Former International Student and EU Family Member Eligibility for Student Finance

I am about applying for a post graduate loan for 2017/2018 and I am married to an EU citizen from France and she has either been living or working in the UK for the past five years and I have all documentation to prove that. and I have also been resident in the UK for the past nearly 6 years also but I was an international student for nearly 5 of the years and was sponsored by my parents but I have been engaged to my wife for the past 3 years (August of 2014) and we were living together and got married after my undergraduate studies in 2016 (I got the marriage certificate).so we have been together from 2014 till now obviously and she is still working and I do part time jobs as well.

SO will I be eligible for a loan for this 2017/2018 academic session.

Please, someone, reply asap. I'm confused because of the Three-year residency factor.

Thanks,

Dwayne

Reply 1

Laura S SFE

Official Rep

Hi Dwayne,

Your eligibility based on residency for Postgraduate Loan (PGL) would look to check that you have a current valid status in the UK and that you have been in the UK lawfully for the three years prior to the start of the academic year of your course.

As a spouse of an EU national you would have a current valid Home Office (HO) status for this. You can have held any status in the time prior to this being awarded as long as this was granted by the Home Office and covers the full period we need to check. If there is a gap in your status during these three years you would need to provide evidence that you had made an in time application with the Home Office (HO) for your further status to be granted. If there is a gap where no in time application was made you wouldn't be eligible for support as lawful and ordinary residence would be broken and not met.

We would look for you to send in any original HO letters or evidence such as visas or vignettes in your passport that would show your previous status and the dates they had been awarded. If you don't have any evidence for this then you can send in a letter to explain that you don't have anything to send and explain why and request we to do a Home Office check. Once we process your letter we can instruct this. It takes one to two working days to submit the HO check and we should get a response within 10 working days.

If you meet the three years residency requirements, provided we have valid ID, and you have a valid course that is designated for funding and you don't already hold a masters or higher level qualification then you should be eligible for funding.

Thanks

Reply 2

Dwayne Colins

Hi Laura,

Thanks so much for your reply, I really do appreciate it.

I am just very glad to know that my former status as an international student will not affect my postgraduate loan application for my tuition fees this year.

The second question I need to ask is if I will also be eligible for the Maintenance Loan for this year. as you know I have been in the UK for almost 6 years but most of it as an International student but right now I'm an eligible family member of a French EU national via Marriage in 2016.

Thanks and very kind regards,

Dwayne

Reply 3

Miriam SFE

Official Rep

Hi Dwayne Colins

If you are looking to apply as a spouse of a EU national your spouse must be employed during your studies, is that the case?

Thanks Miriam.

Reply 4

Dwayne Colins

Hi,

YES, this is the case, my spouse is definitely employed and has been going back almost three years now. She will also continue to be employed during my studies as well.

So will I also be able to get the maintenance loan for my post graduate studies?

Thanks, Dwayne.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 5

Miriam SFE

Official Rep

Hi Dwayne Collins

With postgraduate funding their isn't a separate loan its one loan amount of £10280 this is your maintenance loan and tuition fee loan combined together.

You can certainly make a postgraduate application.

PGL Form-http://bit.ly/28XNE4r

Thanks Miriam

Reply 6

Dwayne Colins

HI,

Thanks very much you guys have been most helpful.

Kind regards,

Dwayne

Reply 7

Ayoubi

Hello, my name is Ayoubi, I have been living in uk since July 2016, and I just enrolled in Access, so I applied for loan but I don't know, whether would I be accepted or not; I'm having settlement visa as I used to work with British Army as an interpreter in my country? If I'm not entitled for it, what alternative I can do to carry on studying?Thanks