Statement of Changes HC 584, laid before Parliament on 03/09/2026
The Home Office has laid a new Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, HC 584, introducing amendments across a number of immigration routes. The principal changes take effect on 08/10/2026, with separate commencement dates for religious-worker provisions (29/10/2026), Student-route maintenance requirements (30/11/2026) and one EUSS identity-document amendment (09/12/2026).
In general, applications, claims and administrative-review applications made before the relevant commencement date will be considered under the Immigration Rules in force immediately beforehand.
The changes are a mixture of policy developments, route clarifications and technical housekeeping. The most relevant changes for applicants, sponsors and advisers are set out below.
Long Residence: a clearer route to family or private-life consideration
A significant change affects applicants who apply for permission to stay on the Long Residence route but do not meet the relevant suitability or eligibility requirements.
Where the decision maker considers that the applicant may instead meet the requirements for permission to stay under Appendix FM as a partner, parent or child, or under Appendix Private Life, the Home Office will vary the application to the relevant route.
No further application fee will be payable. However, the applicant will be required to pay any applicable Immigration Health Surcharge, unless an IHS waiver is requested and granted. Failure to pay the IHS, or to obtain a waiver, will result in the varied application being rejected as invalid.
This should provide an important safeguard in suitable in-country Long Residence cases. Applicants should nevertheless be prepared to provide full family-life or private-life evidence promptly if the Home Office proposes to vary the application.
Victims of Domestic Abuse: revised settlement provisions
The Victim of Domestic Abuse route is recast to state more clearly that it provides a settlement route for a person aged 18 or over whose relevant relationship has permanently broken down because of domestic abuse.
The Rules consolidate the categories of persons who may qualify, including relevant applicants with permission under Appendix FM, Appendix EU, refugee-family routes, certain Part 8 provisions and the Armed Forces routes. The amendments also make clear that eligible dependent children, including adult children where the relevant requirements are met, may apply with or after the main applicant.
The revised provisions recognise both:
• the permanent breakdown of an applicant’s relationship with their partner because of domestic abuse; and
• the permanent breakdown of a child applicant’s relationship with their parent or parent’s partner because of domestic abuse.
For an application made from outside the UK, the applicant must have been abandoned overseas and must previously have been physically present in the UK.
The effect is principally to clarify and consolidate the route, but it will be important to ensure that applications identify the correct underlying immigration category and address the revised validity and relationship requirements.
Student route: maintenance figures increase from 30 November 2026
For Student applications made from 30/11/2026, the maintenance requirement increases as follows:
| Study location | Current monthly amount | New monthly amount |
| London | £1,529 | £1,570 |
| Outside London | £1,171 | £1,203 |
Students and sponsors should ensure that financial-evidence calculations, client advice and document lists reflect the increased figures for applications submitted on or after the commencement date.
Erasmus+: expanded Visitor, Student and GAE options
A major part of HC 584 is the introduction of specific immigration provisions for participants in the Erasmus+ programme.
Visitor route
The Visitor Rules now permit a range of defined Erasmus+ activities, including:
• study at an accredited institution participating in Erasmus+;
• training at a UK organisation or educational institution;
• skills competitions;
• job shadowing limited to participative observation;
• short traineeships for those aged 18 or under; and
• certain coaching and training assignments for sports staff, coaches and volunteers.
The activity must not amount to filling a permanent role. A trainee aged 18 or under may undertake an Erasmus+ traineeship for up to 30 days, subject to Working Time Regulations. Where an Erasmus+ participant under 18 is undertaking a traineeship or job shadowing, written parental/legal-guardian consent and confirmation from the home institution will be required.
Student route
Erasmus+ students may undertake courses at participating sponsors at lower qualification levels than the usual Student-route thresholds: RQF Level 2 or above in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and SCQF Level 5 or above in Scotland.
In addition, a work placement forming part of a qualifying Erasmus+ course is exempt from the usual Student-route limits on work-placement duration. Student and Child Student provisions are also amended to permit Erasmus+ study at relevant State Schools and Academies.
Government Authorised Exchange
Erasmus+ is added to Appendix Government Authorised Exchange for eligible traineeships, teaching placements and training assignments, with a maximum stay of 12 months. Other placements will need to use a different immigration route.
The correct route will depend on the activity, duration and whether the individual will undertake work that goes beyond what is permitted as a Visitor.
