Residence conditions
To be eligible for support, you must meet residence conditions.1Sch 1 Part 2 E(SS) Regs This usually means that you must: •be settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 (this includes those with British citizenship, right of abode or indefinite leave to enter/remain in the UK); and
•be resident in England on the first day of the first academic year; and
•have lived in the ’UK and islands’2‘Islands’ in this context are the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. for three years (see below for EU/EEA/Swiss nationals) immediately before the start of the course, although temporary absences for reasons such as vacations or temporary employment abroad can be disregarded. Service abroad in the regular UK armed forces is always disregarded; and •not have spent any of the three years in the ’UK and islands’ mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education. If you were in full-time education during the three years, you can still receive support if you can prove this was not the main reason for your being in the UK.
Following a ruling by the Supreme Court in 2016, you are also eligible if you are currently resident in England and:3Sch 1 para 13 E(SS) Regs •you are either under 18 and have spent seven years living in the UK prior to the start of the course or you are 18 and over and have spent at least half your life (or at least 20 years) living in the UK; and
•you have had three years’ lawful residence in the UK prior to the start of the course for purposes other than full-time education.
If you meet the residence conditions, you are known as a ‘home student for funding purposes’. You are charged lower fees than students from overseas and you qualify for full student support, including loans for fees and maintenance, for courses which start on or after 1 August 2016.
Residency rules have changed considerably following the UK departure from the EU and are very complex. If you are unsure whether or not you are eligible, speak to an adviser in your institution or students’ union.
European Union, European Economic Area and Swiss nationals
Following the result of the Brexit referendum, if you are a European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss national and starting a course in 2022/23, you can count as a home student and be eligible for support with both tuition fees and living costs, if you:
•arrived in the UK by 31 December 2020;
•are resident in England or Wales on the first day of the first academic year;
•have applied for residency under the new EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) by 30 June 2021; and
•have been awarded settled status under the EUSS. As a general rule this will be awarded to those who have been resident in the UK for five years or longer, although exceptions to this five-year rule do apply.
•To qualify for maintenance support, you must still meet the three-year ordinary residency rule.
Note: Irish nationals do not need to apply for EU settled status because, under the Common Travel Area, they are automatically ‘settled’ as soon as they arrive in the UK. However, they need to have been resident in the UK or islands for three years on the first day of the first year of the course to be eligible for full funding. Irish nationals with less than three years residency can apply for a tuition fee loan.
Those with less than five years’ residency in the UK are, in general, awarded pre-settled status when they apply under the EUSS, which means they can receive a tuition fee loan but no support with living costs. In both cases students need to provide evidence of their settled or pre-settled status when they apply for funding, and they can do this by providing a share code that is generated on the gov.uk website.
The DfE has stated that students from EU/EEA countries who started their courses in 2020/21 or earlier, and who have been assessed as eligible for funding under the current rules for EU/EEA students, will continue to receive funding as normal until they complete their course. However, if students change course they will be required to evidence eligibility under the new rules.
These new rules also apply to certain ‘relevant family members’ of EU/EEA (and in some cases UK) nationals but, as each situation is slightly different, you are advised to seek advice from the university or college where you intend to study.
For more information, see .
The European Economic Area
The ’European Economic Area’ (EEA) comprises the member states of the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. T
he current member states of the EU are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Relevant family member
A ’relevant family member’ includes children, grandchildren, a spouse or civil partner or, in some cases, dependent direct ’ascendants’, such as parents or grandparents. If you are an eligible direct descendant of an EEA worker who is no longer working in the UK, you may still be eligible for student support if you came to the UK to accompany your parent.
If a new country joins the EU, it is considered to have always been in the EEA when determining the three- or five-year period. For example, although Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013, it is regarded as having always been part of the EEA for the purposes of assessing support.
Migrant workers
If you are a non-UK, EU, EEA or Swiss migrant worker and are, or have been, working in the UK (employed, self-employed or as a frontier worker), or you are a ‘relevant family member’ (see above) of such a migrant worker, you may be eligible for support with both tuition fees and living costs as a home student. The rules are different for those continuing on a course and those starting in the 2022/23 year. Continuing students will continue to be assessed as they were previously. To be eligible as a new student you must have arrived in the UK by 31 December 2020 and been awarded a settled or pre-settled status under the settlement scheme. You must also be resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course and have three years’ residence in the UK, EEA, Gibraltar and/or Switzerland.
If you are a UK national or the relevant family member of a UK national and have been living in another EEA country, Gibraltar or Switzerland and you return to the UK to study, you may be eligible for support as a home student if you were ordinarily resident and settled in the UK immediately prior to leaving, and you are now settled and ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of your course. You or your family member must have been resident in another EEA country, Switzerland or Gibraltar as a student, worker, self-sufficient or self-employed person for the three years before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. You must apply for support in the part of the UK in which you were living before you left.4Sch 1 para 8 E(SS) Regs It is likely that this extended provision will remain in place for courses starting up 31 December 2027.
If you are the child of a Turkish migrant worker, you can also pay home fees and receive support in certain circumstances. Continuing students will be assessed under existing rules. New entrants need to have arrived in the UK (both student and parents) by the end of the transition period of 31 December 2020, been ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course, and been allowed by the Home Office to temporarily extend their leave. Note: there is no provision in the withdrawal agreement for Turkish nationals and therefore these applicants will now need another form of immigration permission. The worker must also be lawfully employed. You will also need to have been ordinarily resident in the UK, EEA, Switzerland, Gibraltar and/or Turkey for the three years before the start of the course.5Sch 1 para 12 E(SS) Regs If you are the child of a Swiss worker exercising Citizen’s Rights in the UK as a worker, student, self-employed or self-sufficient person, you may qualify for student support if you have been resident in the UK, Gibraltar, EEA or Switzerland for the three years before the first day of the first academic year of your course and are resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course. You will need to provide evidence of your settled or pre-settled status when you apply for your funding. If, during the three years, your main purpose for being in the UK, Gibraltar, EEA or Switzerland was for full-time education, you must have been ordinarily resident before this date.
Note: Student Finance England checks the ‘worker’ status of either the student or relevant family member each term before releasing the next term’s payment.
Refugees
If you are recognised as a refugee by the UK government and have lived in the ’UK and islands’ since being granted this status, or you are a ’relevant family member’ of such a person (see here), you should be treated as a home student and be eligible for support with both your tuition fees and living costs (see here–here).6Sch 1 para 4 E(SS) Regs If you applied for asylum and have been granted humanitarian protection or discretionary (or exceptional) leave, you may be treated as a home student for support purposes. If you have been given humanitarian protection, this need not have been by the first day of the first academic year but you must have had lawful residence before your humanitarian protection was granted.
If you have discretionary (or exceptional) leave:7Sch 1 para 17 E(SS) Regs •and are under 18, you must have lived in the UK for at least seven years on the first day of the first academic year of the course;
•and are 18 or over, you must have lived in the UK for either half your life, or 20 years, on the first day of the first academic year of your course. Note: you cannot add separate periods of residency together to make up this period;
•in all cases, your residency must have been lawful and you must have had ordinary residence for three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course.
Residency is complex and you should speak to an adviser in your student union or university.