Coming to the UK on Erasmus+: what changes on 8 October 2026

The Immigration Rules contain a list of things a visitor is permitted to do in the UK. Until now, Erasmus+ activity was not on that list, which meant organisations were relying on general categories and hoping for the best at the border.

From 8 October, a new section of Appendix Visitor — paragraphs PA 20.1 to PA 20.4 — sets out four Erasmus+ activities that a visitor may undertake:

• Providing or receiving training at a UK organisation or educational institution. The participant has to be employed by, or working with, an overseas organisation taking part in Erasmus+, or be a youth worker under the programme, and the role cannot be a permanent one.
• Undertaking a traineeship at a UK organisation or educational institution, for up to 30 days. Read on before you plan around this one.
• Job shadowing at a UK organisation or educational institution, provided it stays within participative observation and is not a permanent role.
• Coaching or training assignments at a UK sports organisation, for sports staff, coaches and volunteers.

All four carry a common-sense condition: the participant must genuinely intend to carry out the activity as part of an Erasmus+ mobility project.

The third and fourth points are worth pausing on. Job shadowing is now explicitly permitted, and sports organisations are named in the rules. For anyone running coach development, academy visits or grassroots sport exchanges, that is about as clear a green light as the Immigration Rules ever give.

Most coverage of HC 584 has reported that Erasmus+ participants can now undertake a traineeship of up to 30 days as a visitor. That is what the explanatory memorandum says.

The actual rule says something narrower. Paragraph PA 20.2 reads:

"A Visitor, aged 18 or under, may come to the UK to undertake a Traineeship at a UK-based organisation or educational institution under the Erasmus+ programme for up to 30 days…"

So the visitor-route traineeship is limited to participants aged 18 or under. An adult VET learner on a four-week work placement does not fit, however short the placement is. The rule also requires that working hours comply with the UK Working Time Regulations.

For a lot of European VET cohorts this is fine — plenty of initial VET learners are 16 to 18. But if your group includes adult learners, or a mix, you need the route in the next section rather than an assumption that a short placement is automatically covered.

Job shadowing, training and sports coaching assignments carry no age restriction. It is specifically the traineeship activity that does.

HC 584 also adds an Erasmus+ scheme to Appendix Government Authorised Exchange. This is the route for participants who fall outside the visitor rules — adult trainees, and anyone on a placement longer than 30 days, including ErasmusPro mobility.

The scheme covers traineeships, teaching placements and training assignments, sits in the work experience programme category, and runs for up to 12 months. It is sponsored centrally by IRARA Services Ltd, appointed by the Department for Education following an open procurement exercise, rather than requiring every UK host to hold its own sponsor licence.

That last detail matters. The old obstacle was not really the visa — it was that a small UK employer was never going to become a licensed sponsor to host one learner for six weeks. A central sponsor removes that problem.

Visitors from the EU and EEA do not need a visa for a short stay, but they do need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they travel.

An ETA is not a substitute for meeting the rules above. It authorises the journey; the permitted activities decide what the participant may actually do once here.

There is one further requirement that applies specifically to younger participants. Where someone under the age of 18 is coming for a traineeship or job shadowing, they must be able to provide written confirmation of permission from their parent or legal guardian, and from their home institution.

In practice this belongs in your pre-departure pack alongside the ETA confirmation, the insurance certificate and the consent forms. It is not onerous, but it is a document a Border Force officer can ask to see.

Two things worth being clear about, because easier entry is not the same as broader funding.

It does not change what Erasmus+ will fund. Until the UK becomes a country associated to Erasmus+ on 1 January 2027, the routes into the UK remain narrow: Erasmus-accredited VET providers can send individual learners and staff, and higher education institutions can fund traineeships and staff mobility from the international dimension of their KA131 grant. Group mobility, school exchanges, adult education, youth exchanges and sport mobility all open up from the 2027 call. The immigration position and the funding position are separate questions, and you need both to say yes.

It does not change safeguarding, insurance or accommodation standards. Those sit with the sending and hosting organisations exactly as before.

1. Check the ages in your cohort. If everyone on a short placement is 18 or under, the visitor route works. If not, plan for the Government Authorised Exchange route instead, and start that conversation early.
2. Put ETAs on the pre-departure checklist with a deadline that is weeks, not days, before travel — and budget the £20 per head into your application as an exceptional cost.
3. Collect the written permissions for any participant under 18, from both the parent or guardian and the home institution.
4. Separate the two questions. Decide what your national agency will fund, then decide which entry route the activity needs.

This post was written on 27 September 2026 and checked against the Statement of Changes itself, not a press summary. Immigration rules change, sometimes at short notice, and guidance is often updated after a rule takes effect. Please check the current position before you commit to travel dates, and take professional immigration advice where a placement is unusual, long, or involves anyone whose circumstances do not fit neatly into the categories above.

This is general information about UK entry requirements. It is not immigration advice.

• Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 584, 3 September 2026 — the rule text itself, including paragraphs PA 20.1 to PA 20.4 and V 11A.1 to V 11A.2
• Explanatory memorandum to HC 584 — the Home Office summary and implementation dates
• Written Ministerial Statement, 3 September 2026
• Apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation — current ETA cost and conditions
• Immigration Rules — Appendix V: Visitor and Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities
• The UK and Erasmus+ — European Commission and UK and EU finalise agreement to bring the UK into Erasmus+ in 2027