The European Union

The EEA (European Economic Area) includes all the fifteen present members of the EU along with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (including Svalbard/Spitsbergen). Connection with the EEA can affect the tuition fee status of individuals.

NOTE: Switzerland is NOT a member of the EU, NOR of the EEA.

The EEA and Tuition Fees

Nationals of the non-EU countries of the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) normally have to pay overseas fees. However, if they have the status of "migrant worker" in the UK, we have to charge them home fees. To be counted as a migrant worker, a person must be working legally in the UK and to achieve home-fee status they must have done this over a continuous period of at least three years up to the "relevant date" before the start of their course at UD.

Note that residence alone does not qualify the person, nor does residence in the UK wholly or mainly for the purpose of full time education or training.

The spouses and children of EEA migrant workers can also claim the right to home fees, provided they meet the general residential requirement of the Tuition Fees Regulations.

A national of any EU country can claim home-fee status in the UK if s/he has resided anywhere in the EU or elsewhere in the EEA during the continuous period of three years up to the "relevant date" before the start of her/his course in the UK. So for example, if someone from Finland (ie a Finnish national) has lived in Germany from August 1998 to September 2000 and then in Iceland up to and including 1 September 2001, s/he would be charged home fees for a course beginning in October 2001. The children of EU nationals are also entitled to pay home fees, provided they meet the general residential requirement of the Tuition Fees Regulations.

The DfEE defines "relevant dates" for the Tuition Fees Regulations as 1 January,