Prepare for your interview with the Home Office
After you have submitted your Student route application online, the Home Office may require you to attend a short credibility interview. This is intended to help satisfy the Home Office that you are a genuine student and that your English language ability is as stated on your CAS.
You are highly likely to be interviewed if you are overseas especially if you are from countries where the Home Office believe there is a high level of fraudulent activity. Interviews are usually via Skype (or similar) but could also be in-person.
During your interview a member of Home Office staff will ask you several questions including about your course, your reasons for studying in the UK and in particular, what made you decide to study with us rather than another institution offering similar courses. They may also ask questions about the area you are going to be living in.
You may be asked to attend further interview(s) with a caseworker. If the Home Office caseworker isn’t satisfied that you are a genuine student, your application would be refused on credibility grounds.
We recommend you take time to prepare for your interview and have put together some guidance that we hope will help you.
When and where you can apply
Once you have read the UKCISA guidance, gathered all the evidence and are sure you are eligible to apply and your CAS is correct, you can get ready to submit your Student route application online.
We will have asked you where you were intending to make your Student route application as part of our CAS process. If you have changed your mind about where you would like to apply, you must contact us before you submit your application, we will need to make sure you can apply where you would like to and make amendments to your CAS if necessary.