UK Graduate Route (post study work) visa

Valid Tier 4 or Student permission  

You will need to be in the UK with valid Tier 4 or Student permission in order to apply for the Graduate visa.

You can also apply if you have held valid Tier 4 or Student permission, but this expired and you have been granted a period of Exceptional Assurance - provided you have not overstayed this period.

Successful completion requirement

You must have successfully completed the course of study which took place during your last grant of Tier 4 or Student Route permission. In the case of Student Sabbatical Officers, the course must have been completed during the last grant of leave prior to taking up the role of Sabbatical Officer.

The course completed must be the same course that was listed on your CAS used to obtain your current Tier 4 or Student permission. If you have changed course, it must have been a permitted change that didn’t require a new Student Route application.

If you changed course and are not sure if you are now eligible for the Graduate visa, please contact International.CampusLife@swansea.ac.uk for more advice.

Sponsor notification requirement

Swansea University must have informed the UKVI of your successful course completion before you apply for the Graduate visa.

The Compliance Team will automatically make a report to the UKVI confirming that you have successfully completed your course and then email you to confirm this has taken place.

It is important that you wait until you have received the notification email from the Compliance Team confirming that they have completed the reporting process before applying for the visa.

Making an application before receiving notification from the Compliance team may result in your visa application being refused.

Eligible qualification requirement

The course students must have successfully completed would usually be:

• A UK Bachelor degree
• UK Master's degree
• UK PhD or Doctorate degree

The full degree award (Bachelor, Master's, PhD) must be awarded in order to be eligible for the Graduate Route. Lower exit qualifications such as Diplomas and Certificates will not be eligible for Graduate Route. 

You can also apply if you have successfully completed:

• A law conversion course approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
• A Legal Practice Course
• A Bar Practice Course
• Foundation Programme in Medicine or Dentistry
• A Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE and NOT a general PGCert in any other subject)
• A course that makes you eligible for a job that is regulated by UK law or public authority

Previous time spent on the Graduate Route visa

The Graduate Route visa is a one-time only visa.  This means you can only ever apply for and be granted the Graduate visa once in your lifetime.

For example if you are granted a Graduate Route visa following the successful completion a Bachelor degree level course, but at some later date you also complete a Master's and/or PhD course, you won't be able to re-apply for the Graduate Route after completing those later postgraduate courses. 

The same limit would apply if you had ever held immigration permission under the Doctorate Extension Scheme (DES).

Study in the UK requirement

Please see the section below.

The Graduate Route includes a requirement for students to have studied in the UK for a certain amount of time. This time is: at least 12 months or the full length of your course, whichever is shorter. Students who start their course in Autumn 2022 or later will need to meet this requirement.

NB: This 12 month UK requirement does not count for dependants, who can wait at home and join you during the last month or two of your course and still apply for Graduate Route as your dependants (see Dependants section below).

However, due to the COVID pandemic, and students having been permitted to undertake periods of study from overseas, there are currently a series of concessions around this. These concessions state that rather than being in the UK for a certain amount of time, student must arrive in the UK by a certain date/have a student visa to be eligible to apply for the Graduate Route. Once they have arrived in the UK, students then need to stay in the UK to complete their course. These concessions are outlined in the UKVI COVID-19 Guidance for Student Sponsors.

These concessions are covered on paragraphs 3.23- 3.27 and are reproduced/explained below for you:

3.23 Students who began a course of 12 months or less in 2020 or Spring 2021 via distance learning, and who have not previously entered the UK to study that course will be able to make a Graduate application if they make a successful Student visa application and arrive in the UK either before their visa ends or by 27 September 2021, whichever is sooner.

3.24 Students who began a course of 12 months or less in 2020 or 2021 who have existing permission as a Student to study that course, and who have already travelled to the UK during that period of permission, will be able to make a Graduate application as long as they are present in the UK before the end date of their permission.

3.25 Students who commence a course of 12 months or less in Autumn 2021 or Spring 2022 via distance learning from overseas must enter the UK no later than 30 June 2022 and complete that course of study in the UK with permission as a Student to be eligible for the Graduate Route. Students should travel once they are able to do so.

3.26 Students who would normally only be sponsored to study in the UK on the Student route for the last year of a longer course, such as those on articulated degree programmes, will be considered as being on a course of 12 months or less for the purpose of this requirement.

3.27 Students sponsored for a course lasting longer than 12 months will not be prevented from being eligible for the Graduate route as a result of any distance learning that took place either in the UK or overseas between the period of 24 January 2020 and 27 September 2021 or any distance learning which took place overseas between 27 September 2021 and 30 June 2022. If a Student’s current permission expires prior to 30 June 2022, they must enter the UK prior to the expiry of their Student permission rather than 30 June 2022.

If you have not yet applied for your visa and need information about what the end date granted is likely to be, see the ‘Visa Lengths’ section in the Student Route information here.

Timings and format of applications

The Graduate Route application will be made online and is usually a quick and easy application to submit. The UKVI intend you to be able to verify your identify and make the application using an ID Check App which you download to your phone as part of the application process.

