Who qualifies, and when to apply
You must have successfully completed an eligible course at a UK Higher Education Provider with a track record of compliance, and you must hold valid Student leave at the point you apply.
Those two conditions together create the timing problem that catches people. Your provider reports your successful completion to the Home Office, and you can only apply after that report and while your Student leave is still valid. Leave it too late — Student leave expires before you apply — and you cannot use the route at all.
You must apply from inside the UK. There is no route in from abroad, so a graduate who goes home for the summer intending to sort it out later has lost the opportunity.
Eligible courses are broadly bachelor's degrees, master's, doctorates and certain professional qualifications. Time studying does not have to have been entirely in the UK in every case, but the qualification must be from a UK provider.
The practical advice is to know your completion reporting date and your Student leave expiry date, and to apply in the gap between them. Not before, because the report has to exist. Not after, because the leave has to be valid.
What you can do on it
Almost anything, which is what makes the route valuable.
- Work at any level, in any role There is no skill threshold and no eligible occupation list. Work below graduate level is permitted, which matters while you are looking.
- Any salary No minimum. An internship, a part-time role or a low-paid first job are all fine.
- Self-employment Permitted, unlike on the Student route. You can start a business or freelance.
- Change jobs freely No sponsor means no permission needed to move, which is a genuine advantage over Skilled Worker.
- Bring dependants, in limited cases Only a partner or child who was already your dependant on the Student visa. You cannot add new dependants on this route.
The two things it will not do
Being clear about this is the whole point of the page.
It cannot be extended. When the period ends, it ends. There is no further application on this route, and no discretion to continue.
It does not lead to settlement. Time spent on the Graduate route does not count towards indefinite leave to remain. Two years here is two years that does not advance you towards settling.
So the route has to be used, not merely enjoyed. Before it expires you need to be on something else — most commonly Skilled Worker, which requires a licensed employer, an eligible occupation and a qualifying salary. Some graduates switch through a partner route, and a smaller number through the Innovator Founder route.
The unwelcome arithmetic: a Skilled Worker switch needs an employer holding a sponsor licence, and a licence application takes weeks. An employer who wants to hire you but has no licence cannot fix that in a fortnight. Which is why the sensible time to start asking employers about sponsorship is early in the Graduate period, not at the end of it.
Using the two years well
The graduates who convert this into a long-term position tend to do the same handful of things.
- Check which employers hold licences The Home Office publishes the register of licensed sponsors. Knowing who is on it before you apply for jobs is the single highest-value hour you can spend.
- Raise sponsorship early in the process Not after an offer. An employer who cannot sponsor is better known at application stage than at contract stage.
- Check the occupation code, not the job title A role must sit in an eligible occupation at a qualifying salary. A generous salary in the wrong code still fails.
- Watch the salary discounts New entrant rates apply to some recent graduates and can make a role viable that otherwise would not be.
- Leave time for the switch A Certificate of Sponsorship and an application take time. Aim to be applying months before expiry, not weeks.
- Keep every document Payslips, contracts and absences. Whatever route you eventually settle on will want a clean record of this period.