Graduate visa eligibility and qualifying courses

What the Graduate visa is

The Graduate visa is an unsponsored immigration route that lets you stay in the UK after successfully completing an eligible course. It allows you to work, or look for work, at any skill level, and to be self-employed, though it does not lead directly to settlement and cannot be extended. The standard grant is two years, or three years if your qualification is a PhD or other doctorate.

The core eligibility conditions

To qualify you must meet all of the following at the point of application.

1. You must be in the UK when you apply. You cannot apply from outside the UK.

2. You must currently hold a Student visa or a Tier 4 (General) student visa that is still valid.

3. You must have successfully completed an eligible course (see below) while holding that Student or Tier 4 visa.

4. Your education provider (a licensed student sponsor with a track record of compliance) must have told the Home Office that you have completed the course. You do not need to have physically received the certificate, but the provider must have confirmed completion to the Home Office.

5. You must have studied in the UK for a minimum period on your Student or Tier 4 visa. For a course of 12 months or less, you must have completed the whole course in the UK. For a longer course, you must have spent a minimum period studying in the UK, generally at least 12 months, or the full duration of the course if it was shorter than 12 months. Time spent studying outside the UK because of coronavirus-related distance learning arrangements was treated flexibly, but that concession has largely fallen away for recent completers.

Which courses and qualifications qualify

You will usually meet the qualification requirement if you have been, or will be, awarded one of the following:

A UK bachelor’s degree.

A UK postgraduate degree, which includes a UK master’s degree.

A UK PhD or other doctorate.

In addition, certain professional or vocational courses count as relevant qualifications even though they are not degrees:

A law conversion course validated or approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in England and Wales.

The Legal Practice Course in England and Wales, the Solicitors Course in Northern Ireland, or the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice in Scotland.

The Bar Practice Course in England and Wales, or the Bar Course in Northern Ireland.

A Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE).

There is also a broader category. You may qualify if passing your course made you eligible to work in a profession that is regulated by UK law or by a UK public authority, for example roles such as medical doctor, architect, lawyer or teacher. Your education provider can confirm whether your specific course falls within this category.

Courses and situations that do not qualify

Courses below degree level generally do not qualify, unless they fall within the specific professional and regulated categories listed above. A short course, a pre-sessional English course, or a foundation course on its own will not usually meet the requirement. Study undertaken on a visa other than a Student or Tier 4 visa does not count. If your course was studied largely by distance learning from abroad outside the permitted concessions, that can also cause problems with the UK study requirement.

Key practical points

You must apply before your current Student visa expires, and you must be inside the UK at the time. If your Student visa expires before your results are confirmed, that can cause difficulty, so timing matters.

You do not need a job offer, a minimum salary, or a sponsor to apply. This is a significant advantage over the Skilled Worker route.

You will need to pay the application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge for the full period of the visa, so budget for a substantial upfront cost.

You can include a partner and children as dependants only if they are already in the UK as your dependants on your Student visa. You cannot add new dependants on the Graduate route unless the child was born in the UK during your stay.

Time spent on the Graduate visa does not count towards settlement (indefinite leave to remain), so if long-term settlement is your goal you will usually need to switch into another route, such as Skilled Worker, before or during the Graduate visa period.

Information needed to confirm your position

To give you a precise answer about your own eligibility it would help to know the exact qualification you have obtained or are about to obtain, the length of your course, the type of visa you have held while studying, how much of the course you completed physically in the UK, and whether your current visa is still valid. If you tell me those details I can assess your specific eligibility and the likely length of visa you would receive.

Where to check and apply

The authoritative source is the Graduate visa guidance on GOV.UK and the Immigration Rules Appendix Graduate, which set out the qualification and study requirements in full. Your university or college can confirm whether it has reported your course completion to the Home Office, which is the practical trigger for being able to apply.