Editorial Policy
This page describes how the pages on this site are produced and checked, so that you can decide how much weight to put on them.
Three kinds of page
Register data — the sponsor list, provider profiles and city pages — is generated automatically from the Home Office register, which we download every day. We do not edit it. Where we match a provider to a register entry, the match is made by name and is described in the methodology.
The change log is produced by comparing each day’s register with the previous one. The comparison rules are fixed in code and applied the same way every day; nobody chooses which changes to show.
Guides and articles are written, and are the only pages that contain opinion or interpretation.
Sources
For anything about the rules we rely on primary sources only: the Immigration Rules, Home Office guidance for student sponsors, and GOV.UK guidance for applicants. Articles name the paragraph they rely on and link to it. We do not source facts from forums, agents’ websites or other explainer sites.
For anything about how the register has changed, the source is our own archive, and the underlying data is published so that the figures can be checked.
How articles are written and checked
- Articles are written from the primary sources above and from our register archive.
- Before publication, each factual statement is checked against the source it cites. An article shows the date of that check as “Facts checked”.
- Figures about the register are computed from the archive rather than typed by hand, and each article states the date its figures run to.
- Where the rules do not answer a question, we say so. We do not predict how an individual application will be decided.
- The publisher is responsible for everything that appears on the site.
Bylines
Articles carry one of two desk bylines, Elif Karaman for register analysis and Daniel Hartley for visa rules. A byline identifies the desk an article comes from, so that each desk’s work can be followed over time. It is not a statement of professional qualification, and no article on this site is written by, or should be read as coming from, a regulated immigration adviser.
Language we avoid
The register records that a licence exists; it does not say why one stops appearing. A sponsor can leave the register because it changed its legal name, merged, closed, gave up its licence, was removed while under investigation, or had its licence revoked. We therefore say that a sponsor “is no longer listed” and never that a licence was revoked or suspended unless the Home Office has said so.
Dates
“Register snapshot” is the date of the register version a page was built from. “Content updated” on a guide changes only when its content has been reviewed, not every time the site is rebuilt.
Corrections
When we find an error we fix it and record it in the corrections log, with what was wrong and for how long. To report one, contact us with the page address and a source.
Independence and advertising
No institution, agent or adviser pays to appear on this site or influences what is written about it. Advertising, where it appears, is confined to guide pages, is supplied by an advertising network, and is not chosen by us.