Following The PIE News’s investigation into an apparent blind spot in the calculation of the new Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics, the Home Office has amended the wording of the policy as the rule changes come into force for UK universities.
The Student Sponsor Compliance policy has been changed to “align the guidance to policy intent of how administrative review cases are considered for the purposes of calculating the refusal rate”, according to the Home Office document.
While the previous wording clearly stated that students with live administrative reviews would “not be included” in BCA calculations, the new policy states that as “a result of a successful administrative review against the decision to refuse their student or child student application will not be included in the [visa refusal] calculation”.
Calculations: visa refusal rate
2.17 Students with a live reconsideration of their application, as a result of a
successful administrative review against the decision to refuse their student
or child student application will not be included in the calculation.
Amended student sponsor guidance (1 June 2026)
The PIE understands that the previous policy wording has been under scrutiny for several months over the potential for some institutions to ‘game the system’ by incentivising students to appeal visa refusals via the administrative review process.
The likelihood of this situation had become heightened by the revelation that the backlog of administrative review cases has extended to six months for an outcome amid a spike in visa rejections.
The policy update also confirms other draft changes including the new core BCA metric thresholds that come into force from June 2026, including tighter rates for visa refusals, enrolment rates and course completions.
The new Red, Amber Green (RAG) rating for UK universities will take into account institutions; visa refusal rates, enrolment rates and course completion rates.
Under the new requirements, they must maintain a visa refusal rate below 5%, an enrolment rate of at least 95% and a course completion rate of at least 90%. But to be bestowed a Green rating, these metrics are squeezed tighter still to a visa refusal rate below 4%, an enrolment rate of at least 96% and a course completion rate of at least 92%.
Universities will be rated either Red, Amber or Green based on their lowest score, rather than an average across the three criteria – and those that receive a Red rating will be subject to a UKVI action plan to improve their compliance .
While the policy document amendments come into force now, the wording confirms that the UKVI will assess visa refusal rates under the new thresholds for the 12-month period immediately prior to when an institution applies for a BCA audit. This means the historical performance of the winter and spring intakes in 2026 will be assessed against the new metrics.
2.18 We will assess your refusal rate for the 12 month period immediately before
you apply, using CAS data from the SMS. We will take into account all CAS
that students have ‘used’ and applications we refused during this 12 month
period.
Amended student sponsor guidance (June 1 2026)
Sector stakeholders are now seeking clarity on how visa rejections that are successfully overturned by administrative review will be factored in retrospectively, including the impact on a potential change of RAG rating.
When an administrative review is successful, the UKVI will ordinarily contact the sponsor and enter a dialogue about if the sponsor wishes to continue sponsoring the student, or if they wish to defer their CAS for a future intake.
However, little is understood about the process for changing a public RAG rating once it has been issued and if this will be immediately rectified if an institution changes threshold as a consequence of successful reviews, or if they will be forced to wait for the next annual or scheduled assessment before changing the public rating.
