Student loan eligibility,if student has been working abroad?

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Hi my son has a 2 year visa to work abroad before uni but is now worrying he won’t be eligible for student loans and will have to come back earlier to qualify for loans. It’s really vague though. Does anybody know what the legislation is?

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/access-to-student-finance-from-academic-year-2021-22-faqs/

Depends where he is going

That’s re EU citizens. He is a UK citizen working in Canada and travelling.

Thanks for linking though. There is no clarification anywhere. Seems nuts he has lived in the uk all his life, is British and we as his tax paying parents will have to top up the loans but being out of the country makes you non eligible for loans. The phone line seems to be useless.

My neice wasn't eligable for any loans after spending a few years abroad studying. Parents lived in UK throughout, and have had to fully fund her through five years of medicine. This was under the previous loan rules though.

From Gov uk

When you’re eligible for full support
You can apply for full support if all the following apply:
• you’re a UK national or Irish citizen or have ‘settled status’’_ (no restrictions on how long you can stay)
• you normally live in England
• you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of the first academic yearr_ of your course (apart from temporary absences such as holidays)
You may be eligible for full support if you’re a UK national who:
• was living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein on 31 December 2020, or returned to the UK between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020 immediately after living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
• has been living in the UK, the EU, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein for 3 years in a row immediately before the first day of the first academic yearr_ of your course

It’s so vague!!!!!

You have to be ordinarily resident.

“The term 'ordinarily and lawfully resident' means where you usually live for most of your time in the 3 years before your course is due to start.
If you were away from the UK during all or part of the 3 year period because either you, or a specified family member (for example, a parent or grandparent) were temporarily employed abroad, we may treat you as having lived in the UK for the entire period you were away.“

What does that mean?🙄

I think if the person is over 18 and working abroad for 2 out of the 3 years they may well not be ordinarily resident.

It is vague and you don't actually know until you apply🤷‍♀️

Which is a massive gamble and could have massive implications. He needs to know to plan accordingly. It says they may let you have a loan if you have worked for all 3. Why on earth can’t you work temporarily abroad or go on 2 x gap years? He’d rather do it before uni. And why can’t they be more specific?

Presuming he was on some sort of young persons short term working visa it should be fine. His absence from the uk was temporary - he is the definition of ordinarily resident in the UK. The purpose of being in Canada was work and holiday/cultural not a prelude to a permanent working status.

Being a resident of a country has specific meaning in passport/visa terms.

It means if you have a job and they send you to work in Mexico for six months then you are still resident. You know that you are going for a specific length of time and you know that you are coming back to the UK.

Yes but it’s not clarifying that and he’s now really worried. Even thinks he should come back after a year when he is really lucky to have the visa and is loving every minute of working and travelling.

In 2019 my son had a 2 year working holiday visa but Covid bought it to a sudden end. He had a deferred uni place for 2020 but admitted that he would have stayed for the two years. He did get his student loan but it was a very hard battle as he put on the form that he had been living and working in Canada. We had to jump through hoops to show that this was temporary. Copy of work visa, airline ticket booking, his job was only winter and temporary. All in all it took from May to Nov for his loan to be paid.
I really suggest that you contact student finance and ask for clarification. It’s such a shame if he has to come home early but if he really needs to go to uni for his career choice then needs must.

It’s absolutely nuts! We are all British citizens and have lived and worked here paying taxes our entire lives.A 2 year working holiday visa invalidating a student’s right for a student loan is nuts. It needs to be more widely advertised how working abroad can basically screw up the chance to go to uni. The whole student loan system is pants.

He’s trying to contact them from Canada but on hold for 20mins. I’m going to try today.

short working visas and travel don’t count. He is ordinarily resident here. No need to panic.

Hi, wondering if your son got any answers about this?

I think it depends on if he is travelling and working as part of that but still based on the UK or living abroad. I would suggest that he registered as self employed for tax, ensures he keeps a GP and budgets to travel home regularly during this period.

My experience of those rules is that it can go either way.

Crucially, remember the issue may extend beyond ability to get a loan. If the university takes the position you haven’t been ordinarily resident in the U.K. for past three years they can charge overseas fees.

In my experience no one at the universities actually knows the answer and the U.K. definition of ordinarily resident is also vague, so it’s a bit of a gamble.

Keeping correspondence (bank statements) coming to your home address, returning for Christmas and other events (keep all flight tickets- they will ask) will all help.

Sorry zombie thread!