UPSU: Advice Guide to: Funding for EEA Migrant Workers

Guide to:

EEA Migrant Workers

Am I an EEA migrant worker/ Swiss ‘worker’?

Yes, if you are a non-UK EEA national or a Swiss national in the UK who is, or was (in certain circumstances) working, where the work meets certain criteria. This includes those who are, or were (in certain circumstances): • employed (the work must fulfill essential criteria – see below) • self-employed • a ‘frontier worker’ who is employed (as above) or self-employed

The Student Support Regulations refer to ‘worker’ with reference to the Community definition (Article 7 of the EEC Directive 2004/38). If you are a Bulgarian or Romanian national working in the UK and have completed a BR1 form, you might not be considered to be a ‘worker’ by the decisionmaker under the Student Support regulations.

We are seeking advice as to whether you should be considered a ‘migrant worker’.

What kind of work must I be doing?

• The work must be in the UK • The work can be full-time or part-time • If you have become ‘involuntarily unemployed’, you do not have to show that your course of study is related to your previous job – for example, if your post was made redundant, or, in certain circumstances, if your contract ended and was not renewed.

A ‘frontier worker’ is an EEA/Swiss national working in the UK but who “resides in Switzerland or the territory of an EEA State other than the United Kingdom and returns to their residence in Switzerland or an EEA state, at least once a week”.

• It can be work that you are doing while you are on the course, unless it is ‘ancillary’ to the course. ‘Ancillary’ means the work is part of

the course or work you were offered because you have been accepted on a particular course, for example a placement.

What should I include in my application for Student Support?

It is important to state that you are applying as a migrant worker, and include with your application to Student Finance England a chronology of the work you have done since you came to the UK. It is also important that you include any documents as evidence of the work you have done. This may include: • P45 • P60 • Contracts of employment • Certificates of authorisation/registration

I have been refused student support, what should I do now?

• If you have been refused student support and you and the work you are currently doing or were recently doing meets the criteria above, you are advised to write to the relevant decision-making body and ask for the reasons you have been refused, if they have not yet been given.

• Once you are given reasons, you should contact UPSU:advice on advice@su.plymouth.ac.uk to discuss whether the points raised in the refusal letter are arguable.

For more information or to discuss your I am being treated funding status please contact us at advice@su.plymouth.ac.uk as a EEA migrant worker what funding Opening Hours will I receive?

Term Time: You will be eligible to the full student finance support package, details of which can be found in the section on Student Funding for New Students 2014.

I do not think that I am an EEA migrant worker/Swiss ‘worker’ If you do not meet the criteria, consider whether there are alternative categories you may fall into for example are you the Spouse or family member of an EEA migrant worker?

Please note that not all the categories lead to eligibility for full student support.

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