Working after studies

If you complete your course before the course end date on your CAS, your student sponsor may report this to the Home Office. They may report this as either a “change of circumstances” or a “withdrawal of sponsorship”. Your work entitlement differs depending on which they have used:

• Your sponsor has reported it as a change of circumstances: you can start working more than your usual term-time hours from the new end date that your sponsor has reported to the Home Office.
• Your sponsor has withdrawn sponsorship: the Home Office will usually cancel (curtail) your immigration permission. This will bring the end date of your immigration permission forward. You can work between the new end date of your course and the new expiry date of your immigration permission.

Your sponsor has not reported early completion

If you complete your course before the course end date on your CAS and your sponsor does not report this to the Home Office, you should wait until after the course end date before you start working more than your term-time hours (10 or 20 hours a week). Talk to your sponsor if this is a problem for you.

In the majority of cases (but especially when you are switching to a work route from a Student visa in the UK), employers will need confirmation from you or your student sponsor that you have now completed your course of study. This can take usually take the form of a confirmation letter, a transcript, or a highly likely to succeed letter.

It is a common misconception amongst employers that you must provide evidence that you have “successfully completed” your studies, or that you must always be awarded/graduated before you can start working. This is not the case. 

Typically, to start working on your Student visa after your course of study is complete, the only requirement is that you can prove your course of study is complete. The Home Office have confirmed that completion can be taken to mean when you have had your final teaching contact point, sat your last exam, and submitted your final pieces of work that were due. Therefore, to prove completion, you can use either the course end date on your CAS, or an earlier date if you have completed your studies and you are able to provide supporting evidence of this from your Student sponsor. 

The Skilled Worker route does have specific requirements about when you can start working and when you can make a valid application, and these are explained on our dedicated Skilled worker visa page. It is not the case however that you can only apply, or start working for an employer after making an application, once you are awarded, have graduated, or have "successfully completed" your course of study. 

Only the Graduate route requires “successful completion”. You do not need a job offer or sponsorship from an employer for the Graduate route therefore you should not be required to provide any evidence to prove your successful completion from any prospective employer once you find a job. The “successful completion” requirement is proven to the Home Office by your educational institution completing a report on your behalf.   

The Employer’s guide to right to work checks provides clear guidance to employers in respect of hiring those on, or coming from Student leave. Page 48 explains the following:

Students who have the right to work are permitted to work full-time before their course starts, during vacations or during the period they hold permission for after they have completed their course.

Study term times may end on any day of the week, depending upon the education provider. Therefore, if the educational institution’s term time ends on a Friday, full-time work would be permitted from the next day (in this scenario, a Saturday). Students should confirm with their sponsor what the term end date is and verify this with their employer as part of the right to work checking process when considering working full time hours. This will allow employers to ensure students are not in breach of their visa conditions.

Students are not permitted to fill a permanent full-time vacancy unless they are applying to switch into the Skilled Worker or Graduate routes during their study. Changes to the Immigration Rules allow students with valid applications for these routes to take up permanent, full-time vacancies either, up to three months prior to the course completion date for the Skilled Worker route, or once they have successfully completed their course of study for the Graduate route)

[…]

For students who have limited permission to work during term-times, you must also obtain, copy and retain details of their academic term and vacation times covering the duration of their period of study in the UK for which they will be employed. The dates should be provided by the sponsoring education provider, either directly or indirectly if the student is providing a letter or email, they have received from their sponsoring education provider setting out the required details.

Innovator Founder: this new visa route was opened on 13 April 2023 and was brought in to replace the Start-up and Innovator visa routes. The route is designed for migrants that are either seeking to start a business in the UK, or for those with existing businesses endorsed by an approved body. For those seeking to start a new business, the business idea should be "new, innovative, viable, and scalable". You will need an endorsing body to endorse your business idea. There are currently only 4 endorsing bodies for an Innovator Founder visa. 

There is no need to provide evidence of business funding or capital; this was a requirement under the old Innovator visa, but it is not a requirement for the Innovator Founder visa.

This route can be a route to settlement, and dependents are permitted.

High Potential Individual: this new visa route is for individuals with an undergraduate or postgraduate degree from one of the top global universities from outside the UK. The qualification must have been awarded within the last 5 years. Successful applicants will be granted 2 years of immigration permission (3 years for those with a qualification equivalent to a UK PhD). 

This lists of eligible institutions can be found in the Global Universities List.

This route is not a route to settlement, and dependents are permitted.

Scale-up Worker: this new visa route is for individuals with a certificate of sponsorship from a UK Scale-up sponsor. There are required salary requirements, similar to how the Skilled Worker route functions. Initial applications under this route must be sponsored, but subsequent extensions may be unsponsored.

This route is a route to settlement via the 5 year route, and dependents are permitted.

Global Business Mobility has 5 separate routes within it:

• Senior or Specialist Worker
• Graduate Trainee
• UK Expansion Worker
• Service Supplier
• Secondment Worker

These routes were introduced on 11 April 2022, replacing some old routes and introducing one new route. They are designed for overseas businesses to establish a presence in, or transfer staff to, the UK for specific business purposes. 

None of these routes are routes to settlement, and dependents are permitted. 

Temporary worker - government authorised exchange: people who want to participate in an approved government authorised exchange scheme. The schemes are listed in Appendix Government Authorised Exchange schemes of the Immigration Rules.

The Youth Mobility Scheme is a flexible visa that allows both work and study, and after its expiry you must leave the UK.

Age requirement

You must be aged between 18 and 30 years old, or 18 and 35 years old if you are a national of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the Republic of Korea.

