At King’s College London, we recognise that a background of forced displacement can have a significant impact on educational opportunities and outcomes. We provide a range of pre-entry and on-course support to students from these backgrounds. This includes support throughout the admissions process as well as financial, academic, and personal support/guidance throughout your time at King’s. You can find out more about the range of support on offer at the bottom of this page.

Please note the information on this webpage is for pre-entry to King’s. If you are a current King's student, or would like to learn more about the support available once you've enrolled at King's, please visit Support offered to forced migrant students at King's.

We use 'forced migrant' or ‘forcibly displaced’ as umbrella terms for the following immigration backgrounds.

• Limited Leave to Remain (LLR) is given to applicants with a unique case to remain in the UK for a limited period of time. Please note that only those granted LLR due to issues of forced displacement will be recognised as eligible for additional support at King’s.
• Refugee is a former asylum-seeking person who has been granted refuge in a country other than their home country. They have been able to prove that if they are returned home, they will be persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion.
• Humanitarian Protection is given to people who face a real risk of serious harm if they returned to their country of origin.
• Asylum Seeker is someone who has lodged an application for protection on the basis of the Refugee Convention or Article 3 of the ECHR.
• Unaccompanied asylum-seeking child status is given in unique cases for children arriving to the country separated from their parents, for a limited period of time, usually until they turn 17.5 years old.

If you have experience of forced displacement and are applying to study at King’s, we strongly advise you to disclose this via your UCAS and your King’s application. This will allow admissions staff to take your circumstances into consideration and will not have a negative impact on your application.

Tick the relevant immigration status box on the UCAS application form. UCAS have put together an 'Adviser toolkit' to support forced migrant applicants.

We use this data to holistically assess an applicant’s future potential to succeed and to differentiate between similar highly qualified candidates.

As an applicant with a history of forced displacement, you will receive additional consideration through the admissions process. Examples of how this might be applied are provided below:

• Students whose application is considered as being close to the standard required to gain an interview may be offered an interview.
• Students whose admissions test score is considered as being close to the required standard might be given an offer or interview.
• Students who narrowly fail to meet their conditional offer will be given additional consideration as to whether their place should be confirmed.

King's College London has a designated member of staff (pre-entry), who can assist with all aspects of the application process: you can talk about course choices, receive feedback on a draft personal statement, tips on interviews as well as guidance on King's other support services e.g., student funding or the disability services.

For more information, please contact us on priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk.

King’s verification: Evidence needed

To be verified as an applicant with a forced migration background, you will be required to indicate this on your UCAS application, and you will need to submit evidence to the King’s Apply portal. The information below outlines the documents you will need to complete this process.

Applicants with Refugee or Humanitarian Protection Status

Please provide your:

• Online share code
• Or; a scan or clear photo of both sides of your Biometric Permanent Residence card (BRP) which shows your status. We will accept cards which have expired.

In cases where neither of the above are available, please provide any official documentation from the Home Office which clearly outlines your immigration status in the UK.

Applicants with Limited Leave to Remain (LLR) status

• Your online share code

Or;

• A scan or clear photo of both sides of your Biometric Permanent Residence card (BRP). We will accept cards which have expired.

In cases where neither of the above are available, please provide any official documentation from the Home Office which clearly outlines your immigration status in the UK.

If you have limited leave to remain for any reason other than forced displacement, this does not apply to you, and you will not be verified as a forced migrant on your application.

Applicants with Asylum Seeker status

• A scan or clear photo of both sides of your Application Registration Card (ARC)

In cases where the above isn’t available, please provide any official documentation from the Home Office which clearly outlines your immigration status in the UK. This could include a Bail 101, Bail 201 IS91 or temporary admission letter.

Please note that if you are currently awaiting a decision on your claim from the Home Office, you will unfortunately be ineligible to apply for funding from Student Finance. We encourage you to explore other undergraduate funding options available, which you can find below in the further information and useful links section.

In addition to providing evidence, we strongly advise that applicants

Indicate their history or current experience as a forcibly displaced applicant in their personal statement

Ensure the teacher reference gives additional information and provides context · If needed, fill in the Undergraduate mitigating circumstances form.

If you have any issues with providing evidence, please contact us directly at priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk

Pre-university events

King’s College London Social Mobility and Widening Participation department prioritises forced migrant learners on our pre-university programmes. To learn more about long-term programmes run by King's Widening Participation department, visit our projects for prospective students webpages.

Campus Tours

Watch our campus tour videos online, led by current students, to get a feel for study spaces and explore the social spaces on campus to find out the best spots to relax, grab a

bite to eat and meet friends! You can also sign up to be notified about visiting campus for a tour.

Open days As an alternative to our undergraduate on campus open days, we've been running a series of online events. You can catch up with all sessions on demand at your leisure and book onto upcoming events, as well as find out the latest updates for on campus events.

Applying for student finance

We can offer support to forced migrant students in identifying whether they are eligible for student finance based on their immigration status. If students are not eligible, we can help explore other avenues of financial support.

On course support

You can find out more about the support available to King’s students with a history of forced migration here. This covers a range of pastoral, academic and financial support.

If you are working with a young person from a forced migration background who is considering applying to university, or you have a forced migration background yourself and you would like more information about the support available, please contact priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk.

Additionally, below you'll find a list of useful links where you can find more information about support and advice for forced migrants:

Refugee Education UK (REUK) The Educational Progression team at REUK gives advice about university to young asylum seekers and refugees through their advice service and face-to-face support service.

We Belong provides advocacy, support and assistance to young people in difficulty; particularly those in trouble with the law and at risk of exclusion from school.

Schwab & Westheimer Trust provides grants and scholarships for young asylum seekers and refugees in education.

Student Action for Refugees (STAR) is a national charity of 26,000 students welcoming refugees to the UK. They volunteer at local refugee projects, campaign to improve the lives of refugees and educate people about forcible displacement. They also maintain a list with universities currently offering scholarships for forced migrant students. Find a list of scholarships on the Student Action for Refugees university scholarships website.

Displaced Student Opportunities UK provide a database of available sanctuary scholarships across UK universities.

Refugee Youth are a youth led organisation where young people work together to solve their problems through art workshops and events, e.g., poetry, painting, drama and film making.

Find your fee status via UKCISA. Explore eligibility for ‘home’ or ‘overseas’ fees to understand which is applicable to you.