CAS Deposit

You may be exempt from paying the CAS deposit if your tuition fees are fully funded by an official sponsor or scholarship, including if you are:

• In receipt of a scholarship that covers the full tuition fees, the fees are be paid directly to SOAS by the scholarship awarding body, and you have your complete scholarship award letter.
• Sponsored by a recognised government body that covers full tuition fees, the payments are made directly to SOAS, and you have a financial guarantee letter.
• You are a US federally-funded student.
• You are joining us for a term or year from another institution through an exchange arrangement and there is no fee or the fee is paid by the home institution. If you are studying abroad and paying fees to SOAS, a CAS deposit payment is required.
• You are studying at SOAS as part of a partnership agreement and your home university is paying your fees.

You will be required to upload this evidence in official letter format when submitting your CAS request.

We advise that you do not pay the CAS deposit whilst waiting for a decision on a pending scholarship application as the deposit is non-refundable.

CAS documentation regarding visa applications

Documentation that is accepted to waive your CAS deposit payment may not be suitable to use as part of your visa application. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that UKVI visa requirements are met, and correct documents are submitted.

Eligibility

The CAS deposit of £4000 is non-refundable. A refund is only possible in one or more of the following circumstances:

• You request a refund within 14 days of initial payment. 
• A core or compulsory module has been cancelled/amended.   
• The programme you applied for is withdrawn. 
• You are unable to apply for a Student visa because SOAS is unable to provide a CAS.  
• Your visa is refused through no fault of your own (e.g., due to an error on the CAS made by SOAS). Applicants must provide a copy of the visa refusal notice to receive a refund. Not all refusals are eligible for a refund; if the reason for refusal indicates a fault from the applicant, SOAS will not issue a CAS deposit refund.
• A visa refusal is successfully appealed, but too late for the applicant to start their studies at SOAS on time.  

How to request a refund

To request a CAS deposit refund, please complete the refund request form below. You must provide evidence of payment such as a receipt or a bank statement showing payment from that account. We will need the bank's SWIFT or BIC code. Failure to do so will delay the refund or prevent it altogether. 

Deadline

The deadline to request a refund of the CAS deposit payment is the 31 October of the year your academic programme started. 

Processing

CAS deposit refund requests will be processed by the Admissions team prior to registration. If you have enrolled and paid tuition fees, the CAS deposit refund is still subject to approval. Please refer to the Fee refund and charging policy for information on the remaining fees you have paid.

A £55 administration fee will be deducted from the refund.

Approval 

If your refund request is approved, the deposit will be refunded to the bank account of the person or organisation who initially paid the deposit or credited back to the credit card used for the original payment. Refunds will be paid in GBP as per the exchange rates on the day of the refund. 

Denial

If you have an approved deferred offer, and have paid the CAS deposit, the deposit amount will be offset against your tuition fees for the following year. We will not issue a refund in this case.

Deposits will not be refunded under any circumstances if an applicant is found to have provided false information to SOAS, or if the Student visa application is denied because the applicant breached immigration conditions, committed a criminal offence, or used deception.