The new Graduate immigration route will open for applications at 0900 on 1 July 2021.
The Graduate route is for those who have a degree or other relevant qualification awarded by an approved UK Higher Education provider. It is an unsponsored route, so your application does not need sponsorship or any endorsement by an employer or by your university. It is similar to the old Tier 1 Post-Study Work route.
Most successful applicants can stay for two years under the Graduate route. PhD graduates can stay for three years.
The following detailed information on the Graduate route is based on information published by the Home Office on 4 March 2021:
Further guidance is expected, including guidance for caseworkers assessing applications. We will keep this page updated with any further announcements.
As expected, the Graduate route is only open to those who graduate from summer 2021 and beyond. In their fact sheet about the route, the Home Office says
Those who graduate and whose Tier 4 or Student visa leave expires before the route is introduced will not be eligible, however, most of these students will have had no expectation of benefitting from such a route when they applied to study in the UK. They will also be able to apply to a number of other routes, for example Skilled Worker, Start Up, Innovator or Global Talent, among others.
This page has information about all these other work routes.
Applications open at 0900 on 1 July 2021.
You can only apply in the UK. There is no provision to apply in your home country or in any other country other than the UK. If you are currently outside the UK with valid Tier 4 or Student permission, you will need to travel to the UK before it expires in order to apply under the Graduate route. See also the information below on Study in the UK, including Covid-19 concessions.
Your deadline for applying is the expiry date of your Tier 4 or Student permission. As long as you apply by this date, your current permission is automatically extended until the outcome of your application, even if its original expiry date has passed. This is a general principle of UK immigration law known as 3C leave.
The Immigration Rules have some very limited provision for an overstayer to make a late application in the UK within 14 days of becoming an overstayer, if they can show a good reason for not applying in time. However, anyone who stays in the UK after the end date of their immigration permission, including someone who applies late for permission to stay, is an overstayer which is a criminal offence. Becoming an overstayer means you have no right to work, and it can affect other aspects of your life. It can also have serious consequences for any future immigration applications that you make, including applications for countries other than the UK. We advise seeking immigration legal advice on any application as an overstayer.
When you apply on or after 1 July 2021, you must have valid Tier 4 or Student permission.
You cannot switch to the Graduate route from any other type of immigration permission. If you are studying with a different permission, and you have not yet finished your course, it may be possible to switch to the Student route for the remainder of your studies: see Making a Student route application in the UK.
If you have, or previously had, permission under the Doctorate Extension Scheme (DES) you cannot apply under the Graduate route. We asked the Home Office to allow those with 12 months’ permission under the DES to switch into the Graduate route for the balance of the 3 years’ leave now granted to PhD graduates under this new route, but we were not successful.
The rules for the Graduate route (paragraph GR 5.4) allow someone with permission as a Student Union sabbatical officer to apply based on a qualification they obtained "in the period of permission immediately before" their current permission. There is no provision to apply based on a qualification you obtained further back, for example if you have had two consecutive periods of permission as a Student Union sabbatical officer. We are checking with the Home Office whether this was their intention, and whether there will be any concession for such applicants.
There is nothing to stop those who have previously had permission under the old Tier 1 (Post Study Work) route, or under any other work route, applying under the Graduate route.
You can only have permission under the Graduate route once. While it is possible to switch from the Graduate route back to the Student route, you could not then apply again under the Graduate route based on a new qualification. This only applies to the applicant themselves, not to any dependant who has previously had permission under the Graduate route.
There is a limited list of qualifications that can make you eligible to apply under the Graduate route.
The course must be either
- an undergraduate degree
- a Masters degree
- a PhD degree or other doctoral qualification
or one of these qualifications listed in paragraph GR 5.2 of Appendix Graduate of the immigration rules:
- a law conversion course validated by the Joint Academic Stage Board in England and Wales
- the Legal Practice Course in England and Wales, the Solicitors Course in Northern Ireland, or a Diploma in Professional Legal Practice in Scotland
- the Bar Practice Course in England and Wales, or the Bar Course in Northern Ireland
- a foundation programme in Medicine or Dentistry
- a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE)
- a professional course requiring study at UK bachelor’s degree level or above in a profession with reserved activities that is regulated by UK law or UK public authority.
Normally you must have completed this course during your current period of Tier 4 or Student permission and it must be the same course for which your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) was assigned. There are some exceptions:
- If your CAS was assigned for an integrated programme, and you successfully completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree as part of that programme, you can use that degree as the relevant qualification. This is only for degrees, not for other types of course.
- If you were allowed to switch to a different course without applying for new Tier 4 or Student permission, you can use that new course as the relevant qualification.
- If the course provider changed the name of your course without changing the content, or if they added an assessed work placement or study abroad programme, this does not stop you meeting the qualification requirement
- If your last period of Tier 4 or Student permission was granted to work as a Student Union Sabbatical Officer, it is fine if the relevant qualification was gained during your period of Student or Tier 4 permission immediately before it.
In all cases the qualification must have been awarded by a Higher Education provider which is listed in listed on the Register of Student Sponsors as a "Student Sponsor - Track Record". Your provider will need to notify the Home Office of your qualification on or before the day you apply, but the exact system for this has not yet been announced.
If you are not sure whether your qualification is eligible, check directly with your Student route sponsor.
The basic "Study in the UK" requirement is that for a course of less than 12 months, you must have been in the UK studying the whole course. For a course of 12 months or more, you must have been studying in the UK for at least 12 months.
