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Higher education (HE) courses at HE institutions

Last modified: 12 February 2018

This information explains the conditions you must meet to be entitled to pay tuition fees at the 'home' rate for study at a HE institution in Northern Ireland. Information is based on The Student Fees (Qualifying Courses and Persons) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (as amended).

Private sector institutions often have just one level of tuition fee, which all students must pay. However, we understand from the Northern Ireland Government that publicly funded educational institutions in Northern Ireland will charge one of three levels of fee:

a ‘home’ fee (£3,575); or
a middle rate capped fee which certain, specified students who are not eligible for the 'home' fee may qualify for. New fee regulations came into force in September 2012 which mean that students who started a course on/after that date are assessed differently, in a small number of ways, to those who began their course before that date. Institutions have agreed with the Northern Ireland Government to cap this middle rate fee at £9000; or
a top-rate, uncapped ‘overseas’ fee for all other students.

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1. 'Settled' in the UK

In order to qualify for 'home' fees under this category, you must meet all of the following criteria:

(a) you must be settled in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course; and

(b) you must satisfy one of the following:

you must be ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland on the first day of the first academic year of the course. However, if you are ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland because you moved from England, Wales, Scotland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man, to undertake a course then you are considered to be ordinarily resident wherever you moved from, and not in Northern Ireland. If this applies to you, you will not qualify for 'home' fees under this category but you might qualify for the middle rate capped fee if you meet the conditions in (a), (c) and (d); or
if you are continuing a course that you started in an academic year before 2012-13, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course;

and

(c) you must also have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the full three year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course. For example, if your course begins in October 2017, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2017; and

(d) the main purpose for your residence in the UK and islands must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of that three-year period.

Note: It is not necessary to have had settled immigration status in the UK for three years.

British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCs)

Many British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCs) are also British Citizens. If this is your situation, but you have not been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the full three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course, check Category 3. Category 3 requires three years’ ordinary residence in a wider residence area which includes the British Overseas Territories.

Students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

If you moved to the UK for your course of study (or a course of study you finished immediately before it), you will be treated as being ordinarily resident in the Islands and as not ordinarily resident in the UK. You will therefore be unable to meet (b) above.

If you are in receipt of an award from your Island authority for higher education, you may be treated differently (that is, not as a 'home' or 'overseas' fee payer). This is because of an agreement between the Island authorities and UK higher education institutions.

2. 'Settled' in the UK and have exercised a 'right of residence'

In order to qualify for 'home' fees under this category, you must meet all of the following criteria:

(a) you must be settled in the UK; and

(b) you have left the UK and exercised a right of residence having already been settled in the UK

Note: A right of residence covers those people and their family members who are in the EEA and/or Switzerland as workers, self-employed people, students, or self-sufficient people, and, in all cases, their family members; or people who have gone to the state of which they are, or their family member is, a national;

and

you must be ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland on the day on which the first term of the first academic year of your course begins. However, if you are ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland because you moved from England, Wales, Scotland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man, to undertake a course then you are considered to be ordinarily resident wherever you moved from, and not in Northern Ireland. If this applies to you, you will not qualify for 'home' fees under this category but you might qualify for the middle rate capped fee if you meet the conditions in (a), (b), (d), and (e); or
if you are continuing a course that you started in an academic year before 2012/13, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course;

and

(d) you have been ordinarily resident in the EEA and/or Switzerland and/or the overseas territories for the full three year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course. For example, if your course begins in October 2015, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands from 1 September 2012 to 31 August 2015; and

(e) in a case where the ordinary residence referred to in (d) above was wholly/mainly for the purposes of receiving full-time education, you have been ordinarily resident in the EEA/Switzerland immediately before that three-year period.

3. EU nationals and family

In order to qualify for 'home' fees under this category, you must meet all of the following criteria:

(a) on the first day of an academic year of your course:

1. you must be:

a non-UK EU national; or
the relevant family member of a non-UK EU national, where that non-UK EU national is in the UK as a self-sufficient person, student, or worker; and
ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland. However, if you are ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland because you moved from England, Wales, Scotland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, to undertake a course then you are considered to be ordinarily resident wherever you moved from, and not in Northern Ireland, and would fail this requirement. If this applies to you, you will not qualify for 'home' fees under this category but you might qualify for the middle rate capped fee if you meet the conditions in (b) and (c);

2. if continuing a course that you started in an academic year before 2012/13, you must be:

an EU national; or
the relevant family member of a non-UK EU national, where that non-UK EU national is in the UK as a self-sufficient person, student, or worker; or
the relevant family member of a UK national;

and

(b) you must have been ordinarily resident in the EEA and/or Switzerland and/or the overseas territories for the three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course; and

(c) the main purpose of your residence in the EEA/Switzerland (or the overseas territories if applicable) must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of the three-year period.

