Proof of tuition fee payments to the Home Office

This page provides a brief guide to using a Confirmation 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. Questions about the visa application process itself should be addressed to Visas and Immigration

Payments received prior to your CAS or full invoice being issued will be reflected on your CAS when it is issued – please check on the student portal to see when payments have been uploaded. Once your CAS and full fee invoice have been issued, if you make any additional or subsequent tuition fee payments before receiving your visa, you will need to contact your admissions team providing the details of the payment made. The admissions team will only be able to update the fees on your CAS once the additional payments have been credited to your full fee invoice.

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. 

The timescales provided here are only a guide, if relying on payments made against your fees to help satisfy the maintenance requirement of your visa application, you should not book a visa appointment until your payment is showing on the student portal.
 

Guideline CAS payment upload times

Payment methodApproximate 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.