CAS Shield: getting your CAS number

You need a unique Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number to apply for a Student visa. This number tells UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) where and what you’ll be studying. The earliest we’ll give you a CAS number is 3 months before the start date of your course.

To get a CAS number you must have:

• firmly accepted your study offer;
• paid a £4,000 deposit towards your tuition fees (or have an approved deposit waiver);
• provided evidence you meet all conditions of your study offer;
• received confirmation of an unconditional study place;
• provided all information requested in CAS Shield; and
• received notification we’ve made our final checks and are preparing your CAS number.

CAS Shield will open from April 2027. 

From April, if you've accepted your study offer you’ll get an email with a link to register with CAS Shield. Your registration link is personal to you.

Activate your CAS Shield account as soon as possible. You must do it within 2 days.

When CAS Shield first opens, you may have to wait up to 7 days to get your registration email. Don't worry if someone you know gets theirs before you.

You can only access CAS Shield once you’ve registered using your personalised link.

If you can't find your CAS Shield invitation, search your inbox and check your junk folder for an email from contact@cas-shield.com.

Add contact@cas-shield.com as an approved email address so important messages reach your inbox and don’t go to your junk folder.

We recommend allowing 30 minutes to register. After you’ve finished your registration, you can come back to CAS Shield anytime to complete the full questionnaire.

When you're registered, log in to CAS Shield.

If you have problems logging in, use the chat option to get technical support from the CAS Shield team.

You can change your password on the CAS Shield login screen.

If you’ve updated your personal email address, it can take 48 hours for all our systems to align. You’ll get a new joining link sent from CAS Shield to your updated email address when it’s ready for you to log in.

Even if you’re not yet ready to pay your deposit or confirm you’ve met your study conditions, make a start in CAS Shield right away. You can save and come back to it at any time.

If you’re not sure how to answer a question, provide what you can. We’ll contact you if we need more information.

You must provide information in the order CAS Shield asks for it. You can’t skip ahead, but you can save what you’ve done and come back to it.

In CAS Shield you must:

• check and confirm your personal details;
• check and confirm your course information;
• confirm you’ve paid the £4,000 deposit towards your tuition fees (or we’ve approved a deposit waiver for you);
• enter your passport details;
• provide information about current and past visas and immigration history; and
• confirm how you’ll be funding your studies (we may ask to see financial evidence).

You need to tell us in CAS Shield how you’re planning to fund your studies and living expenses. We ask this because you need to provide this information when making your Student visa application.

If you don’t have the full funds at the time you’re answering the question in CAS Shield, or you don’t yet know what bank accounts you’ll be using, tell us what you know about how you plan to fund your studies. You can update the information later when you’ve finalised your plans.

If you’re waiting on the outcome of a scholarship application, only add the scholarship once you know it’s approved. Don’t upload your scholarship application form or submission confirmation.

When financial information is checked

The financial information you provide will only be checked by us if you’re from a country, or area within a country, given to us by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). We’ll need proof you have the funds for your studies and living expenses.

Extra financial checks

We’ll tell you in CAS Shield if you’ve been selected for extra financial checks. These checks are nothing to worry about. It’s to help make sure your Student visa application has the best chance of being approved.

If you’re selected, we recommend waiting until your study offer is made unconditional before uploading final financial documents. Your submitted bank statements must show you’ve had the required money for at least 28 consecutive days. The end date of the 28-day period must be within 31 days of the date you apply for your visa.

Parents, family and friends aren’t considered official sponsors. If they're helping with your study funds, you’re classified as ‘self-funding’ and will pay your tuition fees directly to us during enrolment.

CAS Shield will guide you through what documents you need to upload. What we need varies depending on your personal circumstances .

If you’re asked about your last completed qualification, tell us your highest and most recent qualification that’s either completed, that you’re currently studying, or that you’re waiting for results of. If you don’t have results yet, put ‘2027’ as the completion date.

We’ll only check documents when you’ve paid your tuition fee deposit (or have an approved deposit waiver) and you’ve provided everything we’ve asked for. We won’t accept requests to check individual documents.

Remember, if you can’t join us because you aren’t able to meet the conditions of your study offer, your tuition fee deposit will be refunded in full.

Complete CAS Shield as soon as you can. It can take up to 14 days for us to complete our checks, and if approved, issue your CAS number. You must make sure you have enough time to apply for and receive your Student visa before enrolment for your course closes.

The latest date you can complete CAS Shield depends on your study level.

If you've been asked to provide financial evidence showing you're able to fund your studies, your final CAS Shield completion date is 7 days sooner than that published for your study level.

Pre-degree students

• Level 3 courses: Friday 13 August 2027
• Level 4 courses: Tuesday 31 August 2027

Undergraduate students

• Tuesday 31 August 2027

Postgraduate students (course starting between September and November)

• Monday 23 August 2027

Postgraduate students (course starting January)

• Friday 10 December 2027

If there are exceptional reasons why you need more time, you can ask for a deadline extension by contacting us using your UAL Portal. Include as much information as you can about why you’re delayed and tell us the date you can complete CAS Shield by. We can’t guarantee your request will be approved.

It can take up to 14 days for us to make our final checks. Please be patient. Check your inbox for updates and any requests for further information.

You can track progress in CAS Shield.

If your progress tracker in CAS Shield hasn’t changed for a while, don’t worry. Some of our checks take longer than others to make. This means you might see your tracker moving up quickly for a few days in a row and then stop. If your status hasn’t changed for 3 weeks, send us a message in CAS Shield.

Once every stage of the process is complete and it's within 3 months of your course start date, you’ll get your CAS number within 10 days. The 10 days starts from the date of the email that confirms we’ve made our final checks.

Your CAS statement (which includes your unique CAS number) will be sent by email from admissions@arts.ac.uk. Check your inbox regularly. A copy of your CAS statement can be found in your UAL Portal.

Don’t worry if there’s a delay between all information being provided and us confirming you’re ready for a CAS number.

We work in a strict priority order within each course cohort. To maintain fairness, we won’t respond to individual requests for faster review.

You can apply for your Student visa when you get your CAS number.

Before applying for your Student visa:

• read our visas guides
• consider using our free document checking service
• watch the ’How to apply for a Student visa’ YouTube video from UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).

You must make your Student visa application from your country of nationality or residence. You’re only eligible to apply from within the UK if your current visa hasn’t expired and your new course starts within 28 days of your current visa expiring. Visit gov.uk for Student visa information.

If you’re experiencing visa application delays, only tell us if you expect to arrive after the start of term and you’ve received your invitation to enrol. Reply to your enrolment invitation email for guidance.

We can’t ask UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) to prioritise your visa application, nor can we ask for an update on your behalf.

If your visa is refused

If your visa is refused you must update us immediately using CAS Shield.

When in CAS Shield, go to the ‘Enrolment status’ section and select ‘Update your visa status’.

We only consider deferral requests for undergraduate courses. Not all undergraduate courses allow deferrals, so check your course webpage before making a deferral request.

If eligible, you must formally request to defer your undergraduate place using your UAL Portal, by no later than 31 August 2027. Deferral places are limited and we can’t guarantee approval.

If deferral is allowed, you must still complete CAS Shield, pay your tuition fee deposit and meet all the conditions of your study offer before 31 August 2027.