Errors in CAS details

What a CAS is and why accuracy matters

A Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) is the electronic record your student sponsor (usually your university or college) creates on the Home Office sponsorship system once they have offered you a place and you have met the conditions of that offer. It is not a document you can edit yourself. It contains a unique reference number and the key facts the Home Office will rely on when assessing a Student route application, including your personal details, the course, its start and end dates, the level and qualification, the annual tuition fee, any fees or deposits already paid, and whether an ATAS certificate is needed.

Because the caseworker checks your application against the data in the CAS, errors matter. If the course, fee, qualification or personal details on the CAS do not match your passport, your evidence or the actual course, the application can be delayed, questioned or refused. It is far better to fix the CAS before you apply than to try to explain a mismatch afterwards.

Only the sponsor can correct a CAS

The single most important point is that you cannot amend a CAS and neither can the Home Office at your request. Only the sponsoring institution can correct or reissue it through the sponsor management system. So the practical route to fixing any error runs through your university or college, normally its international student advice team, admissions office or CAS/visa team.

The way a correction is made depends on timing:

Before the CAS is “used”. A CAS is treated as used once you submit a visa application quoting that CAS number. Before that point, the sponsor can usually amend the existing CAS record or, if the system does not allow the specific field to be edited, withdraw it and issue a fresh CAS with the correct information. This is straightforward and is the ideal time to catch mistakes, which is exactly why you should check every field the moment you receive the CAS statement.

After you have already applied. Once the CAS has been used on a submitted application, it cannot simply be edited. If you spot an error at this stage, contact the sponsor immediately and, where the application is still under consideration, the caseworker may sometimes accept a corrected CAS or additional information, but there is no guarantee. This is a much weaker position, so speed matters.

Different types of error and what usually happens

Wrong personal details. Check that your name, date of birth, nationality and passport number exactly match your current passport. Small spelling differences or an outdated passport number are common and must be corrected by the sponsor before you apply, because the Home Office matches these against your travel document. If you have a new passport since the CAS was issued, tell the sponsor so the number can be updated.

Wrong course, level or qualification. The course title, the qualification (for example bachelor’s, master’s, pre-sessional English), and the RQF or equivalent level determine whether you qualify and which requirements apply. An error here can affect the assessment and even things such as work rights and the length of leave granted, so it must be corrected at source. Also check the start and end dates and the study location, as these affect financial requirements and permitted absence rules.

Wrong tuition fee figure. The Home Office uses the fee stated on the CAS to calculate how much money you must show for the first year of the course. If the annual fee is overstated, you may be asked to prove more money than you actually need; if it is understated, the caseworker may not credit fees you have paid. Ask the sponsor to correct the figure so it reflects the true first-year fee.

Fees or deposits already paid not showing. If you have paid a deposit or part of your fees, this should be shown on the CAS so the amount is deducted from the funds you need to evidence. If a payment made before the CAS was issued is missing, ask the sponsor to add it. Note that many institutions will not add payments made after the CAS was created; in that case you keep the official receipts and submit them with your application as evidence of fees paid, and the deducted amount is treated accordingly.

ATAS requirement shown incorrectly. If the CAS wrongly states that an ATAS certificate is or is not required for your course and subject, raise it with the sponsor, because this affects the documents you must submit and can be a ground for refusal if handled wrongly.

Practical steps

1. Read the whole CAS statement carefully the moment you receive it and compare every field against your passport, offer letter and payment receipts.

2. List each error precisely, quoting the incorrect entry and the correct information, with supporting evidence such as your passport photo page, the offer letter and payment confirmations.

3. Contact the sponsor’s CAS or international student team in writing as soon as possible, before you submit any visa application. Ask them to amend or reissue the CAS and to confirm in writing once corrected.

4. Do not submit your visa application until the corrected CAS is in place. Applying against a CAS you know to be wrong is the main avoidable cause of problems.

5. Keep a full paper trail of your requests and the sponsor’s responses, and keep original receipts for any fees paid after the CAS was issued so you can evidence them separately.

6. If you have already applied and then notice an error, contact the sponsor immediately and ask them what they can do, and be ready to provide any corrected CAS or evidence quickly if the caseworker will accept it.

If the sponsor is slow or refuses to correct it

Universities and colleges have a strong incentive to keep CAS data accurate, because issuing inaccurate CAS records puts their sponsor licence at risk. If the team is slow, escalate politely but firmly, explaining any visa application deadline or course start date you are working to, and ask for a named contact and a timescale. If you believe the institution is refusing to correct a genuine error, or has made a mistake that has caused you loss such as a refusal fee or delayed start, you can use the institution’s formal complaints procedure, and after exhausting that you may be able to take an unresolved complaint about a higher education provider in England and Wales to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

Independent visa advice

For free, specialist and independent guidance on the Student route and CAS issues, UKCISA (the UK Council for International Student Affairs) is a reliable source, and your institution’s international student advisers are usually registered to give immigration advice for their own students. If a mistake has already led to a refusal, that is a more complex situation where the specific refusal reasons and your remaining options will need to be looked at individually.

Key point

You cannot correct a CAS yourself and neither can the Home Office. The fix always comes from your sponsor, and the safe approach is to check every field carefully, get every error corrected or the CAS reissued, and only then submit your visa application.