For partners 
If you are planning to study in the United Kingdom and are working with an education agent, you should pay attention to some important changes. In April 2026, the UK Home Office updated the rules, making the application process through agents more transparent and at the same time stricter for universities and partners. To obtain a student visa, every foreign applicant needs a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies document — it is issued by an educational institution with the status of a licensed sponsor. The requirements for this document have now become broader.
If a student applies through an agent, the university is required to include information about that agent in the CAS, and this rule applies in almost all cases, even if the collaboration was a one-time arrangement with no long-term contract. The CAS must now include:
- The official name of the agency,
- The name of the main contact person,
- The address of the office through which the student was recruited.
If a sub-agent was involved in the process, the university still lists only the primary partner. At the same time, if a foreign national independently engaged a consultant (for example, to assist with documents) and the university did not work with them directly, such information is not included in the CAS.
The main goal is to increase transparency and oversight. The British government is strengthening its supervision of how universities recruit international students. Educational institutions now bear greater responsibility for their partners — educational agents. In effect, the system is moving away from formal trust toward a model where everything must be verified and documented.
Another important change is that working with agents is now officially tied to mandatory standards. Universities must not only declare compliance with the Agent Quality Framework, but also document it. In addition, compliance with The National Code of Ethical Practice for UK Education Agents is mandatory, which means:
- Stricter oversight of agents,
- Additional reporting requirements,
- Systematic quality checks on partners.
Requirements for agents themselves have also increased — to continue working with UK universities, they must:
- Complete studying (including the UK Agent and Counsellor Training Course),
- Demonstrate knowledge of the British education system,
- Formally accept the code of ethics.
If you are applying through an agency, it is now especially important to ensure that it operates in accordance with the new standards: in 2026, choosing an unsuitable agent could affect not only the application process, but also the visa outcome.
