UK Guardianship for
International Students

Although it might seem like a good idea to have UK-based friends act as your child's guardian while they are studying in England, there are many reasons why guardianship should be provided by professionals who are equipped to deal with any situation. For example:

• Family or friends could be hours away - most schools require guardians to be less than two hours' travel from school. The closer your guardian is, the faster they can be there to comfort your child if they are in distress.
  • Good to know: Since English Country Guardians is part of the Academic Families group, we cover the whole of the UK. Our staff are located country-wide, meaning there is always someone near every child’s boarding school who can be there in person, in a flash.
• Moreover, friends or business companions may not be fully prepared or able to support your child, whereas a professional guardianship agency has experienced people and procedures in place to fully support students whatever happens and whenever they might be.
  • Good to know: In addition to our staff’s combined 50+ years of experience and our dual AEGIS/BSA accreditation, we are trained and certified to work with minors (young people under the age of 18). Plus, our Mental Health First Aid training (renewed bi-annually) also ensures that we can recognise signs of distress, provide immediate support, and respond appropriately in delicate situations.
• We are available (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) whenever your child needs help. As you might imagine, this might be difficult for your friends to do if they are working or if your child needs help in the middle of the night!
  • Good to know: As your official guardian, ECG is committed to assuming Delegated Parental Responsibility. This means we can act on your behalf in case of emergencies and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your child, without needing to delay for administrative reasons. Obviously, we will always try to contact you first in an emergency.

Do you have a friend in the UK who you’d like to use as your child’s guardian?

Whilst having a professional guardian such as ECG is recommended, we understand you might choose to rely on family or friends if they live near your child’s boarding school.

This is possible, however, in order to ensure compliance with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) rules for student visas and safeguarding purposes, your nominee will need to go through our Friends & Family Verification Service.

How does it work?

Even if your friend or family member will act as the guardian, you will need to nominate a professional company on your child’s student visa application.

It’s important to start this process early because there are several forms to complete and it can take 2-3 weeks for ECG to perform our verification checks.

You should also inform your family member or friend of the process, so they know what to expect and are comfortable engaging with us.

Ensuring your friend or family member meets the requirements

When choosing someone to look after your child, be sure they meet the legal requirements set out by the UK government:

• They must be a British Citizen or have Settled Status in the UK.
• The Intended Carer must be at least 18 years old, although many schools will insist they are over 25.
• The accommodation must be a private residence.
• The living arrangements must be suitable and pass safety checks.
• Every member of the household must not have committed a “relevant criminal offence”, as referenced in the Child Student Immigration rules.

What’s next?

ECG will conduct a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on every member of the household who is over the age of 16.

We will also visit the house for an in-person interview, ID check, and inspection.

Please note that in order to fulfil visa requirements, the DBS checks and inspection have to be completed prior to issuing the Letter of Undertaking which goes with your child’s student for visa application.

 
If your friend or family member successfully passes the verification process, they will be given full access to our emergency 24/7 phone, WhatsApp, and email service. We will provide our full guardianship support if their plans change and your child needs to alter their travel or accommodation arrangements.

If your nominee does not pass our verification checks, then you can nominate ECG as your full and official guardian and we will take care of all your child’s needs.

Review our full services >

We work with hundreds of schools and host families throughout England, and thanks to our parent company Academic Families, our network extends all throughout the UK, too.

If your child needs a place to stay for a night or two during mini school breaks, our host families are ready to welcome them with open arms. And if your child wants to stay for longer holidays when boarding school are closed, it's never a problem.

Host families offer a lot of support for international students, however, a host family isn’t enough when it comes to guardianship. For example:

• Most hosts wouldn’t know what to do if an international student is stuck in Customs & Immigration at the airport.
• It’s also beyond a host family’s duties to attend school meetings - they are only committed to taking a student into their home during breaks from school.
• Hosts also do not deal with issues that arise during the week or during holidays (when parents come to spend time with their children).

In all of these mentioned situations, a professional guardian steps in to resolve the situation or provide solutions.

Guardians also offer academic and pastoral support

If your child needs academic or emotional support, English Country Guardians is well equipped to help. Our local staff in England can easily attend school meetings on your behalf and send detailed reports afterwards. We also have a variety of short courses and study camps that your child can attend in order to help them achieve their best grades and exam scores.

Travel assistance from trusted guardianship providers

International students also need guardianship when travelling. A trusted guardian will make sure that even if travel plans don't go smoothly, your child will have help at hand no matter what time of the day or night it is. In addition, our security-screened drivers can bring your child to and from boarding school any time, which is not something a host family normally does.

Houseparents are often full-time teachers who also look after as many as 70 students after school, meaning your child is just 1 of 70. Whereas with English Country Guardians, your child is our number 1 priority.

If your child's school has horizontal boarding, then students will have a different houseparent every year, and it is unlikely they will be able to really get to know each child.

English Country Guardians is with your child from start to finish and we work closely with all our boarding schools ensuring our children are fully supported, yet also learn responsibility and independence.

You can think of English Country Guardians as the link between you, your child's boarding school, the boarding housemaster, and the host families they stay with during school breaks and holidays.

We take care of all the essential details and help your child to make the most of this wonderful opportunity to study in England. Every step of the way, you can rely on English Country Guardians to look after your child on your behalf. Like you, we want to ensure everything goes smoothly while they're living and studying in the UK.