Fee status classification

 Home fee status

If you have Home (UK) fee status, you will be charged fees based on the UK government’s fee level for the year. If you are applying for an undergraduate course, you may also be able to apply for a student loan to help you pay your fees.

You are likely to have Home (UK) status if:

1) You are a British or Irish national citizen or have a permanent right to live in the UK and you have lived for three full years immediately before the first day of your course in any of the following places:

• the UK
• the Republic of Ireland
• the Isle of Man
• the Channel Islands
• a British Overseas Territory

 2) You have been granted refugee status or have humanitarian protection in the UK, or certain other forms of humanitarian leave such as through the Ukraine schemes.

 3) You are the child, spouse or civil partner of a person who qualifies through points (1) or (2).

4) You have been living legally in the UK for an extended period (usually half your life).

5) You are the child of a Turkish worker, and you and your parent have been living in the UK since before 31 December 2020.

You have a permanent right to live in the UK if you hold any of the following:

• Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)
• Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE)
• Settled status through the EU Settlement Schemes

In most cases, you will not be eligible for Home (UK) fees if the main purpose of your residency in the relevant area has been to receive full-time education (for example, because you are studying away from home at a boarding school).

You may also qualify for Home (UK) fee status if you would have met one of these criteria but:

• you have been living outside the UK because you or your parent, guardian, spouse or civil partner is temporarily employed abroad
• you usually live outside the UK, but you also maintain ongoing connections and residency in the UK (and so can be considered resident in multiple places)

Fee status for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and British nationals living in the EU

Since 1 August 2021, new criteria apply to students who would have previously been eligible for Home (UK) fee status due to the UK’s membership of the European Union.

UK and Irish nationals living in the EU, EEA or Switzerland

If you start your course on or after 1 August 2021, you will usually be eligible for Home (UK) fees providing:

• you are a UK or Irish national, you lived in the EU, EEA and/or Switzerland on 31 December 2020, and you have lived in the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland for three full years immediately before the start of your course
• you are a UK or Irish national, you live in the UK having returned from the EU, EEA or Switzerland since 31 December 2017, and you have lived in the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland for three full years immediately before the start of your course
• you are the child, spouse or civil partner of a person who qualifies through points (1) or (2)

These rules apply for students who begin studying before 1 January 2028.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens with pre-settled or settled status

If you are an EU national, you will usually be eligible for Home fees if you hold valid pre-settled or settled status under the UK’s EU, EEA or Swiss settlement schemes. You will need to have lived in the UK, EU, EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland for three full years immediately before the start of your course.

If you are a non-EU EEA or Swiss national, or are the child or spouse of an EU national, and you hold valid pre-settled or settled status you may also be eligible for Home fees (depending on your residency).

If you hold pre-settled or settled status in the Isle of Man or Channel Islands you may also be eligible for Home fees.

If you do not hold valid pre-settled or settled status in the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands you are likely to be eligible for Overseas fees.

Asylum seekers

If you have claimed asylum in the UK but have not received an outcome to your application, you are not eligible for Home (UK) fees under the regulations set out by the UK Government.

Asylum seekers would not ordinarily qualify for the Home UK fee status. However, LSE has two financial awards available for asylum seekers to the UK, the Access to Education Scholarships.

Residency requirements to be eligible for Home (UK) fees must be met before the start of your course, and therefore your status will not usually change once you have enrolled.

The UK Government has introduced changes starting with the 2024/25 academic year that will allow you to become eligible for Home (UK) status if your UK immigration status changes partway through your course. You will still need to have met any relevant residency requirements when you first started.

If you become a British citizen, an Irish citizen, or are granted any form of 'settled status' or Indefinite Leave to Remain, you will be eligible for Home (UK) status starting in the next academic year if you also meet the residency requirements. This will also happen if you are granted refugee status, humanitarian protection, or leave under a Ukraine scheme, regardless of your previous residency.

You may also become eligible if your parent, guardian, spouse, or civil partner changes their status in a similar way.

Once you become a registered student your fee status can only be reclassified in exceptional circumstances (either a change in the law or a change to the status of the student). Requests for reclassification by registered students must be submitted before 31 October in the year you first register. If you request us to review your fee status after this deadline, any decision to change your classification will not apply until the start of the next academic year (only available for 2-year programmes or longer).

If you believe that you have been incorrectly classified, please follow the guidance below on requesting an assessment and submit documents as a registered student.

Please note that we are unable to consider fee status requests after 31 October.

If after reading all the information and consulting the UKCISA website you believe that the School should reconsider your fee status please complete our fee classification questionnaire [PDF] and send it with supporting documentation to the appropriate address below:

Fee Assessments (Postgraduate)   

Email: ard.gao.fcq.team@lse.ac.uk

Fee Assessments (Undergraduate)
Email: Ard.Ug.Fee.Enquiries@lse.ac.uk

International students requiring further information on visas and immigration can contact the Student Advice and Engagement Team.