Evacuated UK nationals from Afghanistan - residency criteria changes: equality impact assessment

5. Background

The current criteria to access tuition fee and living cost support in Scotland requires students to meet certain residency rules which are laid out in legislation. They generally require students to:

• Be ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date (the relevant date is the 1 August for Autumn start courses; ordinary residence can be described as habitual or normal residence, by choice, over a period of time in one place and does not include residence solely for the purposes of education);
• Have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for 3 years immediately prior to the relevant date;
• Be settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 (for example, be a UK national or otherwise have a right to stay in the UK without time restriction, for example, 'Indefinite Leave to Remain').

Under the terms of the current regulations, that of the Education (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 and the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022, including the recent changes made for individuals granted a home office status under the newly created Ukrainian schemes, there is no exception in place for UK nationals and their family members who have fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion and arrived to live in Scotland. These individuals will instead have to satisfy the above criteria of being ordinarily resident in the UK for 3 years immediately prior to the relevant date in order to be considered eligible for home tuition fee status and student support.

Prospective students who do not meet the residency criteria for home student support can still undertake courses of further or higher education, but may be considered as international students by institutions for fee purposes.

The aim of this policy is to review the current residency criteria and propose a change to the regulations that would allow UK nationals and their family members who have fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion to access tuition fee and living cost support for courses of further and higher education.

This contributes to the following national outcomes:

• We are well educated, skilled and able to contribute to society.
• We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination.