'Home' fees for HE in Wales: Changes for the 3 years in Republic of Ireland/UK/Islands category, the Gibraltar category, and other minor changes
May 20, 2026
UKCISA’s information about the ‘3 years in Republic of Ireland/UK/Islands, settled in UK’ category in Wales has been updated. It now shows that for Year 2, 3 or 4 of a course, the date when a student must be ‘settled’ in the UK is a standardised day (1 September, 1 January, 1 April or 1 July), rather than the day on which that academic year actually begins. For Year 1, it is still the day on which Year 1 actually begins that is the date they need to be ‘settled’. You can read about this (and other changes for Wales), below.
Background
The rules about who pays ‘home’ fees for higher education in Wales are set by the Welsh Government (they are not set by UKCISA). They are set out in regulations, which the Welsh Government amends over time. The regulations identify all the different ‘categories’ of student who can insist on paying at the ‘home’ rate. They set out all the requirements a student needs to meet, to fit one of those categories.
3 years in Republic of Ireland/UK/Islands, settled in UK category
The Welsh Government’s regulations and guidance about the date a student who is relying on the ‘3 years in Republic of Ireland/UK/Islands, settled in UK’ category needs to be ‘settled’ have been evolving since February 2025. Now that their Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulation 2026 have been published, we have a better steer on how the guidance that they issued in July 2025 (titled ‘Tuition fee limits for students residing within the Common Travel Area (SFWIN 06/2025’) should be applied.
UKCISA’s information about the category has therefore been updated. Requirement (a) in UKCISA’s information about the ‘3 years in Republic of Ireland/UK/Islands, settled in UK (use this category only if the academic year you are paying fees for starts on or after 1 August 2025)’ category used to say:
“(a) on the day on which the academic year you are paying fees for actually begins, you must be ‘settled’ in the UK”.
It has now been amended, so that requirement (a) now says:
“(a) on the first day of the academic year you are paying fees for (unless you are being assessed for the first academic year of your course, in which case use instead the day on which the first term of the first academic year actually begins), you must be settled in the UK”.
In other words, a different date applies depending on whether you are being assessed for Year 1, or a later year of your course. So:
- if you are being assessed for the second, third or later year of your course, then you need to be ‘settled’ in time for the first day of the academic year you are paying fees for [note that here the term ‘first day of the academic year’ means 1 September in the case of all autumn-starting courses, because the term ‘first day of the academic year’ has a special definition in the regulations], but
- if you are being assessed for the first year of your course, then you need to be ‘settled’ in time for the day on which the first term of the first year actually begins [note that here the date will be different for every course, it won’t be the standardised 1 September date].
You can read about all the requirements for the category on the UKCISA website (go to the 'Full list of categories for HE in Wales' and open up the second box in the 'Settled' group of categories).
If you want to remind yourself of the history of how the situation has evolved, read the UKCISA news story of 15 August 2025.
Residence in Gibraltar category
The ‘Residence in Gibraltar’ category now includes in its title a prompt that it is a ‘Brexit temporary offer for courses starting before 2028’.
It is safest to assume it is time-limited in this way, even though the Higher Education (Qualifying Courses, Qualifying Persons and Supplementary Provision (Wales) Regulations 2015 and the Education (Fees and Awards) (Wales) Regulations 2007 are still not yet consistent on the point.
The Higher Education (Qualifying Courses and Qualifying Persons) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
A new version of one of the sets of fees regulations has been issued, but they can be entirely ignored for now. They will only come into operation for courses starting from August 2027. They are called ‘the Higher Education (Qualifying Courses and Qualifying Persons) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026' (W.S.I. 2026 No.52).
As currently drafted, they do not change any of the existing policies about the groups who are entitled to insist on paying fees at the ‘home’ rate. They are being made purely because the way that tertiary education providers in Wales are regulated is changing. They can therefore be ignored, for now.
Do note that it is always open to the Welsh Government to make changes to its regulations over time. When these regulations start to be applied in August 2027 they might look slightly different from the way they look today, because they will need to reflect any changes in policy the Welsh Government makes between now and then.
Refugee and family category
UKCISA information has been tidied up to specify the date requirements that must be met in the ‘Refugees, and family’ category. Look at the ‘Refugee, and family’ requirements page under 'Special status' in the 'Full list of categories for HE in Wales' for the details.
Settled and exercised a right of residence (Brexit temporary offer for courses starting before 2028) category
The ‘Brexit temporary offer for courses starting before 2028: Settled and exercised a right of residence’ category has been amended for academic years starting from August 2026, as follows:
In Year 1 of a course, the date when a student must be ‘settled’ will be “the day on which the academic year you are paying fees for actually begins”, rather than a standardised first day (1 September, 1 January, 1 April or 1 July).
Read about all the requirements for the category on the UKCISA website (go to the ‘Full list of categories for HE in Wales’ and look under the heading ‘Brexit temporary offers for courses starting before 2028’). There is a separate version of the category there for academic years starting before August 2026, which shows the old requirements.
The change was made by the Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulation 2026.
Afghanistan Response Route
The Afghanistan Response Route has been added to the list of schemes that can mean students qualify for the ‘Persons with leave under the Afghan Schemes, and family’ category.
Read about all the requirements for the category on the UKCISA website (go to the ‘Full list of categories for HE in Wales’ and look under the heading ‘Special status’).
This applies to fees paid for academic years starting from August 2026 onwards.
The change was made by the Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No.2) (Wales) Regulations 2026.
Bereaved partner and children category
Two extra types of leave have been added to the list of types of leave that can mean students qualify for the ‘Bereaved partner, and children’ category:
• leave under ‘Appendix Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veteran discharged before 1 July 1997’
• leave outside the Immigration Rules as a bereaved partner of a Gurkha discharged before 1 July 1997.
This applies to fees paid for academic years starting from August 2026 onwards.
The change was made by the Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulation 2026.
Residence in British overseas territories category
For clarity, a note has been added that ‘Virgin Islands’ in the fees regulations means ‘British Virgin Islands’.
Further reading
If you want to see the regulations that made some of the changes described in this story, they are:
- The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulation 2026 (W.S.I. 2026 No.3)
- The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No.2) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (W.S.I. 2026 No.19)