You should not usually need to submit any documents (unless you were a sponsored student - see the Consent to Remain section below) but you will need your most recent CAS number to include in your application - see below.

Timings and application 

You will not be able to make a Graduate Route application until formal results have been released and verified to the Home Office. This process will happen automatically at the earliest point possible according to UKVI Sponsor requirements.

Once this process has taken place, all students who are eligible to apply for Graduate Route will be sent a notification email by the Student Compliance team telling them that they are now eligible to apply for the Graduate Route. This email will also contain the relevant CAS number you will need to include in your application.

If your graduation certificate is being posted to you, it will go to the  address registered as your 'Home Address' on the University system. If this is not right, you should either update your UK address as soon as possible, or contact the Graduation Team to let them know you want it to go elsewhere.

IMPORTANT: Students will not need to request this email/CAS number or tell the University they wish to apply for the Graduate Route. All eligible students will be sent the information and then it is your personal choice whether you wish to apply. You cannot make the process go any quicker, so expect to receive the Graduate Route notification email within 2-3 weeks of your results. All students within an examination cohort will receive the information at the same time via a bulk communication. You do not have to make your Graduate Route application straightaway but you will have to make the application before your student visa expires.

Process

All applications are made online and information on the process, as well as the link to start the application process can be found on the Gov.UK website here.

There is also a very informative and useful Home Office Graduate Route information sheet

The process will be slightly different depending on whether you have a valid biometric passport or biometric residence card (BRP).

Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland who hold a biometric passport and non-EU citizens holding a valid BRP will complete an online application form and will then be invited to verify their ID document and submit supporting documents via the UK Immigration: ID Check App.  You will need a UKVI account or to create a new one. You won’t have to attend any visa centre appointments, everything will be done online via the ID Check App.

Students who cannot use the App, either because they don’t have the correct biometric document (e.g. the BRP has been lost, the biometric chip is damaged or who cannot download the App to their device) will be able to complete the online application form and then attend a visa application center to submit documents and provide biometric information (digital photo and signature, fingerprints).

Finance information

Applicants will not need to evidence up front living costs but they will need to pay for both the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) and the visa application fee at the point of submitting the application.  You will need a valid debit or credit card and you may need to contact your bank to check any payment limits or your card and to let them know you will be making these payments (or they could be refused).

Current fees are outlined in the table below:

Further information

Once you have submitted your Graduate Route visa application, you and any dependants should not travel outside the UK while the visa application is being decided. Doing so will automatically withdraw your application.

Students who are granted their Graduate visa after having applied using the ID Check App will receive an email with a PDF of their decision letter and a digital status which can be accessed via the UKVI portal ‘View and prove your immigration status’. 

Visa nationals will also receive a new biometric residence permit (BRP).

Only dependants who are already in the UK with valid permission as your Tier 4 / Student Route dependant can apply for Graduate Route with you.

When your dependants apply to come to the UK depends on your personal, financial and practical situation and you should pay particular attention to the information about finances, accommodation and responsibilities listed on our pages.

Some students believe that if they want to apply for the Graduate Route after they have studied, then their families must be here in the UK with them for the duration of their course in order to be eligible. This is not true - only the student must have been in the UK for the whole length of the course, a dependant just has to be a Student Dependant (and have arrived in the UK) by the time you make the Graduate Route application.

Therefore, it is possible for dependants to apply for their visas at the same time as you and then stay at home and join you later (by obtaining a Dependant's visa via your Tier 4/Student Route visa) in the last month or so of your course (e.g. perhaps July/August 2024 for courses that start in September 2023). We know that lots of students are not aware of this and so are bringing it to your attention.

Why would I want to bring my family to the UK towards the end of my studies instead of the beginning?

There are several reasons why you may want to do this:

• Cost of living and rental prices are very high in the UK, especially for family accommodation, you may want to save this additional expense until both parents can legally be working full time in the UK to help cover these costs
• You may want to live close to family and friends, who are not in the Swansea area to help with accommodation or childcare costs (the University does not hold any responsibilities relating to these). While you are studying, you and your family are restricted to living a maximum of 50 miles from the Campus. Under the Graduate Route, you can live and work where you like.
• Family accommodation is very scarce in Swansea and can be very expensive, your family coming later allows more time to look for suitable/affordable accommodation in the Swansea area or, after your course is finished, to look elsewhere in the UK if you so wish!
• Single person accommodation is plentiful and reasonable in Swansea and so this could save both money and stress!
• Coming as a student and bringing your family later allows you to truly focus on your studies, to get great grades and to complete within time

Of course, it will be a personal choice on what you decide to do in relation to bringing your dependants. However, we just wanted to ensure that you were fully informed about your options in relation to Graduate Route and the timings of this.

The only exception to the need for a dependant to already have a Student Route Dependant visa in order to switch to Graduate Route dependant is for babies born in the UK during your last grant of Tier 4 / Student Route permission.

How will my dependants apply under the Graduate Route

How your dependants will apply will depend on whether they have their own BRPs. If your dependant does have a BRP of their own, they will be able to make their own individual applications using the ID Check App. Please use the UKVI Graduate Route partner and children application links. 

