Graduate visa route

You can only apply for the Graduate visa route from inside the UK. You are not eligible to apply for this route outside the UK. If you travel outside the UK and meet this visa’s requirements, you are required to travel back to the UK before your current Student visa expires to apply for this visa. 

You must submit your application for the Graduate visa route and not travel outside the Common Travel area while your application is being processed, as this will automatically withdraw your application. 

Please see the requirements below as to when you will be eligible to apply for the Graduate Visa route: 

• Once you have successfully completed your qualification 
• Once you have been formally notified in writing by the Compliance team to say that you have completed the course 
• The Compliance team will then report this completion to the Home Office via the Sponsor Management System portal. 
• Before your Student visa expires 

• Whilst you are in the UK. 
• You have had your student visa for a specified time during which all of the studies took place in the UK (this is known as the Study in the UK rules, please find more information on this below) 
• You have not previously held a Graduate route visa (or the Doctorate Extension Scheme visa) 
• Have permission in writing from your sponsor if you were previously sponsored (financially) by a government for your full fees and living costs in the past 12 months

You will only be eligible to apply for the Graduate visa route once you have completed the course in full and passed the assessment boards formally. Once this happens, the Compliance team will be notified to report this on the Home Office portal. 

You must only submit the Graduate visa application after being notified by the Compliance team. You should expect to receive this confirmation 2-4 weeks after the Award date. If you have any questions about this please email the team at visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk. 

The Visa Compliance team will not respond to general queries about the completion of your course. If you have questions about this, you are required to speak to your Customer Services Officer (CSO) allocated to you. 

The Visa Compliance team can only confirm the successful completion of the course of students whose immigration records have been kept up to date. If you have failed to maintain and update your personal details, then there will be a delay in the Visa Compliance team reporting the successful completion of the course on the Home Office portal. 

You must ensure that you have a valid Student visa before you can apply for the Graduate visa application. 

If your Student visa expires before you complete your course, you will not be able to be sponsored or given another CAS to resubmit your work. This is because you will no longer have any face-to-face classes; therefore, without official class attendance, you will not be able to extend your Student visa. This means you will not be eligible to apply for the Graduate visa route. 

You must meet the Study in the UK requirement before applying for the Graduate visa route. This specifies the minimum period you must hold a Student visa, during which all study must have taken place in the UK.

The Study in the UK rules differs depending on the course length. The course must be 12 months or more, but for courses longer than 12 months, you should have held Student permission (a Student visa) for at least 12 months, during which time all study must have taken place in the UK. 

If you have previously held permission under a different immigration category, and this led to your course being completed using a combination of immigration routes, then your recent visa must be a Student Visa, and you must have spent at least 12 months in the UK studying that course.

For courses that are 12 months or less, you must hold a Student visa for the duration of the course. 

Please note: UKVI Guidance states that if you applied for a Student visa before you started the course but it was not granted until after you started the course, you will be treated as having permission from the start date of the course.

The Study in the UK rules are very complex, and institutions always seek clarity from UKVI (United Kingdom Visas and Immigration). If you need clarification on any part of the visa process, please feel free to contact the Visa Compliance team at visacompliance@rcl.ac.uk. 

Please ensure that you try to only travel for short periods outside the UK when considering applying for the Graduate visa. If you decide to travel, make sure that you first discuss this with the Visa Compliance team, who can make the assessment as to whether you have met the requirements of this visa route first. Lengthy travel may jeopardise your student visa.  

• You are required to apply for the online visa from the GOV.UK website. The application cost for this route is £715. This does not include the IS (Immigration Health Surcharge) of £624 per year per applicant. 
• You should receive a decision on your visa application within eight weeks. UKIV will contact you if the application takes longer than eight weeks. This may only happen if the Home Office needs to verify the documents that you have uploaded or further checks on your application are required. 

• You must ensure that you use the most recent CAS number for this application. If you do not know your recent CAS number, please get in touch with the Visa Compliance team. 

This Graduate visa application is relatively straightforward. However, if you require assistance, please contact the Visa Compliance team. 

Once you are granted the Graduate visa, there will be no restrictions on the type of work you can do. You can find work in any sector and any level without the minimum salary requirements, however, you cannot work as a professional sportsperson or coach. 

You can be employed or start up a business and be self-employed. 

You must not: 

• Access public funds 
• Study with a Student sponsor on a course which would meet the requirements of the Student visa route 

You can only apply for the Graduate visa once. You cannot extend this visa route once you have completed the two years. You can, however, switch to other work visa categories to continue working in the UK, for example, the Skilled worker route. 

You can switch to the Student visa route if you meet the requirements and want to study another course. You must also meet the academic progression requirement too. When you complete the new course, you will not be able to apply for a second Graduate route visa. 

Dependents include your partner and/or child under the age of 18. If you are permitted to have your dependents with you on the current visa route, then they need to be in the UK and apply at the same time as you. If your dependents are not already in the UK or not permitted on the current visa, then they will not be able to apply with you under the Graduate visa.