The rules that determine whether or not a person granted leave under the Afghan Schemes or their spouse, civil partner or child can insist on paying ‘home’ fees for higher education in England are changing a little, so it will be slightly easier to qualify for the category.
The changes will apply to the fees they are charged for academic years that start on or after 1 August 2023 (and will even apply to students who are already on courses, as long as their course started on or after 1 August 2022).
Background
The rules about who pays ‘home’ fees for higher education in England are set by England’s Department for Education (they are not set by UKCISA). They are set out in regulations, which the Department for Education amends over time. The regulations identify all the different ‘categories’ of student who can insist on paying at the ‘home’ rate. They set out all the requirements a student needs to meet, to fit one of those categories.
The Department for Education is amending the regulations for the ‘Persons granted leave under the Afghan Schemes’ category.
The changes
The following changes are being made:
- The immigration permission that a spouse, civil partner or child has does not have to be connected to the Afghan Schemes. Instead what matters is that they were related to the person who has leave under the Afghan Schemes, when that other person made their immigration application (and if they are not a spouse or civil partner, they must have been under 18 then, too).
- Those requirements that relate to the first year of a course will be tested against the day on which the first term of the first academic year actually begins, rather than a standard date like 1 September.
- Where the ‘person granted leave under the Afghan Schemes’ is granted that leave after the start of a course, it will not matter whether a student’s presence in the UK on the day on which the first term of the first academic year actually began was lawful or not.
Points 1,2, and 3 explain roughly what is happening, but for the full details of all the requirements for the category, go to the UKCISA website. We have divided up the information about the category so that you can read separately about:
- fees for any academic year that starts on or after 1 August 2023 (category 9a)
- fees for any academic year that starts in the period 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023 (category 9b)
Action for fee assessors
If you are a fee assessor, think about whether any of your existing students might be entitled to benefit from the change for years that start on or after 1 August 2023, as well as new starters.
It seems extremely unlikely that anyone who is already on a course as a ‘home’ fee payer will not meet the requirements for the reframed category. However, if you do come across such a person (if anyone, it would be a spouse, civil partner or child), you will need to decide whether to carry on charging them ‘home’ fees because of your own policy.
Action for students
If you have previously been told you did not qualify for ‘home’ fees, check to see if you meet the new requirements. Remember that you need to meet all the criteria for any one category. If you do, talk to your fee assessor straightaway, about your fees for academic years that start on or after 1 August 2023. You might want to send them a link to this story.
Further reading
If you want to see the regulations that made the changes, they are the Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I.2023 No.74).
You can read about other changes made by the regulations in the following news stories on the UKCISA website:
