Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making people who are not British citizens but are resident in the UK eligible for home fee status for the payment of tuition fees.

To qualify for home fee status in the UK, a person must have settled status or a recognised connection to the UK. This includes people who are covered by the EU Withdrawal Agreement or who have been granted international protection by the Home Office.

Additionally, in 2016 the department introduced a new category for those who can demonstrate a substantial connection to the UK by virtue of their long residence. Students may be eligible for home fee status if they are:

• under the age of 18 and have lived in the UK through-out the seven-year period preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course; or
• aged 18 years and above who have spent half their life or at least twenty years in the UK preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course.

Those applying under the long residency category also need to demonstrate three years’ ordinary lawful residence in the UK immediately preceding the beginning of the first academic year of their course, in line with most other students.

Where a student does not meet the criteria for automatic home fee status, a provider has the discretion to waive, or reduce the fees where they consider it appropriate.

.