# The Higher Education (Qualifying Courses and Qualifying Persons) (Wales) Regulations 2026, Paragraph 7: Protected partners and their children

Extent: E+W

(1) A protected partner who is ordinarily resident in—
(a) the United Kingdom and the Islands and has not ceased to be so resident since being granted such leave, and
(b) the United Kingdom on the first day of the first academic year of the course.
(2) A child of a protected partner who—
(a) on the leave application date was under 18 years old and was the child of a protected partner,
(b) is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and the Islands and has not ceased to be so resident since being granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, and
(c) is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom on the first day of the first academic year of the course.
(3) In this paragraph—
“leave application date” (“dyddiad y cais i gael caniatâd i ddod i mewn neu i aros”) means the date on which a person (“P”) made an application for leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom that results in P becoming a protected partner;
“protected partner” (“partner a ddiogelir”) means a person who has leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom as either a victim of domestic violence or domestic abuse or as a bereaved partner granted in any of the following cases—
Case 1
In the case of a person granted leave to remain before 31 January 2024, under any of the following provisions of the immigration rules—
(a) paragraphs 289B and 289D (victims of domestic violence),
(b) paragraphs D-DVILR.1.1. and D-DVILR.1.2. of Appendix FM (victims of domestic abuse),
(c) paragraphs 40 and 41 of Appendix Armed Forces (victims of domestic violence who are partners of members of armed forces),
(d) paragraph 288, as a person in relation to whom the requirements in paragraph 287(b) of the immigration rules are met (bereaved spouses or civil partners),
(e) paragraphs D-BPILR.1.1. and D-BPILR.1.2. of Appendix FM (bereaved partners),
(f) paragraphs 36 and 37 of Appendix Armed Forces (bereaved partners), or
(g) paragraph 295N, as a person in relation to whom the requirements in paragraph 295M of the immigration rules are met (bereaved unmarried or same sex partners);
Case 2
In the case of a person granted leave to enter or remain on or after 31 January 2024, under either of the following provisions of the immigration rules—
(a) paragraph VDA 9.1 of the Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse, or
(b) paragraph BP 11.1 of Appendix Bereaved Partner;
Case 3
In the case of a person granted leave to enter or remain on or after 5 October 2023, under paragraph AF (GHK) 14.1 of Appendix Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veteran discharged before 1 July 1997 of the immigration rules, as a bereaved partner;
Case 4
In the case of a person granted leave to enter or remain before 5 October 2023, outside the immigration rules, on the basis that the person was a bereaved partner of a Gurkha discharged before 1 July 1997.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2026/52/schedule/paragraph/7 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/higher-education-qualifying-courses-and-qualifying-persons-wales-regulations-2026/schedule/paragraph-7
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.