European Community legislation and case law have established that EU nationals working in another member state, and their families, should have the same access to vocational training and education as nationals of the member state providing that education. The EEA Association Agreement with Turkey, and the Swiss Agreement, extend these rights to non-EU EEA nationals, and Swiss nationals, who are working in the UK.
In the fees regulations and Student Support regulations, various types of ‘migrant worker’ are defined. However, entitlement to ‘home’ fees, and Student Support, is similar.
An ‘EEA migrant worker’ / ‘EEA self-employed person’ is defined as someone who is a:
- non-UK EEA national; and
- worker / self-employed person (other than a frontier worker / frontier self-employed person) in the UK.
An ‘EEA frontier worker’ / ‘EEA frontier self-employed person’ is defined as someone who:
- is a non-UK EEA national; and
- is a worker / self-employed person in:
- the UK (for fees purposes) or
- England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, as appropriate (for Student Support purposes); and
- resides in Switzerland, or the territory of an EEA state other than the UK, and returns to their residence in Switzerland, or that EEA state, daily or at least once a week.
A ‘Swiss employed/self-employed person’ is defined as someone who is:
- a Swiss national; and
- an employed/self-employed person (other than a frontier employed/self-employed person) in the UK.
A ‘Swiss frontier employed/self-employed person’ is defined as someone who:
- is a Swiss national; and
- is employed/self-employed in:
- the UK (for fees purposes) or
- England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, as appropriate (for Student Support purposes); and
- resides in Switzerland, or the territory of an EEA state other than the UK, and returns to their residence in Switzerland, or that EEA state, daily or at least once a week.
In our categories, we generally refer to all of the above collectively as ‘EEA/Swiss [migrant] workers’. In other words, an EEA/Swiss [migrant] worker includes an EEA / a Swiss national who is:
- employed; or
- self-employed; or
- a frontier worker who is employed or self-employed.
A frontier worker is an EEA/Swiss national who works in the UK but who resides in Switzerland, or the territory of an EEA State other than the UK, and returns to their residence in Switzerland, or an EEA state, at least once a week.