Nationality requirement

You may be eligible to apply for a Youth Mobility Scheme visa if you are a passport holder of the following countries: Andorra, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Taiwan, and Uruguay. 

Hong Kong and Taiwan nationals must apply through the Youth Mobility Scheme ballot before applying for this visa. 

You may also be eligible if you hold a British Overseas Citizens, British Overseas Territories Citizens and British Nationals (Overseas) passport. There are some additional criteria for holders of certain passports. 

Visa details

The Youth Mobility Scheme visa is granted for 2 years and cannot be extended unless you are an Australian, Canadian, or New Zealand national, where you are able to extend your permission for one year. It permits work and study in the UK. 

The Home Office's guidance on where to apply for a visa says that applications for the Youth Mobility Scheme can be made in any country (outside of the UK) where you are legally present. It is not clear if this is a concession on the more strict provision of paragraph 28A of the immigration rules which says that an application will only be accepted in a country (outside of the UK) where you have permission to live for more than 6 months. 

Temporary Worker (T5) has five sub-categories:

• creative
• charity worker (voluntary work)
• religious worker
• international agreement (work covered by international law, for example, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, employees of international organisations or other countries' governments)
• seasonal worker

These schemes allow you to undertake specific types of work in the UK for a period of one or two years, depending on the scheme. The sponsor must issue a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).  Sponsors are listed together with Skilled worker sponsors. In order to find sponsors with the type of sponsor licence you are interested in, open the full list of work visa sponsors and search for Creative & sporting, Voluntary workers, Religious workers, Exchange or International agreements.

You can stay in the UK under the Student route if you have been elected to a full-time post as a students' union sabbatical officer at an education establishment where you are registered as a student. The Student route also covers you if you are elected to a post with the National Union of Students.

You will need to meet the requirements for a Student route application. However, the Home Office does not expect you to study during this period. The Home Office should give you permission to be in the UK for 12 months which you can apply to extend up to a two year maximum if you are re-elected.

You can find detailed information for you, the students' union where you are going to work as a sabbatical officer and your Student sponsor in Student union sabbatical officers.

For the logistics of switching to the Graduate route before, during or after working as a students' union sabbatical offer, see our detailed guide to the Graduate route above.

The Graduate route allows applications from those completing some law courses. You may also be eligible to apply under the Skilled worker route.

If you are eligible for the Youth Mobility Scheme or UK ancestry scheme, you can apply in your home country then come back to the UK and train. Someone who is in the UK as a dependant can also train. 

Pupil barristers might be eligible to apply under Temporary Worker: Government Authorised Exchange as the Bar Council is a Tier 5 sponsor. This is not an option for trainee solicitors.

Check your eligibility for the Graduate route or the Skilled worker route.

If you are eligible for the Youth Mobility Scheme or UK ancestry you can apply in your home country then come back to the UK and train. Someone who is in the UK as a dependant can also train. 

Your course provider should be able to explain whether you can undertake work between Parts 1 and 2 of your course with Student leave.

Check your eligibility to apply under the Graduate route. 

Otherwise, optometrists who wish to undertake pre-registration training can apply in the UK to switch from Tier 4 or Student permission to the Temporary worker: Government Authorised Exchange scheme. See further information on provided by the College of Optometrists. 

If you are eligible for the Youth Mobility Scheme or UK ancestry, or you are in the UK as someone's dependant, you can work with very few restrictions, including work as an optometrist. 

Check your eligibility to apply under the Graduate route. Otherwise, pharmacists are covered by the Skilled worker route. Pharmacist is a shortage occupation which means the visa application fee is reduced.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society no longer offers sponsorship under Temporary worker: Government Authorised Exchange (T5) for the Pharmacy Professional Sponsorship Scheme (PPSS). 

If you are eligible for the Youth Mobility Scheme or UK ancestry, or you are in the UK as someone's dependant, you can work with very few restrictions, including work as an pharmacist. 

The Start-up visa route was replaced by the Innovator Founder route in 2023. Some migrants in the UK may still have Start-up immigration permission as this route was closed quite recently to new applicants only. We have provided some information below for those still on this permission.

Your endorsing body is required to have contact with you after 6 months, and again after 12 months from the date your immigration application was granted.  An endorsing body may wish to have contact with you more often. 

At these contact points you will need to demonstrate that you are making reasonable progress with the business plan assessed in your endorsement. If you are no longer pursuing your original business idea, you must be pursuing a new business venture that your endorsing body is satisfied meets the criteria of being innovative, viable and scalable.

The Home Office guidance for endorsing bodies explains on page 29 the circumstances under which an endorsing body should consider withdrawing their endorsement:

• An applicant fails to stay in contact with you as requested.
• You discover that applicant has not been developing their business.
• An applicant’s business has failed and they do not wish to start another business, or the business they intend to start is not, in your judgement, innovative viable and scalable.

It is very important that you do not miss a scheduled contact without first seeking your endorsing body's permission. 

If you wish to extend your stay in the UK after your Start-up permission expires, you will not be able to extend your Start-up permission. This is because this route is now closed. You will need to apply under another immigration route to remain in the UK.

The Doctorate Extension Scheme (DES) is no longer active and was replaced by the Graduate route in 2021. When it was active, successful applicants were granted 12 months of immigration permission. It was only applicable to PhD students.

If you have held permission under DES in the past, it is important to note that this prevents you from being eligible for the Graduate route. This is because the Graduate route rules state (Appendix Graduate, GR 1.4):

“The applicant must not have been previously granted permission under the Doctorate Extension Scheme or as a Graduate.”

As DES only granted 12 months of immigration permission, there should now not be any migrants in the UK with this permission.