However, if you are applying in 2021 and you do not meet this requirement because you have been distance learning outside the UK due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can still meet the "Study in the UK" requirement. The original expected deadline to return to the UK for all 2021 graduates who have been distance learning was 6 April 2021 but this has now been extended. Your deadline for entering the UK after distance learning now depends on when your course started and how long it was:
Course started in 2020 and was 12 months or less
If you have been distance learning in your home country for the whole course so far, you need to come to the UK under the Student route on or before 21 June 2021.
If you came to the UK under your current Student route permission but then you switched to distance learning from home, you will need to come back to the UK on or before the end date of your course.
Course started in 2021 and was 12 months or less
If you have been distance learning in your home country for the whole course so far, you need to come to the UK under the Student route on or before 27 September 2021.
If you came to the UK under your current Student route permission but then you switched to distance learning, you need to come back to the UK on or before the end date of your course.
Course started at any time and was more than 12 months
Any time you spent outside the UK distance learning between 24 January 2020 and 27 September 2021 will not affect your application.
Your situation is covered by paragraph GR 6.3 of Immigration Rules Appendix Graduate and by paragraph 3.23 of the guidance Coronavirus (COVID-19): Student sponsors, migrants and short-term students but neither give any specific deadline by which you need to enter or return to the UK to apply under the Graduate route. It appears that you can return and apply anytime while you still have Student permission, but we are checking this with the Home Office.
There is no requirement to show you have a certain amount of money (known as the 'maintenance requirement'). See also the information below about Applying in 2021: extra considerations
The Home Office's factsheet about the Graduate route says that the application fee will be £700.
You will pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) at £624 per year of permission that you are applying for. That is 3 years for PhD graduates, 2 years for others.
There is no specific test of your knowledge of English. It is assumed based on you successfully completing the relevant qualification taught in English, and having previously satisfied the English language requirement for your Tier 4 or Student route application.
Your partner and/or child under 18 who is already in the UK as your Tier 4 or Student dependant can apply to extend their stay as your Graduate route dependant.
A partner or child who is outside the UK cannot apply for a visa as your Graduate route dependant. They would need to apply as your Student dependant, if eligible, and come to the UK on that basis then apply for permission to stay on as your Graduate route dependant.
We asked the Home Office to reconsider this because, for example, most undergraduate students cannot bring dependants on their Student route permission, but we were not successful.
Your dependants have the same work conditions as you. The only prohibition is on working as a professional sportsperson or sports coach.
Before you apply
You can travel and re-enter the UK on your Tier 4 or Student leave before you apply under the Graduate route.
The Home Office's Student route caseworker guidance confirms this on page 66:
Students are able to travel outside of, and re-enter, the UK whilst they hold valid permission as a Student, including in the period after they have completed their course and still hold permission under the route.
After you apply
If you apply in the UK to switch to the Graduate route you should not travel until the outcome of the application. This is because travelling outside the Common Travel Area automatically withdraws your application.
If you need to travel very urgently while your application is pending, your application will be automatically withdrawn when you leave the Common Travel Area, but if your Tier 4 or Student visa is still valid you can re-enter the UK after your travel. You will then need to apply again under the Graduate route and pay the application fee again. Only the Immigration Health Surcharge from your first application would be refunded.
While your Graduate route application is pending, you can continue to work under the conditions of your Student or Tier 4 permission. See Student work.
When your Graduate route permission is issued you can do any work, either employed or self-employed, except working as a professional sportsperson or coach. You can take work at any level of salary or skill, but if your plan is to find a job for which you can eventually be sponsored under the Skilled Worker route, you should check which jobs are eligible for that.
Employers should know about the new Graduate route, and they should understand that with this permission you can take any work you wish without sponsorship and without any special actions for the employer. However you may be their first employee with Graduate Route permission, and they may not fully understand the route at first. You can refer their HR to this very basic guidance from the Home Office for employers.
If you want to set up as self-employed, see the detailed guidance from the UK government about all the steps and requirements. Your university Careers Service may also offered dedicated advice on entrepreneurship and self-employment. If you want to continue your business when your Graduate route permission expires, you will need to meet the requirements of an extension under the Start-up and innovator schemes.
Study is restricted under the Graduate route. The study condition states that you cannot study any course which could in theory be sponsored under the Student route.
We asked the Home Office to allow some other study, but this request was not successful.
Examples of permitted study would therefore include:
- Part-time undergraduate course
- English language courses
- Some professional courses
- Any study at a college or university that is not a Student route visa sponsor
- Online study
- Evening classes
- Recreational courses
If you are unsure whether you can study a specific course under the Graduate route, check with the provider whether they offer international students Student route visa sponsorship for it. If they do, you cannot study the course.
Graduate route dependants do not have this study restriction.
If you cannot apply under the Graduate route, or if you choose not to apply, remember that there is no deadline for applying in your home country under the Skilled Worker route for sponsored skilled work.
A helpful change from the old Tier 2 route that it replaced is that for the first two years after you return home you only need to meet the lower "new entrant" minimum salary for a Skilled Worker application. Even after two years, you can still be a "new entrant" if you are under 26 years old.
Furthermore, some of the aspects of the old Tier 2 route that made an application in your home country trickier than applying in the UK have been removed in the changeover from Tier 2 to Skilled worker. Specifically, an employer does not need to run the resident labour market test nor use one of their limited supply of Certificates of Sponsorship.
See our detailed guide to the Skilled Worker route on this page, and all other options.
