UK: Unaccompanied Students Under 18 Arriving From Red Countries Can Isolate in Accommodation Offered by Their Unis

Travelers entering the United Kingdom from red list countries during the past ten days before their arrival in England are subject to a 10-day quarantine, the UK government has announced.

Unaccompanied students under the age of 18 arriving from a red list country to attend education (HE) or further education (FE) in England or Wales can complete quarantine in accommodation offered by their education institution, Erudera.com reports.

“If the HE or FE institution is able to provide accommodation for the student to quarantine, they will provide the student, and where appropriate the student’s parent, guardian or appropriate adult, with information on quarantine arrangements and outline steps they must take to arrange their travel to the UK,” UK government’s guidance reads.

The same notes that these students should perform a COVID-19 test and receive a negative result three days before traveling. Also, students or the adult who accompanies them must book and cover the expenses for a travel test package through Corporate Travel Management (CTM), which foresees COVID-19 tests to be taken on the second and the eighth day of the quarantine.

Moreover, before traveling, the student or the adult responsible for him/her should also fill in a passenger locator form with information about the quarantine, time of arrival as well as the travel test package booking reference number. The form, which is free, can be submitted anytime during the 48 hours before students arrive in the United Kingdom.

Students will then receive two letters from their higher education or further education institutions, which must be presented to the UK Border Force upon their arrival to the country. One of the letters will be a copy from the Department for Education delivered to the education institution, which confirms that students are permitted to enter by an exemption, meaning they will not obliged to self-isolate in a managed quarantine hotel. Meanwhile, the second letter will be sent by the institution to the student.

“A representative of the HE or FE institution will meet the student at their port of entry and transport them directly to the quarantine accommodation provided by the institution,” the release added.

The guidance further says that students under 18 might be able to quarantine with a host family in their home; however, every family member is also obliged to isolate. In case the student is not allowed to quarantine with the host family in the accommodation provided by HE and FE, they must quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel, except those with exemptions for a medical or compassionate reason.