Pre-CAS compliance

Some courses require ATAS clearance from the UK government. If you require ATAS clearance this will be stated in your offer letter. It’s really important that you apply for your ATAS well in advance of your course start date as processing times can take 6-8 weeks. Your ATAS certificate will be valid for six months and the CAH3 code, which you’ll need for your ATAS application, can be found at the top of your offer letter. For further instructions on how to apply for ATAS clearance, please see the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) guidance from gov.uk.

You may be required to complete a Pre-CAS Questionnaire (PCQ) in CAS Shield as part of your compliance process.  This questionnaire is important as it helps us understand how you have come to make the decision to study in the UK, why University of Staffordshire and why you have chosen your course.  It is important that you provide full answers as this information will be used to make a final sponsorship decision.

You may be required to complete a pre-CAS interview in CAS Shield as part of your compliance process.

We will send you more information about this process to the email address you used when you applied. Please keep checking your email for information from Enroly.

Before we send your CAS, we may ask you to share some financial information to make sure that you meet the UKVI financial requirements for a Student Visa. As you may need to hold the required funds for a minimum of 28 days you should plan carefully to ensure you will pass this in time to receive your CAS. Your evidence will be request via Enroly CAS Shield, a trusted partner platform.

For more information, please visit UKCISA about financial requirements and evidence, and you can also visit our help submitting financial evidence documents page. 

After you have completed all the process in Enroly and your file has been reviewed, you may be asked to attend a second stage Pre-CAS Interview with a member of University staff.  A second stage interview may focus on specific areas of previously provided information or may be more generic.  Each interview will be different and specific to the individual and will be used to make a final sponsorship decision.

Some of our courses require that you undertake a Criminal Record Check from your home country and complete an Occupational Health Check to ensure that you are medically fit. For more details on how to apply for a Criminal Record check, please see the criminal records check guidance on the Gov.uk website. Once you’ve received the police report, please send it to International Admissions so that we can update your record. Please note that your completed Criminal Record Check should be dated within 6 months of your course start date. If we do not receive the check in good time, your place is at risk and may be deferred.

The Occupational Health Check will be sent to you before the start of the course. Once this has been successfully verified, you will be eligible to move on to the next stage of the admissions process.

Once you’ve met all the pre-CAS checks, you’ll receive a notification from CAS Shield asking you to check, review and confirm all of the information for your CAS letter.  Where you need to make changes you can do that in CAS Shield and we will review those when completed.

Once you’ve confirmed that the details in your pre-CAS email are correct, you’ll receive an official CAS letter by email. You’ll need this document to apply for your Student Visa.

You can apply for a visa up to six months before the start of the course. Please check your visa vignette carefully to ensure you do not travel before the permitted window. 

The CAS provides details such as: 

• The course you intend to study 
• Course duration 
• Annual tuition fee 
• Deposit paid (if applicable) 
• The campus where you’ll be studying