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3 year residency

Exactly how is residency determined?


I live abroad with my family (outside the EEA), we are all UK citizens and hold British passports, we have been away for nearly 4 years now and my daughter is getting ready to sit her IGCSEs, but we are already forced to think about funding for her University. If she continues to study her A Levels outside the EEA, when it comes to applying for University she will not be eligible for loans in the UK, but also not eligible for loans anywhere as she is a UK citizen, studying abroad on a student visa. She would not be eligible for financial support from the country we are in as she is not a citizen of that county.


We are considering sending her back to the UK to do her A Levels so she can at least get two years of residency, she could then take a gap year (I think) and then return to a UK University with full loans, satisfying the 3 year rule. But I want to know exactly how residency is determined? It is not ideal that we send our 16 year old daughter back to the UK, and although she would live with family we think she is still too young to live away from us.


We are concerned that if she continues her A Levels abroad (at a British international school) it will close the door on options to go to University in the UK, and ultimately she will be forced to take out bank loans (with harsh interest rates and terms) to study at university, which we fear may even put her off going to Uni altogether.


Any advice?
Hi there.

As your daughter has lived outside the EU/EEA, she would currently not meet the residency criteria. UK nationals need to either have lived in the EU/EEA or the UK for the full 3 years prior to the start date of their course before we can issue any funding to them.

In order to obtain funding from us the best option is do have her do her A-Levels here and then take a gap year in order to meet the residency before then continuing to higher education.

Thanks.
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stumacd
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Original post by Mark Lee - SFE Official Adviser
Hi there.

As your daughter has lived outside the EU/EEA, she would currently not meet the residency criteria. UK nationals need to either have lived in the EU/EEA or the UK for the full 3 years prior to the start date of their course before we can issue any funding to them.

In order to obtain funding from us the best option is do have her do her A-Levels here and then take a gap year in order to meet the residency before then continuing to higher education.

Thanks.


Mark

Many thanks, I have read on the UKCISA website however that you may still not be eligible if it is perceived that you have only gone back to the UK for the purpose of education.

d) if your three-year residence in the UK and Islands was at any time mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK or elsewhere in the EEA and/or Switzerland immediately prior to the three-year period of ordinary residence in the UK and Islands. It does not matter if you were in the EEA and/or Switzerland mainly in order to receive full-time education during this earlier period.

We plan to send my daughter, who is actually my step daughter back to the UK to live with her natural father, so while she is going back to do A Levels she is also going back to reacquaint with her father.

Can you clarify this ruling for me.

Many thanks
Hi there.

As your daughter is still considered a UK national, this would not apply. She simply needs to have been in the UK for the full 3 years before the start date of her course.

So if her course starts in Sept 2018, she would need to have been in the UK before Sept 1st 2015, and for the full 3 following years with no gaps.

Thanks.
Hi there,We find ourselves in the almost identical situation as the query above, I need to know please about any other requirements and fees involved. Can we simply make an application to study in any college or 6th form? Are A Level course free or are do we need to pay for the courses as in private education abroad?Thanks
Original post by john koh samui
Hi there,We find ourselves in the almost identical situation as the query above, I need to know please about any other requirements and fees involved. Can we simply make an application to study in any college or 6th form? Are A Level course free or are do we need to pay for the courses as in private education abroad?Thanks

Hi John,

How old is your daughter?
Is she a UK national? Has she ever lived in the UK?


If she is doing her A levels through a 6th form then this would not be covered by Student Finance England.

Thanks, Tégan

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