EU Settlement Scheme: targeted amendments
The changes to Appendix EU and Appendix EU (Family Permit) are technical but may be significant in individual cases. They include amendments to:
• continuing eligibility and extensions of limited leave;
• derivative rights of residence, including certain primary-carer cases;
• the definition of the relevant application deadline for joining family members; and
• the treatment of further applications after lawful entry without an EUSS Family Permit.
In several provisions, the wording changes from a person’s first arrival in the UK to their last legal entry. This may be material when assessing the applicable deadline in joining-family-member cases.
From 09/12/2026, a non-EEA national applying under the EUSS from within the UK may provide either a valid passport or a valid specified relevant document as evidence of identity and nationality.
Appendix AR (EU) is deleted, and the EUSS Family Permit Rules are simplified through the removal of an obsolete provision.
Religious-worker routes: sponsorship and maintenance requirements
Changes taking effect on 29/10/2026 amend both the T2 Minister of Religion and Religious Worker routes.
For T2 Ministers of Religion, the Rules draw a clearer distinction between mainly pastoral leadership roles and mainly non-pastoral duties. Roles involving, for example, school teaching, media production, domestic work or administrative and clerical work will not ordinarily qualify, except where the role is senior within the organisation or the applicant is a member of a religious order.
The Religious Worker route is also more clearly confined to non-pastoral religious work. A sponsored role must be supernumerary, involve membership of a religious order, or be supported by evidence that the applicant performed religious duties outside the UK for the linked faith-based organisation for at least six months immediately before the application.
Where the sponsored role is not entitled to the National Minimum Wage, the A-rated sponsor must confirm on the Certificate of Sponsorship that it will maintain and accommodate the worker for the period of permission. Equivalent provision is added for eligible dependants.
Sponsors should review role descriptions, recruitment records, Certificates of Sponsorship and maintenance procedures before these provisions take effect.
Skilled Workers with a positive trafficking decision
A Skilled Worker who has been referred into the National Referral Mechanism and receives a positive Conclusive Grounds decision during their most recent grant of permission may have their work conditions amended.
The amendment can permit work without the usual restrictions, including self-employment and voluntary work. Professional sportsperson work, including as a sports coach, remains prohibited.
Fee-waiver applications, biometrics and suitability
HC 584 also contains changes of wider procedural importance.
First, applicants who vary a pending application must still provide their biometrics within the deadline given for the original application. A variation does not create a new biometrics deadline.
Secondly, a fee-waiver request preserves an earlier application date only where the subsequent application is made on the same route as the fee-waiver request. If the later application is on a different route, the application date will be the date on which that later application is submitted.
Finally, the suitability rules add an express basis for refusal where the applicant has acted to frustrate immigration controls, as defined in SUI 11.7.
Other changes
Other amendments include:
• clarification of the settlement requirements under the Hong Kong BN(O) route, including a five-year continuous-permission requirement for applicants aged 18 or over;
• provisions allowing Article 8 and private-life claims to be submitted through Home Office staff for families in the Family Returns Process;
• the express inclusion of workshops and debates within permitted visitor business activities, and new permissions for skills competitions;
• updated wording concerning entertainment staff accompanying artists, entertainers and musicians; and
• removal of obsolete rules and tables associated with closed or historic routes, including the Start-up route and parts of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) provisions.
What applicants, sponsors and advisers should do now
Applicants and advisers should consider the following before the new Rules take effect:
1. Long Residence cases: assess at an early stage whether Appendix FM or Appendix Private Life evidence should be available if a Long Residence application cannot succeed.
2. Student applications: apply the increased maintenance figures to applications made from 30/11/2026.
3. Domestic-abuse settlement applications: check the revised qualifying categories, relationship evidence and any overseas-abandonment circumstances.
4. Erasmus+ activity: identify whether Visitor, Student or Government Authorised Exchange sponsorship is required before travel or placement arrangements are finalised.
5. Religious sponsors: review the pastoral/non-pastoral distinction, the supernumerary requirement and CoS maintenance wording.
6. Fee waiver cases: ensure that the substantive application is made on the same route as the fee-waiver request, where reliance is placed on the fee-waiver request date.
Conclusion
HC 584 includes several practical changes that will affect current immigration advice and application preparation. The Long Residence variation mechanism, revised domestic-abuse provisions, increased Student maintenance figures and the new Erasmus+ routes are particularly important.
As ever, the applicable Rules will depend on the date the application or claim is made. Applicants and representatives should check the transitional provisions carefully and take advice on the relevant route before submission.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.