Note: If you become, or a relevant family member becomes, an EU national after the start of your course, you can become entitled to 'home' fees from the start of the following academic year as long as:

you have satisfied the residence conditions in (b) and (c), above, on the first day of the first academic year of your course; and
[for the family member of an EU national] the EU national meets the requirements in (a), above, on the first day of whichever subsequent academic year the reassessment is being made for.

For the purposes of the residence conditions, any country that joins the EU is considered always to have been part of the EEA.

British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCs)

Many British Overseas Territory Citizens (BOTCs) are also British Citizens. If this is your situation, then as a British Citizen, you are also an EU national. As an EU national, you will be eligible under this category but only if you meet the residence requirements at (a)(2), and (b), and (c), above.

Special Provision: For people studying on courses which start on or after 1 September 2013

You do not have to meet the Category 3 (b) or (c) criteria (above) if your course starts/started on/after 1 September 2013 and:

you are the relevant family member of a non-UK EU national, and that non-UK EU national is in the UK as a self sufficient person, student, or worker; and
your relevant family member has been ordinarily resident in the EEA and/or Switzerland and/or the overseas territories for the three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course that you are studying.

Changes to this category summary

The outline provided here was updated on 20 October 2017. Under the heading "Special Provision: For people studying on courses which start on or after 1 September 2013", the words "or worker" were added to the first bullet.

4. ‘EU Nationals in the UK’

5. Those with the ‘right of permanent residence’ in the UK

6. EEA/Swiss workers and family

7. Child of a Swiss National

8. Child of a Turkish worker

9. Refugees and family

10. ‘Person with leave to remain’ and family

Courses at further education (FE) institutions

Last modified: 13 February 2018

This information explains the conditions you need to meet to be entitled to pay tuition fees at the 'home' rate if you are studying any course at a FE institution in Northern Ireland. This includes courses of higher education (HE) as well as courses of further education (FE). This information is based on circulars published by Northern Ireland's Department for Employment and Learning (DELNI), which are, in turn, underpinned by regulations. Combining the circulars with the legislation results in a number of categories of student who are eligible for 'home' fees.

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1. Those who are 'settled' in the UK and meet the main residence requirements

2. EU nationals, and family

3. EEA/Swiss workers, and family

4. Child of a Swiss National

5. Child of a Turkish worker

6. Refugees, and family

7. ‘Person with leave to enter or remain’, and their family

8. Asylum seekers and Syrian (VPRS) refugees, and family

Definitions: for fee status assessment

Last modified: 07 March 2018

This section has explanations about words and terms which occur in our information, above. These explanations should not be read in isolation but, instead, combined with the appropriate fee status category.

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Dependent

European Economic Area (EEA)

European Union (EU)

First day of the academic year

Ordinary residence

Overseas Territories

Right of permanent residence

What is the 'right of permanent residence'?

EU nationals and their family members acquire the right of permanent residence after a five-year period of uninterrupted lawful residence in the UK. The family members must have lived in the UK with such a person for five years. The UK Government, in implementing these provisions from EU law, extended the right to all qualifying non-EU EEA and Swiss nationals, and their family members, as well. However, care needs to be taken when assessing fee status or entitlement to Student Support; the relevant education regulations do not always reflect this extension to non-EU EEA / Swiss nationals and their family members.

Note: The people who can be considered as 'family members', for these purposes, is a wider group than those individuals covered by the definition of 'relevant family members' as listed in each respective country's fees and Student Support regulations.

Any assessor, of fee status or for Student Support, will need to be satisfied that you have the right of permanent residence. If, having acquired the right of permanent residence, you have obtained a permanent residence card from the Home Office, you can show this as evidence. If you are unable to provide this then it may be more difficult for you to satisfy the assessor of your right of permanent residence. However, you should be given the opportunity to provide alternative evidence.

