Graduate route visa

To meet the requirements of the Graduate route, you must:

• have successfully been awarded your degree  

• have studied in the UK on a Student/ Tier 4 visa 

• have a valid Student/ Tier 4 visa at the time of application. 

• have completed the entirety of your degree in the UK if you are studying a Masters course or a minimum of 12 months in the UK, if you are studying an undergraduate degree or PhD.

Please note, you must have been awarded a Bachelors, Masters or PhD to be eligible; a Postgraduate Certificate, Advanced Diploma, and other non-degree awarding qualifications, are not eligible to apply for a graduate visa.

You must have been awarded your degree.

You can only apply after you have received email notification from the International Advising Team that your successful completion has been reported to UKVI.  This is in accordance with the Graduate route visa policy.  The report will be made very shortly after your marks have been ratified by an Exam Board.  If you apply before you receive this notification, your application will be refused.

You must apply before your current Student/Tier 4 visa expires.

You can only apply for the graduate visa from within the UK. There is no provision to apply in your home country or in any other country other than the UK.

The visa application fee is £715. In addition, you will also have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) of £624 per year of the visa: 

• 2 years for undergraduate and Masters graduates will cost £1,248
• 3 years for PhD graduates will cost £1872.

Dependants will also be required to pay the application fee and the IHS. 

You make an application online.   

You will be asked to create a UKVI account and also use the ‘UK Immigration ID Check’ mobile app to verify your identity.  You do not have to attend a separate visa appointment unless for some reason you are unable to use the mobile app.   

As part of the application, you will need:

• your passport and current BRP (if applicable) 

• the CAS number you used to apply for your most recent Student or Tier 4 visa  

• a letter of consent if you have been financially sponsored (for both tuition fees and living costs) by a government or international scholarship agency. 

There is no requirement to provide financial evidence or English language with the application. 

You should check the terms and conditions of any scholarships you were awarded, because you may have agreed to return to your home country for a period of time when accepting the award. 

Please note that the Chevening website states that its scholars cannot apply for the Graduate route. 

If you partner and children are in the UK as ‘dependents’ on your current student visa, they can apply to stay as dependants on your graduate visa.  Each family member will need to complete a separate application and pay the visa fee. 

Dependants to do not have to apply at the same time as the main applicant for the Graduate route, but they must apply for the graduate route from within the UK and before the expiry of their student dependant visa. 

Once you have been issued with your graduate visa, you will not be able to bring any new dependants to the UK.

If you have applied using the digital route, as soon as you get notification of the decision on your Graduate route application, you will be able to view your immigration status digitally (eVisa) and prove your rights in the UK. 

You will use your UKVI account credentials to sign into the online View and Prove Service on GOV.UK, which is where you can access your eVisa. 

Whilst your graduate visa application is pending, and provided you submitted your application before your student/Tier 4 permission expired, then you will be able to work under your student/Tier 4 conditions. This means if you were studying full-time you can work full-time after your course end date, but you cannot be self-employed or engage in business activity, work as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach) or work as an entertainer. 

If you applied for your current Student visa on or after 6 April 2022 you will be able to begin working full time in a position that fills a permanent vacancy, providing you have successfully completed your course and have made a valid application to the Graduate route.

If you were studying part-time, you must wait until you have been issued permission under the Graduate route before you start to work.

This visa is given to enable you to work in the UK. You are permitted to undertake 'supplementary' study but only at an institution that is not a Student Route Sponsor. You cannot study a course that would usually require sponsorship under the Student route. 

Examples of permitted study would therefore include evening classes or recreational courses.

In general, you will be able to do most types of work at any level (including self-employment). You do not require an employer to sponsor you. The only restriction is working as a professional sportsperson.

No. It is not possible to extend your permission under the Graduate route nor is it a direct route to settlement (except as part of the long residence provision), but you may be able to switch into another route provided you meet the requirements, for example, the Skilled Worker visa if you are offered a suitable job with an employer who holds a sponsor licence.

No. It is only possible to be granted permission under the Graduate route once.

You cannot apply again, for example, if you were to undertake another course of study. 

No.  Applications will take approximately 8 weeks to be processed, but you should not travel until the outcome of the application. This is because travelling outside the Common Travel Area automatically withdraws your application.

If your visa expires after you have applied to the Graduate route, you will be permitted to remain in the UK whilst your application is being considered under the same conditions of your student visa until you have received the outcome of your Graduate visa application.