Home Office Extends Visitor and Student Route Access to Erasmus+ Participants from October 8

The Home Office laid HC 584 before Parliament on 3 September 2026 and said Erasmus+ participants will gain access to the UK's Visitor route and Student route from 8 October 2026. The rules start next month.

Under the visitor rules, Erasmus+ participants must have been accepted onto a course from an accredited institution taking part in the programme and must genuinely intend to join an Erasmus+ mobility project. That opens short-term study at UK state-funded schools and academies for placements of up to 6 months. For those schools, the change is new.

The department also widened the visitor rules beyond classroom study. They now cover courses, training, traineeships, workshops, debates, skills competitions, and sports coaching or training assignments at UK-based organisations and institutions. Visitors aged 18 or under coming for an Erasmus+ traineeship must bring written confirmation from a parent or legal guardian and from their home institution. Those traineeships can last up to 30 days. Job shadowing is included too.

The student side uses the same acceptance test. The statement says:

"Where the applicant is seeking to come to the UK to study under the Erasmus+ programme, they must: (a) have been accepted onto a course of study that is to be provided by an Accredited Institution that is participating in the Erasmus+ programme; and (b) show that they genuinely intend to undertake these activities as a participant on an Erasmus+ mobility project."

The student changes also set academic thresholds. Erasmus+ students can study at RQF level 2 and above, or SCQF level 5 and above in Scotland, even where the course does not lead to an approved qualification. When the course includes a work placement, the approved-qualification requirement is lifted. Some below-degree cases will not need a CAS from a non-probationary sponsor, although organisations using the student rules need the relevant student sponsor licence.

The rules sit inside the UK's return to Erasmus+ for the rest of the 2021-2027 framework. That restoration is tied to the UK-EU Common Understanding package announced at the UK-EU summit in May 2025. The legal text also says applications made before 8 October 2026 will be decided under the rules in force on 7 October 2026.

The changes arrive in stages

Organisations taking Erasmus+ students will need the relevant student sponsor licence when the student rules are used.

Other parts of HC 584 remain scheduled for 29 October 2026, 30 November 2026, and 9 December 2026.