honeybee

I have read the posts on 3 yrs residency rules and am more confused as conflicting in some respects.
My kids are British citizens, my husband is non EU citizen. Kids are almost 13 and 16 yrs and we have moved alot. They were born overseas and have only spent a grand total of 3 years in an EU country and 2 years in the UK the rest in non EU countries.
1. If I send them to UK boarding school prior to uni in the UK would it meet the residency rules?
2. If I moved back with them myself and set up home (my husband will not move back as he doesnt want to....) in the UK would that make a difference. I am not too happy where I am now anyhow and wouldn't mind heading back. We just left the UK in Aug 2010 after spending two years there.
3. I am worried as my son who is only 12+ has his heart set on medicine which is a 5 year degree and the international student status will wipe us out financially. We can just about manage my daughter's degree.


Your feedback highly appreciated as my husband is leaving all of this to me to figure out!
Thanks

just_jenn

I'm sure other folks will be able to give you a lot more in depth info, but as I understand it the boarding school option wouldn't work as the reason for residency cannot be "solely for the purpose of education".

If you were to move and set up house there, that should work. Maybe your daughter could do a gap year? That way she'd meet the 3 year requirement and would be entitled to whatever scholarships and bursaries are available, as well as whatever student loans she'd need.

killerhales

Just_Jenn is correct about the boarding school option.

If you have moved around a lot, what kind of employment contract does your husband have? If he is seconded from a UK based multinational, or if he has a temporary contract then this will help to justify the fact that you are only temporarily away from the UK/EU and thus qualify for "home/EU" status.

I don't know about splitting the household in the way that you suggest, but I suspect it could very well work.

The only way to be sure is to ask Student Finance England. Obviously you wouldn't be asking about how to get around the three year rule, rather that you would be living in England whilst your husband was working abroad and wanted to know if there was any risk that your kids would have a problem being classified as home/EU students!

The best of luck.

honeybee

He works for a EU multinational, not an UK one with HQ in Germany. His contracts have usually been with the local subsidiaries in each country, which doesn't help I guess.

I guess you are right about the splitting of the family, not necessarily a good thing!
i will look into the Student Finance website and see if I can glean some more.

Thanks for your feedback