UKVI - guardianship in the spotlight

We have been learning a lot about the new visa processes lately and attended a very useful webinar this week where we heard from Fragomen, the UK Immigration Lawyers, AEGIS and the British Boarding Schools Network (BBSN). We learnt that the safeguarding of international students is very much on the agenda of the UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration). With child trafficking on their radar, they are looking at the protection of international children coming to the UK on student visas. They want to ensure that Parents are involved and in agreement with their study overseas and that arrangements being made for the holiday times in the UK are all above-board.

This means that UK guardianship arrangements for students are under scrutiny.

We understand that there has been an increase in school audits by the UKVI where guardianship arrangements are inspected, so schools are advised to keep careful records of what those arrangements are and proof they have been verified as appropriate. During recent Safeguarding Webinars held by the UKVI, schools are also told they must report any changes to guardianship to them during the study period as well.

The UKVI will now expect all schools, who are UK Student Sponsor licence holders, to be responsible and ensure all arrangements for children under their care are suitable, which includes guardianship.

To ensure this, the UKVI will expect a Student Sponsor to have;

• Signed parental consent for the guardianship arrangement
• Signed consent from the UK guardian / Guardianship Agreement
• Checks of identity for the Guardian or proof of AEGIS accreditation

The UKVI will also expect the Student Sponsor to have a policy in place which outlines their criteria for a suitable UK guardian. This policy and the guardianship arrangements for international students will now also be looked at during UKVI school audits, so it is important that these are all in place.

We also learnt that schools need to make sure they have a guardianship policy in place with clear standards of care that must be met. If they allow family members to be guardian then they must clearly state the checks that are undertaken on this.

Read more about Bright World's Verification Checks that we do and share with our schools.

It is now clear to us that the UKVI are gathering information on guardianships during the visa process. They are asking about travel to and from school, what the students will be doing during the term breaks, and what wellbeing checks are being carried out.

Bright World is very proud of our Travel Service and our Travel Managers work very hard to ensure all our drivers are DBS checked, and sign up to our Driver Code of Conduct.

Our wellbeing checks are carried out both during and after a student's stay and we share this information with our schools and overseas parents.

The good news is that it would seem that the UKVI recognise and are aware of AEGIS, our accrediting body. This means that if parents choose a Gold Standard AEGIS accredited guardian, such as Bright World, this will be an acceptable option when applying for a visa.

It is clear to us that by working with Bright World and where parents choose us as guardians for their students, all the compliance requirements outlined by the UKVI will be met.

In preparation for these new changes and to further assist schools remain compliant, Bright World has prepared a Letter of Assurance for each school, which sets out our commitment to safeguarding students under our care. We can provide proof of screening of our Representatives and host families visiting the school and taking care of students.

We can also readily provide a copy of our AEGIS accreditation Gold Standard Certificate and latest Inspection Report linked below. Read more about our AEGIS Accreditation.