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Student Loans for EU nationals: at last!
sah10406
Posts: 43 Forumite
However long they have been living in the UK, EU nationals, including some British nationals have been denied Student Loans, unless they can show that they are settled in the UK or they are EEA migrant worker, or the spouse or child of one. Neither of these definitions are as easy to prove as they might sound. Settled status is an official immigration status that an EU national does need to apply for, since they have right of abode anyway, so no-one could ever prove they were settled. EEA migrant worker status depends on having come to the UK specifically to work, not study. The result is that many people have been ineligible for a Student Loan.
Anyway, the rule has been deemed unlawful and discriminatory, and was changed this week. An EU national, their spouse, or their child is now eligible to take a Student Loan for 2005/6 if they are living in the UK, and they have been living here since 1 September 2002, i.e. 3 years before the start of the academic year in question. This includes nationals of the new EU accession countries from May 2004. You do not have to prove that you are settled here, and you do not have to show you are a migrant worker. Your course must be eligible too, of course (BA, BSc or equivalent).
And it is backdated for this year: you can still apply retrospectively for a Loan for 2004/5, the deadline is March 2006.
The EEA migrant worker route will still be a possibility for non-EU EEA people (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland), and for EU nationals who have been in the UK for less than three years. Other EU nationals should now be eligible anyway under the new rule.
LEAs may not even know about it yet, so I recommend asking the Student Services or Welfare service at your College. But it is very new so don't be surprised if they are only just getting their heads around it too.
Anyway, the rule has been deemed unlawful and discriminatory, and was changed this week. An EU national, their spouse, or their child is now eligible to take a Student Loan for 2005/6 if they are living in the UK, and they have been living here since 1 September 2002, i.e. 3 years before the start of the academic year in question. This includes nationals of the new EU accession countries from May 2004. You do not have to prove that you are settled here, and you do not have to show you are a migrant worker. Your course must be eligible too, of course (BA, BSc or equivalent).
And it is backdated for this year: you can still apply retrospectively for a Loan for 2004/5, the deadline is March 2006.
The EEA migrant worker route will still be a possibility for non-EU EEA people (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland), and for EU nationals who have been in the UK for less than three years. Other EU nationals should now be eligible anyway under the new rule.
LEAs may not even know about it yet, so I recommend asking the Student Services or Welfare service at your College. But it is very new so don't be surprised if they are only just getting their heads around it too.
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Comments
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If this was the Bidar ruling, it happened mid-March - do you mean that the Regs. have now been changed? If so, do you have a reference / web address for them? I've been searching everywhere!
Thanks,
Mel.Though no-one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.
(Laurie Taylor, THE no. 1864)0 -
Yes, the Regs have now been amended and come into force on 15 June 2002. The amendment is SI 2005 No.1341 and can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/stat.htm
A new paragraph (9) has been inserted into Schedule 2, Eligible Students.0 -
This is good news, and about bloody time too!!0
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