Unfortunately it isn't possible to add the dependant applications if you used the ID Check App to submit your Graduate Route visa application.

If you didn't use the ID Check App yourself but will attend an appointment at a visa centre instead, your application form will allow you to add your dependants to your own application form and you would then book and attend an appointment at the visa centre together as a family at the same time.  

Family relationships should be subsisting and you should intend to live together in the UK throughout time spent the Graduate visa holder is living in the UK.

There are some additional requirements for child dependants who are aged 16 and above at the time of application. Please contact International@CampusLife for more information if any of your child dependants are 16 years or over. 

A child born in UK during your last grant of Tier 4 / Student and who does not have their own student dependant visa can apply but you will need to submit the child’s full UK birth certificate with the Graduate visa application.  

You must have been awarded the qualification for the course listed on the Tier 4 / Student Route CAS unless you made a permitted course change that did not require you to re-apply for new permission.  

A permitted change of course includes:

• undertaking a different course at degree level or above, where the University confirmed to the UKVI at the time of change that the previous and new courses are related or support the student’s career aspirations
• adding or removing a work placement to the course
• adding or removing a study abroad programme
• leaving an integrated PhD or master’s programme with the lower-level qualification e.g. leaving an integrated master’s programme with a bachelor’s qualification
• intercalating students on medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine and science courses
• completing a course where the University changed the title of your course title or the course contents after issuing the CAS, but without the need to make a new visa application

If you changed your course at any time and you are unsure how this might affect your eligibility to apply for the Graduate visa, please contact International.CampusLife@swansea.ac.uk

 It is also important to note that if you have an extension to a module, resits or repeats, this may affect your ability to apply for the Graduate Route. In order to apply, you need to have completed your course and received your formal results before your Student visa expires. Always ask your College about when your results will available if you have, or are thinking about, a change to your course end date. Do not assume that you can get an extension to your Student visa in order to 'wait' for results in the UK.

If in the last 12 months you have received a scholarship or financial sponsorship from a Government or an international scholarship agency covering tuition fees and living costs for your study in the UK you will need to get your sponsors written consent giving you permission to stay on in the UK. You will need to submit this to the UKVI as part of your Graduate visa application.

Work

Once your Graduate Route visa has been granted you can do any type of work you like, for any employer.  The employer does not have to have a UKVI licence to employ you if you hold a Graduate Route visa.  You can take a permanent full-time job and you can be self-employed.   

The only job you cannot do is work as a professional sports person or coach. The UKVI defines what it means by a professional sportsperson or coach within the immigration rules.

If you have submitted an application for the Graduate Route visa but you have not yet received an outcome to that application, your working rights while you wait for the visa to be granted will differ depending on when you applied for your most recent Student visa.  Please see the section below 'Working while waiting for a Graduate Route decision (or pre-application)'. 

Study

Study is restricted under the Graduate visa. You cannot study a course for which in theory a Student Route visa could be obtained.

Study that is permitted include: evening classes or recreational courses, study at a college/provider that doesn’t hold a Student sponsor licence, some professional courses. Please check with the course provider.

If the course required ATAS clearance you would need to obtain this before commencing study.

Working before you have applied for the Graduate Route visa

As long as you have completed your course (this would be either the end date of the course as stated on your orignal CAS OR a later end date if you have had a course extension/resit - whichever is the later) you are able to work full time whilst waiting to apply for the Graduate Route or while waiting for a decision. However, until you have formal notification from UKVI stating your Graduate visa has been granted, you are still bound under the working regulations of your previous Student or Tier 4 visa.

Under the Student/Tier 4 visa regulations, there are certain types of work that you cannot do. These include:

• self-employment and business activity
• professional sportsperson including as a sports coach, though there is an exception from 1 October 2019 for students at higher education providers doing work placements on a degree-level course
• entertainer, which includes actors, musicians, dancers and other performers, though there is an exception for students doing work placements on degree-level dance, drama and music courses 
• permanent full-time job

You should not be undertaking any of this type of work while still on your Student visa, before having applied for the Graduate Route visa. 

We have been seeing students signing ongoing contracts of future employment on the basis that they are going to apply for the Graduate Route - this should not be happening. You should not sign (nor should an employer be giving you) a contract of employment based on a potential and future visa status and this is putting both you and them at risk.

You need to make it clear to your employer that you cannot start a permanent job (or sign a contract to that effect) until after you have submitted your Graduate Route application (and in some cases have your Graduate Route visa in hand - see below). To do so means you are in breach of your immigration status and they are at risk of breaking employment law.

Working after having applied for the Graduate Route visa but while still waiting for a decision

If you made your most recent Student visa application before 6th April 2022 you must wait for the Graduate Route visa to be granted before you commence any of the following:

• full-time permanent job role
• self employment
• work as an entertainer

If you made your most recent Student visa application on or after 6th April 2022 you can start a full-time permanent job while you wait for the Graduate Route visa to be processed but you must wait until the visa has been granted before you start any self-employment or work as an entertainer.