How to identify yourself as an asylum seeker or refugee on your UCAS application

If you are a refugee, asylum seeker or have limited leave to remain in the UK, please make sure you indicate this in the ‘Nationality’ and 'Where you live' section on your UCAS application.

If you are a LEAPS-eligible student, please remember that you should also have had your LEAPS eligibility confirmed during your LEAPS Pre-UCAS Interview. These interviews usually take place between August and November in LEAPS schools. If you are unsure if you have been confirmed as LEAPS eligible, please email us at leaps@ed.ac.uk.

This is so that the universities you are applying to know from the point of your application about your immigration status. They can then consider the type of offers that they make to you in the context of your background (this might be at the minimum entry requirements rather than the typical), and there may be other support available specifically for refugees and asylum seekers.

This will vary by institution, and it’s up to you if you take up any offers or support available, but it’s good to be informed about it – then you can make your choice as to whether or not it’s the right thing for you. Find out more about identifying as a refugee or asylum seeker on your UCAS application here.

Please follow the steps outlined below. 

1. Log in to your UCAS HUB and click Go to application
2. Scroll down to the Profile section
3. Click on the Nationality details box
4. Begin answering the questions in this section and several additional questions will appear that you will need to complete
5. One of which will be ‘What is your current UK visa or immigration status?’
6. Select the first one that applies to you
7. You will also be asked to enter the start date of your visa or the date of your current immigration status
8. Hit the Save this section button at the bottom of the section
9. You must also answer a Residency category question in the Where you live section too.

Contact us at leaps@ed.ac.uk