UK Student Visa Support

CAS comes first

You cannot apply without a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies — a reference number issued by your university once it has an unconditional offer and, usually, a tuition deposit from you.

The CAS carries the details the Home Office assesses against: course, dates, fees, and what the university recorded about your qualifications and English. Anything wrong on it has to be corrected by the university before you apply, not explained afterwards.

The 28-day rule

This is the requirement that produces the most avoidable refusals. Maintenance funds must be held for 28 consecutive days, and the closing balance on your evidence must be dated within a set window before you apply. Dipping below the required amount on any one of those days resets the clock entirely.

The amount itself depends on your course length and whether you will study inside or outside London. Students routinely evidence the right figure over the wrong period, or use an account whose ownership they cannot demonstrate — funds in a parent's account need the relationship and their consent documented.

The credibility interview

Many applicants are interviewed, usually by video. It is short and it is genuinely decisive: caseworkers refuse on credibility grounds even where the paperwork is complete.

The questions are simple and hard to fake. Why this course, why this university, what modules does it contain, what does it cost, who is paying, what will you do afterwards. An applicant who cannot describe their own course convincingly reads as someone who chose an agent rather than a degree, and we prepare for it accordingly.

The rest of the file

• The immigration health surcharge, paid as part of the application, covering you for NHS access.
• An approved English test where your CAS does not already record an exemption.
• ATAS clearance for certain sensitive science and technology subjects — check early, it takes weeks.
• Tuberculosis screening at an approved clinic, required for applicants from Pakistan.
• Academic documents matching exactly what the university recorded on the CAS.