Ineligible for Financial Assisstance from Student Finance Wales After Living Abroad (Belgium)

FfiJo

Hi,
I've recently been accepted onto a Master's course at Sheffield Uni and went to apply for a postgraduate loan with Student Finance Wales and they've told me I am ineligible for assistance because I haven't been ordinarily resident in the UK for the last 3 years.

I'm originally from Wales but have been living in Belgium for the last two years and have had two jobs here. I didn't originally plan to live in Belgium long-term but, when I came to visit my partner for a month in 2020, another lockdown kicked in and I had to stay for longer than I planned. I ended up losing my flat in the UK in this time so got a temp job and a residency permit here, and stayed at my partner's flat. After the pandemic measures ramped down a bit last year I decided to continue living here for a few more months until this coming August when I plan to return to get ready for studying at Sheffield.

I didn't even know that this 3 years residence thing was rule and it's put a bit of a spanner in the works. Is there any way that I can still get financial support from SFW?
Any help or advice would be really appreciated. I hope this post is clear enough and I can provide plenty more info if necessary!
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help

silvercar

I doubt you can, the rules require 3 years living in the UK before the start of your course. There are exceptions eg for refugees, but otherwise you need to have lived here.

Taiko

Hi,

I picked up your private message on this. Apologies, but I haven't done eligibility assessments in 12 years, having retrained completely in another area. 

I think for some initial reading, I'd check https://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/practitioners/guidance-chapters/ for the Assessing Eligibility Guidance chapters. I'm afraid I'm too snowed under in projects for me to relearn everything, especially as my assessments previously were based on the regulations for England, which differ to an extent. 

Happy to revisit when I have free time, but please post up any questions and I'm sure someone else will be able to assist also.