UK Graduate Visa- Validity & Eligibility, Documents Needed and Application Process

The UK Graduate Visa is a replacement of post-study worker route for international students in the UK. This allows a person to remain in the UK to work, look for work, or study (only certain courses) in the UK after they have successfully completed an eligible course of study at a UK bachelor’s degree-level or above with a student visa. The study must have been completed with a Home Office-approved HEP (Higher Education Provider) with a track record of compliance with the sponsor’s duties. This is an unsponsored route, meaning the applicant is not required to have a prior job offer or a CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship) to be eligible to apply for this visa.

Graduate visa holders cannot apply for an extension. Therefore, this visa also does not directly lead to settlement in the UK. However, one may be able to switch to a different visa, for example, a UK Skilled Worker visa, which allows its holders to settle in the UK.

Validity requirements

A person applying for permission as a Graduate in the UK must apply online on the gov.uk website. Applicants must be inside the UK when they apply and need to use the form “Graduate”.

An application seeking permission as a Graduate must satisfy all the following criteria:

• The applicant must have paid any required visa fee and immigration health charge

• The applicant must have enrolled in biometrics (their fingerprints and facial photograph) when required

• The applicant must have submitted a passport or other valid document to establish their identity and nationality

• The applicant must currently have, or have last had, leave as a student.

• If the Graduate visa applicant has, in the last 12 months prior to the date of their application, completed a course in the UK for which a government or an International Scholarship agency awarded them a sponsorship or scholarship covering their course fees as well as living costs for study in the UK, they must provide written consent from that Government or agency.

• The person applying for permission as a Graduate must, on the date of application, be in the UK

Any application that does not satisfy all the validity criteria for the Graduate visa may be rejected as invalid and not considered.

Suitability Requirements

A UK Graduate visa application must not fall for refusal under Immigration Rules - Part Suitability.

The applicant must not be:

(a) In breach of UK immigration laws, except that where the “Exceptions for overstayers” in Part Suitability applies; or

(b) On immigration bail. 

Eligibility Requirements

The applicant must be in the UK where their current visa is a UK student visa. They must have studied a UK bachelor's, postgraduate's degree, or other eligible course with an approved education provider (such as their university or college), and the education provider must have informed the Home Office that the applicant for a Graduate visa has completed their course.

(1) Points requirement

The applicant must earn all 70 points. The applicant will earn 70 points for meeting the successful completion, qualification, and study in the UK requirements.

Successful completion requirement

The applicant for the UK Graduate visa must have last been sponsored by a Home Office-approved sponsor, which is a HEP (Higher Education Provider) with a track record of complying with the sponsor's duties when the application for the Graduate visa is made. 

The applicant must have successfully completed their course, which they had taken up during their last grant of leave to study in the UK on the student visa route (where the applicant for UK Graduate visa was permitted to change their course without having to apply for further leave as a student visa holder, this requirement only applies to the course of study to which they changed).

The higher education provider (such as a university or college) that sponsored the applicant must have told the Home Office, by the date of application, that the applicant has successfully completed their course of study.

(2) Qualification requirement

The UK Graduate visa applicant will satisfy the qualification criteria if they have successfully completed a course for which they have already been awarded or will be awarded a UK bachelor’s degree, postgraduate degree, or PhD or doctorate, or successfully completed one of the relevant qualifications listed below.

(a) A law conversion course (for example, Postgraduate Diploma in Law Conversion, MA Law, or LLM Law Conversion validated or recognised by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority)

(b) The LPC (Legal Practice Course) - a professional, postgraduate training course required to become a solicitor in England and Wales, a DPLP (Diploma in Professional Legal Practice) - a mandatory postgraduate vocational qualification required to become a solicitor in Scotland, or the Solicitors Course in Northern Ireland - a postgraduate professional training programme required to become a solicitor in Northern Ireland

(c) The BPC (Bar Practice Course) - a postgraduate professional training course in England and Wales, or the Bar Course in Northern Ireland - a vocational training programme required to become a barrister in Northern Ireland

(d) A PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education)  A PGDE (Postgraduate Diploma in Education) 

(e) A professional course requiring study at a level academically equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree level or above in a profession (for example: solicitor, barrister, architect, or doctor) with reserved activities (for example, solicitors representing clients in court or doctors prescribing medication, or performing surgery) that are regulated by UK law or public authority.

If the approved higher education provider of the student who is applying for a UK Graduate visa had changed the applicant's course name, but the content of the course remained unchanged, or if a permitted study abroad programme or an integral and assessed work placement was added, this will not prevent the Graduate visa applicant from being able to fulfil the qualification requirement.

