Welsh Ministers have made the Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026 No. 19). The instrument was made on 2 February 2026, comes into force on 4 March 2026, and applies to academic years beginning on or after 1 August 2026. It standardises and extends eligibility for home fee status, fee limits and student support for specified Afghan nationals, as set out in the legislation.
Regulations 2 to 6 amend the Education (Fees and Awards) (Wales) Regulations 2007, the Higher Education (Qualifying Courses, Qualifying Persons and Supplementary Provision) (Wales) Regulations 2015, the Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2018, the Education (Postgraduate Doctoral Degree Loans) (Wales) Regulations 2018 and the Education (Student Support) (Postgraduate Master’s Degrees) (Wales) Regulations 2019. The changes operate across undergraduate and postgraduate support as well as fee status determinations.
The central change is the expansion of the definition of a “person with leave to enter or remain as a relevant Afghan citizen” to include those with indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom granted outside the immigration rules on the basis of the Afghanistan Response Route. By bringing this cohort into scope, the 2007 and 2015 instruments recognise them for home fee status and fee caps, and the 2018 and 2019 instruments bring them within eligibility for maintenance and postgraduate loans, as applicable.
The drafting also clarifies that applicants must already hold the relevant immigration status. In the 2018 undergraduate student support regulations and the postgraduate loans regulations, wording is revised from “granted” to “who has”, and references are standardised by inserting “granted” after “United Kingdom” in the relevant sub‑paragraphs. This aligns the student support framework with the approach already embedded in the 2007 and 2015 instruments.
Operationally, the timing provision in regulation 1(3) confirms that the amendments apply to any academic year beginning on or after 1 August 2026, irrespective of when administrative steps are taken. For providers and Student Finance Wales, this fixes the 2026/27 intake as the first cohort fully assessed under the amended definitions.
The undergraduate regulations reference category 2ZA for protected persons and their family members, and the Master’s regulations reference category 2A. The insertion of the Afghanistan Response Route indefinite leave text into these categories confirms that eligible family members associated with protected persons can fall within scope where the specified immigration leave is held.
The Afghanistan Response Route was discontinued on 4 July 2025 according to Ministry of Defence guidance. The instrument nonetheless recognises indefinite leave issued on that basis outside the rules, ensuring that those who obtained such status continue to be eligible for home fee status and student support in Wales from the 2026/27 academic year.
For institutions, the practical effect is an adjustment to fee‑status assessment and evidence handling. Admissions and finance teams should be prepared to accept proof of indefinite leave linked to the Afghanistan Response Route-typically via eVisa status or other Home Office evidence-and to reflect the “has leave” requirement at the point of assessment.
For applicants, support awarded for academic years starting on or after 1 August 2026 will be assessed using the amended definitions. Awards for earlier academic years remain governed by the pre‑amendment rules; current students do not switch to the new definition mid‑year but would come within it if they begin a new academic year from 2026/27.
The instrument is made under powers in the Education (Fees and Awards) Act 1983, the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, and the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015. It was signed by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, acting under authority of the Cabinet Secretary for Education, on 2 February 2026, with a regulatory impact assessment available from the Welsh Government’s Tertiary Education Directorate.