CAS and visas
Proof of tuition fee payments to the Home Office
This page provides a brief guide to using a Certificate of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from Imperial College London to prove tuition fees payments made to the College to the United Kingdom Visas and Immigration section of the Home Office.
Imperial College London will not be able to issue new students with a CAS until they have:
- accepted an unconditional offer; and
- uploaded their passport details to the My Passport, Visa & CAS section of the student portal.
If you have any queries regarding the status of your CAS, these should be addressed to your admissions team within Registry, questions about the visa application process itself should be addressed to Visas and Immigration.
Once your CAS and full fee invoice have been issued, any tuition fee payments received by the College will be uploaded to your CAS within two working days of receipt – please check the below table for guideline timescales for CAS updates. Payments received prior to your CAS or full invoice being issued will be uploaded shortly after your CAS is issued – please check on the student portal to see when payments have been uploaded.
Please note that only payments that have been applied against your full fee invoice will be uploaded to your CAS. If your invoice has not yet been issued, any payments you make will only be uploaded once the invoice has been issued and the payments applied.
It is not necessary to make a payment against your fees to Imperial College London to obtain a CAS or your visa. Further information on suitable evidence for satisfying the maintenance requirement is available from Visas and Immigration or the Home Office website.
Please be advised that it is a Home Office requirement that you be able to demonstrate the ability to pay for the entire first year's fees at the time of your visa application. This may be demonstrated by either proof of payment via your CAS, or by bank statements showing the funds as available in either your or your parents'/legal guardians' accounts for a period of at least 28 consecutive days or a combination of these two methods. This requirement supercedes the option to pay tuition fees to the College in instalments.
Guideline CAS payment upload times
| Payment method | Approximate CAS update time |
|---|---|
| Online | 3 working days |
| Bank Transfer | 8 working days |
| Cheque or Bank Draft | 6 working days after receipt of cheque/draft |
| Debit/Credit Card by Phone | 3 working days |
| Debit/Credit Card at Student Hub | 3 working days |
Any payments shown on your CAS will be accepted by the Home Office and you will not need a paper receipt to prove payment.
If using a receipt, the receipt must be an original, formal receipt printed on the College's headed paper and bearing the College's official stamp; electronic or self-printed receipts are not acceptable to the Home Office and it is not possible for the College to send receipts out by courier. As a result, the College will not normally issue paper receipts to new students for visa application purposes.
Sponsored students
Payments received from sponsors cannot be uploaded to your CAS, you will need to supply an original, formal letter of sponsorship to the Home Office to satisfy the tuition fee element of the maintenance requirement. Providing you have a formal sponsor letter acceptable to the Home Office, the College does not need to have received the funds before you can be granted a visa.
Students funding their studies by means of a governmental or commercial loan will need to provide an original of the formal loan agreement.