In assessing whether an individual has a right of permanent residence, and in absence of a residence card, it may be reasonable to ask to see evidence that the:

student is a family member of an EEA/Swiss national (eg marriage certificate); and
student's family member is an EEA/Swiss national (eg identity card, valid passport); and
student has lived continuously in the UK for five years as the family member of the EEA/Swiss national; and
EEA/Swiss national has lived in the UK during this time in accordance with EU law. This would include evidence of work, self-employment, studies and/or self-sufficiency (ie sufficient resources for themselves and family members); and
EEA/Swiss national has comprehensive sickness insurance (if self-sufficient or a student).

Settled

'Settled' means being both ordinarily resident in the UK and without any immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK. The regulations take this definition of 'settled' from immigration law (section 33(2A) of the Immigration Act 1971).

You have no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK if you fall into one of the following groups.

Indefinite Leave to Enter/Remain (ILE/ILR)

If you have Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE) or Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK, you have no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK.

If you have ILE or ILR in Jersey, Guernsey, or the Isle of Man, then this is considered to be ILE or ILR in the UK whenever you are in the UK.

British citizen

If your passport describes you as a ‘British citizen’, you have no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK.

Right of Abode

If you have a Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode in the UK in your passport, you have no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK.

Republic of Ireland citizen

If you are a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, you are treated as having no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK. You are also an EU national.

Right of permanent residence in the UK

If you have the right of permanent residence in the UK under European law, you have no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK. However, in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in both the fees and Student Support regulations, you are excluded from using the category for people with 'settled status in the UK'.

Scotland's fees and Student Support regulations include people with the right of permanent residence under their definition of ‘settled’.

Non-UK national serving in the British armed forces

If you are a non-UK national serving in the British armed forces, you are treated as having no immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK. This is because of section 8(5) of the Immigration Act 1971.

Where status is not ‘settled’

You do not have settled status if you:

have a time limit on the length of your stay in the UK, as shown by your current immigration permission (you have 'limited leave'); or
are exempt from immigration control, for example you are living in the UK as a diplomat or a member of their household/family (there is an exception to this if you are a non-UK national serving in the British armed forces [see above]); or
have a type of British passport that does not give you British citizenship, for example British National (Overseas), and you do not have Indefinite Leave.

UK and Islands

Worker

Relevant family members – Northern Ireland - HE courses at HE institutions

The definitions of family members in the fees regulations are different from, and more restrictive than, those used in immigration law. For example, the fees regulations only count the specific people listed below as a “relevant family member” of an EU national. Other family members may have the right to come to the UK under EU law, but they are not a “relevant family member” for fees purposes.

EU nationals (excluding UK nationals)

spouse / civil partner
direct descendant (eg child/grandchild) of the EU national, or of the EU national's spouse / civil partner, who is:
- under 21 years old; or
- 21 or over and dependent on the EU national or on the EU national's spouse / civil partner
where the EU national is self sufficient, the dependent direct ascendant (eg parent/grandparent) of the EU national, or of the EU national's spouse / civil partner

EEA Workers

spouse / civil partner
direct descendant (eg child/grandchild) of the EEA worker, or of the EEA worker's spouse / civil partner, who is:
- under 21 years old; or
- 21 or over and dependent on the EEA worker or on the EEA worker's spouse / civil partner
dependent direct ascendants (eg parents/grandparent) of the EEA worker or of the EEA worker's spouse / civil partner

Swiss Workers

spouse / civil partner
child

Meaning of 'child'

For the purposes of the Northern Ireland fees regulations, the word 'child' is not defined in terms of age (except where stated) or dependency. The regulations state that:

"parent" means a parent, guardian, or any other person having parental responsibility for a child, and "child" is to be construed accordingly.

Government explanation of parental responsibility

Northern Ireland: fee status

Higher education (HE) courses at HE institutions

British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCs)

Students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCs)

Special Provision: For people studying on courses which start on or after 1 September 2013

Changes to this category summary

Becoming eligible

Refugee Status: where someone gains British citizenship

Becoming eligible

Courses at further education (FE) institutions

Definition of person with leave to enter or remain

Changes to this category summary

Definitions: for fee status assessment

British overseas territories

Overseas territories of other EU member states

What is the 'right of permanent residence'?

Indefinite Leave to Enter/Remain (ILE/ILR)

British citizen

Right of Abode

Republic of Ireland citizen

Right of permanent residence in the UK

Non-UK national serving in the British armed forces

Where status is not ‘settled’

What kind of work?

EU nationals (excluding UK nationals)

EEA Workers

Swiss Workers

Meaning of 'child'

EU nationals (including UK nationals)

EEA/Swiss Workers

Meaning of 'child'

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