Change of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-sponsor-guidance

Change description : 2025-11-11 09:00:00: Updated to reflect new Immigration Rules changes which come into effect on 11 November for the Student and Child Student routes. Full details of changes are listed in the document. [Guidance and regulation]

Showing diff : 2025-05-29 08:02:39.217626156 +00:00..2025-11-11 09:03:23.496711064 +00:00

Guidance

Student sponsor guidance

How to apply for a Student sponsor licence and how to sponsor a student.

From:
UK Visas and Immigration
Published
1 October 2013
Last updated
2911 MayNovember 2025 — See all updates

Documents

Applying for a Student sponsor licence (accessible)

HTML

Applying for a Student sponsor licence

PDF, 797 KB, 84 pages

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Sponsorship duties (accessible)

HTML

Sponsorship duties

PDF, 1.12874 MBKB, 106108 pages

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Student sponsor compliance (accessible)

HTML

Student sponsor compliance

PDF, 511 KB, 23 pages

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Higher education regulatory reform (accessible)

HTML

Higher education regulatory reform

PDF, 280 KB, 14 pages

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Details

This is the full policy guidance on sponsoring a student. Use this guide to find out how to:

  • apply for (or renew) a university or college sponsor licence
  • enrol international students who will be studying under the Student or Child Student routes

Updates to this page

Published 1 October 2013
Last updated 2911 MayNovember 2025 + show all updates

  2. 'Sponsorship duties' updated. A full list of changes is in the 'changes since last publication' section.

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Update history

2026-01-16 00:01
Updated the guidance on Applying for a Student sponsor licence and Sponsorship duties.

2025-11-11 09:00
Updated to reflect new Immigration Rules changes which come into effect on 11 November for the Student and Child Student routes. Full details of changes are listed in the document.

2025-05-29 09:00
‘Sponsorship duties’ updated. A full list of changes is in the ‘changes since last publication’ section.

2025-05-01 09:00
‘Sponsorship duties’ guidance updated with a link to the new Ecctis website.

2025-04-09 09:00
Guidance on applying for a student sponsor licence and sponsorship duties has been updated. A full list of the changes made since last publication is included in the guidance documents.

2025-03-19 09:00
Updated all documents to include information about remote delivery. Further details of updates can be found within each document.

2024-11-08 16:02
Updated applying for a student sponsor licence guidance.

2023-10-16 08:00
Updated ‘Applying for a Student sponsor licence’ and ‘Student sponsor compliance’ to remove information about premium customer service.

2023-07-25 16:21
Student Sponsor Guidance document 1 updated to reflect change of oversight provider from School Inspection Service to Mainland Education Ltd.

2023-07-17 15:19
Sponsorship duties document updated, changes to paragraphs 3.12, 3.27 and 5.82. Sponsorship compliance document updated, changes to paragraph 3.13.

2023-07-17 15:00
Sponsorship duties document updated, changes to paragraphs 3.12, 3.27 and 5.82. Sponsorship compliance document updated, changes to paragraph 3.13.

2022-12-30 10:06
Added accessible HTML versions of documents.