Those who wish to extend their stay in the UK via this route, must:
To be accepted as a legitimate method to obtain the post-study visa, the type of course taken, its length, and the education provider must meet specific requirements. Some students won’t qualify for the Graduate Visa, particularly if they utilised their “wrap-up” leave to repeat referred/deferred modules.
General UK Degrees, from Bachelor’s to PhDs are all eligible courses under this route. Additional recognized courses are:
Only partners and children will be considered as dependants under the graduate route. If your partner and children joined you in the UK as ‘dependents’ on your current Student visa or Tier 4 (General) student visa, they can apply to stay as dependants as on your Graduate visa. If your child was born in the UK during your current Student or Tier 4 (General) student visa, they can also apply. If their application is successful, their visa will end on the same date as the main applicant.
You can only apply to the Graduate route once your university has sent you your final course results and confirmed you have successfully completed your course. You must be in the UK when you apply. Those who apply from outside the UK will be rejected and denied entrance to the UK, and they may lose their eligibility to apply for the Graduate route in general. Furthermore, application fees may not be refunded. You must not leave the country whilst you are waiting for a decision on your application. This will affect your eligibility for the Graduate route and prevent you from re-entering the UK. 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.
If you meet the relevant criteria, you may be able to switch from the Graduate route to the Skilled Worker route, which enables you to remain in the UK while working for a recognised employer, who is a skilled worker sponsor. It is for a maximum of five years and contributes to settlement. The Graduate route does not count towards settlement rights under 5-year route. To be eligible for the Skilled Worker route, you must demonstrate:
You may also be able to switch into various other work routes including the Global Talent, Start-up or Innovator routes.
Our Immigration lawyers at City Legal have immense experience in assisting clients on obtaining British Citizenship. As an SRA regulated firm, we act with the utmost integrity and carefully assess each of our client’s circumstances to ensure that the eligibility requirements are met and to identify any potential issues with the application. We are a multi-award-winning law firm and pride ourselves in being approachable, innovative and always going that extra mile to make sure our clients receive the individual attention they deserve. Our Immigration team maintains a high reputation and is committed to providing clear, transparent, and reliable advice to our clients.
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You can make the application when your university officially publishes your results, you have been notified that your completion has been verified to the UKVI and you are confident that you meet all other eligibility requirements. The Universities normally do the verifications in bulk to the UKVI.
Unfortunately, there are no appeal options in cases of rejections. However, could choose to request an administrative review if you think your application was evaluated incorrectly.
Provided you are a placement student who must convert to the Advanced Research Route, your eligibility to apply for the new Graduate Visa will not be affected if you were able to transfer without the need for further immigration clearance.
If you have a Student/Tier 4 visa, you will be permitted to work in the UK full-time once you have completed your studies; your completion date is defined as the completion date of your programme as mentioned on your CAS statement. You will continue to be subject to the same Tier 4/Student conditions on the type of job you can do during this time, such as being unable to fill a full-time permanent vacancy.
The applicant must have been in the UK for the full duration of the course, if the course is less than 12 months or at least 12 months if the course is longer than 12 months to be eligible for the Graduate visa. If distance learning took place overseas between 24 January 2020 and 30 June 2022, this will not prevent the applicant meeting the requirement.
