Anastasia Vasiljeva and Jonathan Hill discuss navigating the evolving compliance landscape for overseas pupils’ and staff visas

The landscape of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) compliance audits for independent schools has undergone significant transformation in recent years. With heightened scrutiny and an increasingly forensic approach taken by the UKVI service, institutions must maintain rigorous standards to retain their student sponsor licence and ability to recruit international pupils. It’s important to note that where a school also sponsors employees either by a linked or separate licence, non-compliance can affect both licences, increasing the need to pay careful attention to compliance practices for both employees and pupils.

The modern audit process

The UKVI service has substantially expanded its compliance audit network over the past six to 12 months which has resulted in a noticeable increase in audits of independent schools. This expansion has resulted in more detailed and thorough examinations of institutional practices with focus on key areas of compliance, including safeguarding, recruitment methods, tracking and monitoring of pupils and record-keeping.

UKVI compliance auditors will typically spend a day on-site, conducting extensive reviews of documentation, systems and procedures. The process often includes:

• Interviews with key personnel responsible for international pupils’ evaluation, staff competency and understanding of compliance obligations.
• A review of pupil files and immigration documentation.
• Examination of attendance records.
• Assessment of internal compliance processes and record-keeping.

 Safeguarding and UK guardianship

There is a fundamental change to how UKVI is approaching safeguarding, with a specific focus on living and UK guardianship arrangements which are becoming a critical component of a UKVI compliance audit. Schools are required to demonstrate robust safeguarding measures specifically tailored to international students, with UK guardianship arrangements at the forefront. Key requirements include:

• A comprehensive UK guardianship policy that clearly outlines acceptable arrangements for international students.
• Rigorous vetting of non-accredited UK guardianship arrangements, particularly ‘family friends’.
• Clear communication protocols between the school, guardians and parents.
• Regular welfare check-ins with pupils upon their return from UK guardians to ensure safeguarding is at the forefront.
• Signed parental consent for all arrangements made for the pupil, and signed UK guardianship agreement ensuring the UK guardian is aware of his or her own responsibilities.

Moving forward, there are also strong indications that UKVI is considering more stringent regulation of UK guardianship arrangements. The new requirement to provide UK guardianship details on the Child Student visa form suggests UKVI may be gathering data for potential future policy changes.

Action plans and managing non-compliance

When UKVI identifies non-compliance issues within an institution, the agency will issue an action plan to ensure non-compliance is addressed before any further action is taken. An action plan will include details of the areas of non-compliance identified by UKVI, and changes which are required to be made by the sponsor within a set timeframe.

The resolution is often time-sensitive given that the institution’s Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies allocation would be set to zero until it can be verified that it has corrected the non-compliance issues set forth in the action plan via a reinspection.

The consequences of failing to address these action plans adequately can be severe, potentially resulting in sponsor licence revocation. Institutions must therefore treat action plans as urgent priorities and ensure comprehensive implementation of required changes in a timely manner.

Looking forward

With evolving UKVI compliance, institutions must continue to monitor and adapt their compliance strategies accordingly. Success at UKVI audits is gained through a proactive approach to compliance, robust record-keeping systems, and a culture of continuous training and development.

Jonathan Hill is a senior immigration manager and Anastasia Vasiljeva an associate at global immigration advisor Fragomen.

Jonathan Hill

Anastasia Vasiljeva