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: 29 May 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, 1.12 MB, 106 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

Published 1 October 2013

Last updated 29 May 2025 + show all updates

1. 29 May 2025

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

2. 1 May 2025

   'Sponsorship duties' guidance updated with a link to the new Ecctis website.

3. 9 April 2025

   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.

4. 19 March 2025

   Updated all documents to include information about remote delivery. Further details of updates can be found within each document.

5. 8 November 2024

   Updated applying for a student sponsor licence guidance.

6. 16 October 2023

   Updated 'Applying for a Student sponsor licence' and 'Student sponsor compliance' to remove information about premium customer service.

7. 25 July 2023

   Student Sponsor Guidance document 1 updated to reflect change of oversight provider from School Inspection Service to Mainland Education Ltd.

8. 17 July 2023

   Sponsorship duties document updated, changes to paragraphs 3.12, 3.27 and 5.82. Sponsorship compliance document updated, changes to paragraph 3.13.

9. 30 December 2022

   Added accessible HTML versions of documents.

10. 29 September 2021

    Sponsorship Duties guidance updated to confirm sponsors can accept Certificates of Application as proof of an unsponsored EU or EEA national's right to study in the UK (paragraph 2.11).

11. 10 September 2021

    Updated 'Sponsorship duties' document. Clarification added surrounding study abroad programmes and work placement durations.

12. 30 June 2021

    Sponsorship duties document update. Changes are detailed on page 5 of the document.

13. 21 May 2021

    Updated 'Sponsorship duties' guidance to reflect changes made to the ATAS requirement to apply to work routes as well as study routes.

14. 1 December 2020

    Updated guidance documents for use on or after 1 December.

15. 5 October 2020

    Updated all guidance documents to reflect new Student Visa route.

16. 31 October 2019

    Updated all 4 documents to reflect immigration rules changes.

17. 1 August 2019

    Updated guidance to be used from 1 August 2019.

18. 10 January 2019

    Replace all 4 documents with new versions.

19. 16 July 2018

    Updated guidance.

20. 8 May 2018

    Updated sponsorship duties document to be used from 8 May 2018.

21. 4 April 2018

    New guidance on higher education regulatory reform added.

22. 11 January 2018

    Guidance documents updated.

23. 9 June 2017

    Updated sponsorship duties guidance.

24. 6 April 2017

    Updated guidance for use on or after 6 April 2017.

25. 24 November 2016

    Updated guidance for use on or after 24 November.

26. 18 July 2016

    Updated guidance on 'Sponsorship duties'.

27. 6 April 2016

    Updated guidance.

28. 12 November 2015

    Updated guidance for educators.

29. 11 August 2015

    Updated guidance.

30. 22 April 2015

    Updated guidance for sponsors

31. 8 April 2015

    Updated tier 4 compliance guidance.

32. 2 April 2015

    Updated guidance

33. 2 April 2015

    Updated guidance

34. 25 March 2015

    Updated guidance.

35. 4 March 2015

    Updated guidance.

36. 28 November 2014

    Updated guidance.

37. 24 October 2014

    Updated sponsors' duties and compliance.

38. 14 August 2014

    Updated guidance.

39. 1 August 2014

    Updated sponsor guidance.

40. 1 July 2014

    Updated documents for use on or after 1 July 2014.

41. 6 April 2014

    New version of guidance published for use on or after 6 April.

42. 1 October 2013

    First published.