All Tier 4 (General) students assigned a CAS

122. If you are to be assigned a CAS for a course at NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 or above, your Tier 4 sponsor must ensure that you are competent in English language at a minimum of CEFR level B2 before issuing you with a CAS. The only exception to this is where you are studying at a HEI and you are:

• a gifted student, or

• competent in English language at CEFR level B1 and your sponsor is satisfied that you will reach B2 level after a short period of pre-sessional language training before your main course. If you do not reach B2 level your sponsor will stop sponsoring you.

123. If you are to be assigned a CAS for a course at NQF 3, 4 or 5/QCF 3, 4 or 5/SCQF 6,

7 or 8, your Tier 4 sponsor must ensure that you are competent in English language at a minimum of CEFR level B1 before issuing you with a CAS.

Tier 4 (General) Students following a course at NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 or above at a HEI

124. If you are not a gifted student, and you will be following a course at NQF6/QCF 6/SCQF

9 and above at a HEI, your Tier 4 sponsor must check your English language proficiency is

at B2 by ensuring that you:

• are from a majority English-speaking country; or

• has completed an academic* qualification at least equivalent to a UK Bachelors

degree which was taught in a majority English-speaking country; or

• has successfully completed a course as a Tier 4 (Child) student (or under the student rules that were in force before 31 March 2009, where you were granted permission stay whilst you were under 18 years old) which was:

• at least six months in length; and

• ended within two years of the date the sponsor assigned the CAS; or

Tier 4 Policy Guidance version 11/2014 page 20 of 81

• are proficient at CEFR level B2 in each of the four components of language learning, (reading, writing, speaking and listening) by choosing its own method of assessing your English language ability.

* The Immigration Rules specify that only academic qualifications are acceptable. We will only consider a qualification to be an academic qualification if the body that awarded it consider it to be an academic qualification. Professional or vocational qualifications, regardless of whether or not they are equivalent to a UK Bachelors degree, are not acceptable. If you are unsure whether or not a qualification is acceptable then you should check this with the body that awarded it.

125. If you are considered by your Tier 4 Sponsor to be a gifted Student, and you will be enrolling on a course at NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 or above at a HEI, the English language requirement can be waived. The Academic Registrar at the HEI will need to personally authorise the issue of your CAS, which must confirm that the Academic Registrar has approved the waiving of the language requirement.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 775