To enrol with us, we need to see your proof of residence in the UK. In all cases below, your proof must be in date and cover you for the duration of your course.
In the sections below, are the documents that you need to bring to enrol on our courses.
If you cannot provide evidence of your residency or proof of benefits/low wages, please contact us to discuss.
To show that you have lived in the UK for a certain number of years before your course starts, we need to see some documents. However, if you are between 16 and 18 years old or fall into some special categories, you won’t need to provide these documents. We cannot accept driving licenses as proof.
Here are the different types of documents we accept:
a) Biometric Residency Cards (BRC): If you have one of these cards and it says “Limited Leave to Enter or Remain,” “Leave to Enter or Remain,” “Stateless status,” or “Self-Employed visa,” we will accept it. If you are the husband, wife, civil partner, or child of someone with a BRC, we will need to see your Marriage Certificate or Birth Certificate, your spouse’s/civil partner’s/family member’s passport/visa, and your own passport/visa. We will also need to see evidence that your spouse/civil partner/family member has lived in the UK for 3 years. Both your visa and your spouse’s/civil partner’s/child’s visa should cover you for at least 12 months after your course starts
b) British or Irish passports: If you hold a British or Irish passport and have renewed it in the last 3 years, we will need to see evidence that you have been living in the UK since August 1, 2020.
c) British Birth Certificate with photo ID: If you are 16 -18 years old, we may ask to see your parents’ passports or documents of residency in the UK
d) EU/EEA/Swiss applicants: We will need proof of your EUSS Pre- or Settled Status. We can no longer accept your EU/EEA/Swiss passport or ID card as proof of residency. Your EUSS document must state that you can study. We also need evidence that you have lived in the EU/EEA/Switzerland and the UK for the 3 years before your course starts. If you have a Spouse or Family Member visa, we will need to see your Marriage Certificate or Birth Certificate, your spouse’s/civil partner’s/family member’s British passport or EUSS document, and evidence that your spouse/civil partner/family member has lived in the EU/EEA/Switzerland and the UK for 3 years. Both your proof of residency should last for at least 12 months after your course starts.
Please make sure to have the original document you used for your EUSS application with you. This will allow you to access your Home Office account and generate a Share Code for us. If someone else, like a family member or parent, made the application for you, you will need them to provide the share code.
If you fall into any of the residency statuses listed below, you won’t need to show evidence of 3 years of residency. We only need to see your valid Biometric Residency Card (BRC) for enrolment:
Contact us if you have any questions or if you are not sure which category you fit in.
If you are 19 years old or older, and meet the residency rules, you can study most of our Entry Level, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 courses for free.
If you have a job, we need to see proof of how much you get paid in a year. This can be 4 weeks of payslips showing how much you get paid every week, or your most recent payslip that shows how much you get paid every month. Or you can bring your contract of employment if it says how much you get paid every month or year.
If you are 19 years old and currently not working, you need to show us proof that you get help from the government. The proof must be dated within 3 months from when your course starts. Here is the proof that we accept:
If you want to study courses up to Level 2 and you get paid more than the low wage threshold, but less than £30,000, we need to see proof that shows how much you or your family get paid.
*If you have a job and you live in London and you get paid less than £23,301.50 every year, or if you live outside London and you get paid less than £20,319 every year, and you want to study a course up to Level 2 or one of the new Level 3 pathway courses, we need to see your most recent payslip that shows how much you get paid every month or year. Or you can bring your contract of employment showing how much you get paid every month or year.
If you plan to study a further education course at Level 3 which does not fall into one of the new pathways, or a Level 4, Level 5 or Level 6 course and wish to apply for an Advanced Learner Loan to cover the cost of your tuition fees, a Learning and Funding Information Letter (LaFIL) will be provided by the admissions teams, which is needed to apply. Please do not apply for the loan without this letter. Further information is available at https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learner-loan
If you want to do a Higher Education course, contact us and we will provide you with the information you need to apply for a Student Finance England (SFE) tuition fee loan to help you pay for the course.
If you are 17 or 18 years old, you have two options: either apply for a Student Finance England (SFE) tuition fee loan to pay for the course, or find a way to pay for it yourself. If you want more information about loans or other financial help, you can go to this website: www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance, or contact us.
If an employer/sponsor is paying some/all of your course fees please bring a letter of ‘confirmation of payment’ on company-headed paper dated and signed, confirming the amount that will be paid by the organisation, your name, ID number, and the person/address to be invoiced.
Please note that you will not be able to enrol without this letter.
If you are paying your course fees, you will need to pay at enrolment; we accept payment by debit/credit card. You may also be eligible to pay your fees in instalments, which we will discuss with you at enrolment.