, and we will be in touch via email if we need more information from you before we can issue you a CAS.

In a credibility interview you will be asked questions about:

• Your knowledge of the course you have applied for, and of the University of Essex
• Your reasons for choosing the UK as a study destination
• Your career plans
• Your finances
• You travel and accommodation plans 

Your level of English proficiency will also be considered.

The outcome of the credibility interview will be one of the following:

1. You have answered all the questions well and demonstrated an acceptable level of English – the University can proceed with processing your application.
2. You have answered the questions, but we would like to give you another chance to demonstrate that you are a genuine and credible student – you will be invited to a second interview.
3. Based on your answers the University cannot be satisfied that you are a genuine and credible student and therefore cannot issue you with a CAS – an unsuccessful decision will be made on your application. 

It is important that you attend a credibility interview with the University if you are invited. You will be re-invited if you do not attend but if you do not attend three invitations then the University will conclude that you are not a genuine student, and an unsuccessful decision will be made on your application.

Identity checks will be carried out, and the University will also conclude that you are not a genuine or credible student if someone else appears to be helping you in your interview or is present in your place.

Credibility interviews carried out by the University of Essex are separate to a credibility interview with UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI), and one does not replace the other. Make sure that you attend any credibility interview you are invited to.  

If your offer letter states that you will need a credibility interview and you do not receive an invitation and are concerned, or if you have any other questions about these checks, please email visaquery@essex.ac.uk

We will check your CAS very carefully before issuing it to you , but we ask that you also check it  carefully when you receive it so that we can help resolve any issues as early as possible. If anything is incorrect, please let us know before you make your Student route application.

We are unable to make amendments to the CAS once a visa application has been made, and the CAS  has been marked as ‘used’ by the Home Office.

If your Student visa application is successful, one of the conditions of your Student immigration permission is that you must study the course stated on your CAS with the sponsor that issued it. It is therefore important that you carefully consider the course you have chosen. If you are unsure about your course choice or are considering adding a year abroad or work placement year (if applicable), please contact the Admissions team using the email address at the top of your offer letter before you proceed with your Student route application.

If you ask to change your course after submitting your Student route application online and we agree, you may have to make a new Student route application and are likely to have to do so overseas.

If you do not think you will be able to arrive in the UK and start your course by the Latest Accept Date on your CAS, or you have decided to study at a different institution, please let us know as soon as possible.

Please read our Student route application page for more information about the money you will need to have available, acceptable accounts and how long it must be held in an account for before you apply for your visa. The most common reason for a refusal of an application is due to applicants not being able to demonstrate they meet the financial requirements.

You should plan to make any payments for tuition fees and accommodation before we issue your CAS. When it is issued, your CAS statement should include a record of any payments made to date, and you should contact us immediately if it needs to be amended. Alternatively, if you hold a receipt from the University of Essex for any further payment not shown in your CAS, then this can be used when making a visa application.

Any payments made to the University after you have made your Student route application will not be taken into account by the Home Office and you must make sure your financial documents show you had the required amount of money on the date you submitted your application online.

You should have already read our guidance, checked you meet the Student Immigration Rules and gathered all the evidence you require.

Before you apply you must check to make sure you will meet all the requirements on the date you will submit your Student route application online, and have all the evidence in the required format, plus translations if your documents are not in English or Welsh. If you meet the Home Office definition to be considered for differentiation as a low risk national, you must check what documents you should submit with your application (you must still have all the other documents and supply them if the Home Office asks for them). After you have submitted your Student route application online, you may be invited to attend a mandatory credibility interview with the Home Office. Read all our guidance to help you prepare.

Before you submit your application, please read our Student route application page and follow links to UKCISA guidance. We hope you will find all the information you will need, including how much money you will need to show you have available for living expenses to study at one of our campuses, and  other details that you will need when completing the online application form.

If you ensure that you meet all Student Immigration Rules and requirements when you make your application, then there is a very low risk of refusal. If your application is refused or rejected, you will need to send us a copy of the refusal outcome as soon as you receive it so that we can guide you and assist if possible, even if you have contacted a lawyer or been in touch with the Home Office yourself. Read our Student route outcome page to find out more.

Where a refusal has been made on the grounds of ‘credibility’ we will not be able to sponsor you again or issue a further CAS, unless the refusal is successfully overturned as a result of an Administrative Review by the Home Office.