Student Finance England (SFE) – Nationality and Residency Status

Your nationality, residency status and address history may affect if you can get funding and how much you can get. If you’re eligible for student finance, you may be able to get funding to help with the costs of either:

• your tuition fees and your living costs (full support)
• your tuition fees only

Who can get tuition fee and living costs?

To apply for full support, the following must apply to you:

• you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years before starting your course
• England is your home, for example, you live and work in England and have not moved there solely for the purposes of study

And you’re one of the following:

• a UK national or Irish citizen
• settled under the EU Settlement Scheme
• granted settled status for other reasons

If you’re a UK national who was living in the EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland, you may be able to apply for full support.

You can also apply for full support if you’ve been living in the UK, the EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland for the past 3 years and you’re:

• the child of a Swiss national and you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• an EEA or Swiss worker, or the family member of an EEA or Swiss Worker and you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• a family member of a UK National, both you and your family member have to have lived in the UK, the EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland for the past 3 years. You also must have been living in the EEA or Switzerland on 31/12/2020 or in the UK having returned from the EEA or Switzerland after 31/12/2017
• the child of a Turkish worker

If you have one of the following Home Office statuses, you also can apply for full support:

• Humanitarian protection or the family member of someone with this status
• Stateless status or the family member of someone with this status
• Refugee status or the family member of someone with this status
• You or your family member have been granted leave under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS)
• Calais leave or leave in line as the dependent child of someone with Calais leave
• You or your parent have been granted indefinite leave to enter or remain as a bereaved partner
• You or your parent have been granted indefinite leave to enter or remain as a victim of domestic violence or abuse (DVILR)
• Leave to remain under section 67 of the Immigration Act or leave in line as the dependent child of someone with this status
• You or your family member have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme

If you’ve been living in the UK and Islands for the past 3 years and are:

• under 18 on the first day of your course and have lived in the UK for at least 7 years
• 18 or over on the first day of your course and have lived in the UK for at least half your life or at least 20 years

You must also have:

• been ordinarily resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of the first academic year of your course
• held a form of leave to enter or remain issued by the Home Office throughout that 3-year period.

Use the student finance calculator to see what finance you can get.

Who can get tuition fees only?

You can apply for tuition fee funding if you’ve been living in the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or the overseas territories for the past 3 years and you:

• have pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or have temporary protection under the Withdrawal Agreements which may be evidenced through a certificate of application, and are an EU national or a family member of an EU national
• have Irish Citizenship and were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020, or are a family member of an Irish Citizen or Person of Northern Ireland and you have pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• have resident status in Gibraltar as an EU or UK national or a family member of an EU or UK national
• are a person with settled status in the UK and you’ve been living in the UK, Islands and the British Overseas Territories for the past three years, with at least part of that time spent in the British overseas territories
• are a person of Chagossian descent and have British citizenship
• are a person with settled status in the UK and have been living in the UK, Islands or Ireland for the past three years with at least part of that time spent in Ireland
• are a family member of a person with settled status in the UK and you have been living in the UK and Islands for the past three years
• are an Irish Citizen and you have been living in the EEA and Switzerland before 31 December 2020 and in the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA and Switzerland for the past three years
• are an EEA or Swiss worker, a family member of an EEA or Swiss worker, a child of a Swiss national or the child of a Turkish worker and you do not qualify for full support as you have lived in the overseas territories (other than Gibraltar) at some stage in the three years prior to the start of your course

You will not be eligible for funding to help with living costs.

The first day of the first academic year of your course is not the first day of induction or teaching – it is:

• 1 September, if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
• 1 January, if your course starts between 1 January and 31 March

What you’ll be asked for when you apply for student finance

Depending on your residency status, when you apply you may be asked to provide:

• UK passport details
• EU Settlement Scheme share code
• the date your status was granted and/or expires
• the addresses of places you have lived

How to apply for student finance

You can apply for student finance from mid-March 2025. If you are eligible for full support, you can apply online.

The following students must apply by post:

• Migrant worker, or a family member of a migrant worker – first application
• Eligible for tuition fee only funding

We can email the application form to you. Please contact us from mid-March.

Please note that you can apply for student finance without having a confirmed offer of a place on a course.

For further advice and guidance, contact the Money Advice Team