From today, English-domiciled students whose visas are still being processed will no longer lose access to tuition-fee loans mid-course. Amendments to the Student Support Regulations—published earlier this summer and effective 1 August 2026—state that eligibility continues unless and until the Home Office issues a refusal, closing a loophole that previously left some international undergraduates in funding limbo. The Department for Education (DfE) said the change “brings student finance rules into line with modern immigration realities”, citing the growing use of digital eVisas that can take several weeks to link to university records systems. Universities UK welcomed the move, noting that it will reduce administrative withdrawals and support sector goals to diversify recruitment beyond the EU. The regulations also freeze maximum fee loans for foundation-year courses and cap disabled-students’ allowances at 2025-26 levels, decisions the National Union of Students criticised as “a stealth cut” given inflation running near 4 %. For global mobility professionals, the headline is the alignment with Home Office processes: corporate assignees’ dependants studying in Britain should no longer face automatic de-enrolment if their family’s extension applications are stuck in UKVI backlogs. Institutions must still perform termly checks that learners hold valid permission; however, finance officers can now accept evidence of an in-time application rather than a granted BRP when releasing maintenance payments. Universities have just four weeks to update internal policies before the September intake. Advisers recommend that sponsoring employers remind assignees to file visa extensions early, as a formal refusal will still terminate student-support entitlement immediately, potentially prompting a recall of loans disbursed during the pending period.
Source: Department for Education
