How to check if a UK university or college is licensed to sponsor student visas
Search the institution's name on the UK government's Register of Student Sponsors. A listing means the institution is licensed to sponsor student visas as of that edition's date. It does not prove your offer, your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) or your visa, so if the name is missing, probationary or marked 'Subject To Action Plan', ask the institution in writing before you pay anything.
What the register is
The Register of Student Sponsors is published by the UK government. It lists institutions licensed to sponsor migrant students under the Student and Child Student routes, with the category of students each one may sponsor and its sponsorship rating.
The file changes on most working days, so always note the edition date. The register has no column for a website address, so it cannot tell you whether an email or link really belongs to the institution. For that, use the institution's own website.
How to search it
You can use the Institution check in this app, which searches a copy of the register and shows its edition date. You can also search the official file yourself.
- Open the GOV.UK page 'Register of licensed sponsors: students' by typing the name into a search engine or using the link under Sources.
- Search for the institution's name. Names can be written in different ways, so also try a shorter name or the town.
- Read the status and the route in the same row.
- Write down the edition date, so you know how fresh the answer is.
What the status words mean
Student Sponsor, Track Record: UK Visas and Immigration guidance says a sponsor with a track record of compliance is shown with this status.
Probationary Sponsor: UK Visas and Immigration gives this status to newly licensed sponsors until they pass their first yearly compliance check. Probationary sponsors have some limits on the courses they offer and on what their students can do.
Subject To Action Plan: this appears when UK Visas and Immigration has put limits on a sponsor's licence. It may limit how many CAS the sponsor can issue, sometimes to none.
What a listing does not prove
A CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) is a virtual record that a sponsor assigns to each student in its own account. A sponsor's listing therefore says nothing about any one student's CAS.
A listing also does not prove that you were offered a place or that you will get a visa. Check your own offer in the university's applicant portal. The guide 'Is my offer letter, CAS or CoE real?' shows how. CoE means Confirmation of Enrolment, the Australian version of a CAS.
If a college is not on the register
Do not assume it is fake, but do not pay yet. Ask the college in writing why it is not listed and which route you would use.
In one earlier case, from 2015, the UK government told students: 'We strongly advise you not to travel to the UK if the college is not listed on the sponsor register.' That guidance has since been withdrawn, but the advice to check the register before you travel is still a sensible habit.
Questions people ask
Is a college that is missing from the register fake?
Not necessarily, because names can be written differently. It is a reason to ask the college in writing before you pay.
Does the register show my CAS?
No. A CAS is a record assigned to each student, so the register cannot show it. Check your offer in the university's own portal.
Sources
Official and institution sources
- Register of licensed sponsors: students (GOV.UK)
- Student Sponsor Guidance Document 1 (glossary and probationary sponsors) (UK Visas and Immigration)
- Student Sponsor Guidance Document 2 (what a CAS is) (UK Visas and Immigration)
- Student sponsor compliance (action plans) (UK Visas and Immigration)
- London School of Business and Finance: sponsor licence removed (2015 notice) (GOV.UK)
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