Confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS)

About the project

All full-time non-EU students in the University require a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) in order to apply for or extend a student visa.

When a CAS is issued then the University is "sponsoring" a student under its Tier 4 Sponsor Licence, which has a number of strict responsibilities associated with it including the requirement to monitor attendance.

Full-time doctoral researchers based at the University are expected to be physically present at the University and therefore will automatically receive a CAS from the University. This CAS is to cover a period of up to four years for thesis submission and a further period of up to seven months for international students in the library viva and minor corrections to take place.

If a Doctoral Researcher has been issued a CAS for 4 years (which is the case for a small group of students) and wishes to extend their student visa, then the student can request that a further CAS be issued to incorporate up to a further seven month period of time from the thesis submission date in order to include the viva examination and period of corrections (up to three months).

In the event that the viva outcome is a prescribed period of major corrections (up to 12 months), then a CAS will not normally be granted to cover more than three months of this period. A doctoral researcher is not required to be physically present at the University during the period of major corrections, and as such cannot be "sponsored" under the University's Tier 4 Sponsor Licence.

However, in the event that there is an academic case for the student to be physically present at the University for a period of major corrections, then there is a procedure by which a doctoral researcher can request a CAS for this period. For details of this procedure please see our flowchart (PDF, 41KB) .

In the event that the viva outcome is "fail" then a CAS will not be granted to cover this period, as a doctoral researcher is not required to be physically present at the University during the period of thesis re-submission (up to three years).

Requesting a CAS

If you are a doctoral researcher and wish to request a CAS, then please contact the Doctoral Research Office in the Doctoral and Researcher College (Old Whiteknights House) or send an e-mail to dro@reading.ac.uk .

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Research areas