Immigration Status Checks

This is kind of a feature, not a bug, of the new system? It's designed to just check what their status is right now, for a whole bunch of (mainly non-discrimination) reasons... It's *not* designed specifically for us!

Thanks Steve, so it's a check of the expired BRP in a sense for all that 'other' information we need around status etc and then an online check to confirm the valid to date is acceptable on the new system.  Great.....not.  But I get what you're saying it wasn't designed for us/ESFA/MCAs etc, we just 'use' the system.  I might flag it to ESFA just to see what they say and how they suggest we work on this but thanks for replying as usual, Angela 

Fair to say I've got questions in from SEPTEMBER that are on the "we'll get back to you in 10 days" loop on this...

We are also finding this issue to be a problem. As Angela said, knowing the leaner's immigration status is necessary to make the correct decision around funding eligibility. The only solution we can think of at the moment is to start asking learners to self declare what their immigration status is, as well as asking them to provide a share code, but this is not ideal.

Good morning, we are having very similar issues as this does not give you the information such as Leave to Enter/Remain etc which is what we use to determine funding eligibility if resident less that 3 years.  Its becoming very time consuming and bogging our staff down.

Can anyone tell me if someone has a skilled worker visa, if they are eligible for ESOL funding.  My my understanding is they have to have B1 level of English to get a SW visa which is equivalent to AS level so can they be funded for Entry level ESOL?  Thanks

I just got a reply from ESFA this week, this is what they've said which doesn't solve the issue obviously but......:

Dear Angela

Thank you for your enquiry.

We are currently liaising with colleagues in the Home Office to understand some issues providers are having with the updated e-Visa system and will provide an update shortly.

In the meantime, we would ask that you request additional paperwork to confirm status and length of residence from any learners whose e-Visa does not provide the necessary information.

We would expect in most cases the learner would have correspondence from the Home Office from when their status was issued which should provide more detail than the e-Visa.

Where learners need to confirm 3 years residence we would expect they may be able to provide evidence such as utility bills which show them resident in the UK for 3 years.

Joan Mitchell - we had someone like this and we made a decision here that we couldn't fund them for ESOL as they should be up to an acceptable level from the terms of their visa.  They joined one of our ESOL classes but paid I think.  Like I say that was just one person and we made that decision, I'm not saying it's the rules by any means.

Thank you for your reply Angela, this will give me something to work with. Joan

We've also been having trouble with these changes.

In terms of the ESFA response to Angela, "We would expect in most cases the learner would have correspondence from the Home Office from when their status was issued which should provide more detail than the e-Visa", our experience is that this is no longer the case. Potential students and apprentices are telling us that everything is moving online and they have no other documentation. Not sure what else can be done.

I appreciate that the system is not for us alone but, when a government department makes immigration status one of the key deciding factors of funding eligibility, it is frustrating to have no way of confirming what that status is. Do we err on the side of caution?

I mean, I think you already know my answer to this ;)

Also, fair to say my queries about this are STILL in the "get back to you in 10 days" loop, but I think they might be with Apprenticeships not Adult Skills so might do a new one...