The applicant must have gained the qualification during their last grant of leave to study as a student, or in the period of leave immediately prior to their last grant of leave, if the last grant of leave was to take up a role as a Student Union Sabbatical Officer.

(3) Study in the UK requirements

The UK Graduate visa applicant must have held leave granted as a student to study the relevant qualification in the UK, for the relevant period. The relevant period means

• 12 months or more, if the applicant’s total length of course is more than 12 months

• the total length of the applicant’s course, if its total length is less than 12 months

The applicant who could not study in the UK because of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), where they held a student visa that was for more than 12 months, can count any time spent between 24 January 2020 and 30 June 2022 studying outside the UK as time spent studying in the UK.

Applicants whose student visa was for 12 months or less can apply if:

• They started their course of study prior to 21 June 2021, and they arrived in the UK on a UK student visa on or before 27 September 2021

• They started their course of study between 21 June 2021 and 30 June 2022, and they arrived in the UK on a UK student visa before 1 July 2022

Documents Required

The applicant applying for a Graduate visa will need to provide a valid passport or other document showing their identity and nationality.

They will need their CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) reference number from when they applied for their UK Student visa. The applicant would have gotten their CAS reference number from their education provider when they offered the applicant a place on the course of study they completed with their student visa. The applicant can ask their education provider if they cannot find it. 

The applicant will need to prove they currently have a valid student visa by providing:

• Their BRP (Biometric Residence Permit) – this can be used for 18 months after the expiry date printed on the BRP card; or

• eVisa, which is an online proof of their immigration status 

Other documents the applicant might need

• Proof of their relationship with their partner (spouse or civil partner) or children if they are applying with the lead applicant

• A letter from their sponsorship or scholarship provider approving their application, if they paid for the applicant’s course fees as well as living costs in the last 12 months

If any documents are not in English or Welsh, the applicant will need to provide a certified translation of those documents.

Applying for the UK Graduate visa

The applicant must apply online on gov.uk using the specified application form for this visa. They must apply from inside the UK before their student visa expires.

They can apply after their licensed higher education provider has informed the Home Office that they have successfully completed the course of study they took with their student visa. 

The applicant does not need to wait until they have graduated or have been given a certificate.

The application fee for the UK Graduate visa is £880.

The applicant will also have to pay the IHS (Immigration Healthcare Surcharge) of £1,035 each year they will be in the UK. 

As part of the UK Graduate visa application, the applicant will be required to prove their identity and provide documents. 

They can prove their identity either by using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app, where they scan their identity document, or by booking an appointment at a UKVCAS (UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services) service point in the UK. 

If the applicant has booked an appointment at a UKVCAS, on the date of the appointment, they will have their biometrics (fingerprints and facial photograph) taken there. 

They can also submit supporting documents proving their eligibility. They can:

• Upload their documents into the UKVCAS online service; or 

• Have them scanned at their UKVCAS appointment

Getting a Decision

If the decision maker is satisfied that the applicant has fulfilled all the suitability and eligibility criteria for a UK Graduate route, it will grant the visa; otherwise, it will refuse the application.??

Once the applicant has applied, proved their identity, and submitted the supporting documents, they will usually get a decision on their UK Graduate visa application within 8 weeks.

Those applying on or before 31 December 2026 may be granted permission to work or look for work in the UK for 2 years, and those applying after this date may be granted permission for 18 months.

Applicants with a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) or other doctoral qualification will have their UK Graduate visa last for 3 years. 

The visa will begin from the day the Home Office approves the application.

Applying for a partner and children

A dependant partner or child of the lead applicant is any of the following:

• Spouse (husband, wife), civil or unmarried partner

• Child under 18 - including if they were born in the UK during the lead applicant’s stay

• Child aged over 18 if they currently have leave to enter or remain in the UK as the lead applicant’s dependant

If the lead applicant’s partner and children joined them in the UK as ‘dependants’ on their current student visa, they can apply to stay as dependants on their Graduate visa.

If the child was born in the UK during the lead applicant’s current student visa, they can also apply.

A successful partner or child visa as dependants will usually end on the same date as the lead applicant.

How can Visa and Migration help?

We provide you with professional support when you want to apply for a Graduate visa. We will help you with your application in the following ways: 

• Assess and inform if you meet Home Office requirements for the Graduate Visa.

• Give you the list of supporting documents required.

• Step-by-step guidance to fill out the application form correctly.

• Explain the process for biometric enrolment and any supporting appointments.

• Explain to you the visa fees and healthcare surcharge, and help you make the payment.

• Help you respond to any requests from the Home Office for additional information if needed.

• Monitor the application process and provide updates.

• Answer all your questions on visa conditions, work rights, and extensions.