A UK Graduate visa was launched on 1 July 2021. This immigration route is designed for foreign students who have completed a higher education course in the United Kingdom and want to establish or grow their career in the country. A UK Graduate visa allows a foreign graduate to stay in the UK to find a permanent job or start their own business.
UK government benefits from the above immigration route in the following ways:
A UK Graduate visa is beneficial not only for British economy. It also provides talented foreign specialists with a unique opportunity to enter a large and competitive British market. With a UK Graduate visa, foreign graduates get time to find a permanent job or launch their own commercial project in the country. Foreign specialists continue living in the UK for the whole duration of the visa enjoying security, favourable economic conditions, and high living standards.
UK government is interested in attracting good foreign specialists, so there are minimum restrictions for this immigration category, namely:
You can apply for a UK Graduate visa if you meet the following requirements:
To apply for a UK Graduate visa, you need one of the following degrees:
You can also apply for this visa if you have completed any of the following:
Besides, you can apply for a UK Graduate visa if you have completed a course that allows you to work in the area regulated by UK law or a UK public body.
British colleges and universities have to meet two main requirements:
You can apply for a UK Graduate visa after you have successfully completed your college or university course, if it is shorter than a year, or before you complete it (for courses longer than a year) but not earlier than 12 months after you begin your studies.
To complete your course successfully, you need to attend all theory and practice sessions. Even if you cannot take an express course, you will not be able to apply for a UK Graduate visa in less than 12 months after your study begins.
You need to submit an online application for a UK Graduate visa before your Student visa expires. To do this, you need to confirm your identity and submit all the required documents. If you need to add your spouse, partner or children to an application as dependants, they also need to submit an online application.
You can apply for a UK Graduate visa the moment your education provider confirms that you have successfully completed the course even if the classes are not over and you have not received your certificate or diploma yet.
The application is processed within eight weeks. There will be no delays if you have filled in the form correctly and submitted all the necessary accompanying documents. To save your time and avoid any risks of refusal, it is better to contact qualified immigration advisors.
A proof or relationship as well as a letter from your sponsor must be in English or you must get certified translations of them.
To prove your identity, you need to scan your BRP with a special application called “UK Immigration: ID Check”.
If, for some reasons, you cannot scan your BRP or passport with the application, you will be asked to visit one of the biometric centres where you will have your fingerprints and photos taken.
A UK Graduate visa lasts for two or three years (depending on the applicant’s education). It cannot be extended as it is issued for graduates to find a permanent job or launch their business in the UK.
Therefore, in two or three years, you will need to switch from your UK Graduate visa to another visa (for example, obtain a UK Skilled Work visa or one of business visas), or leave the country. You should keep in mind that a UK Graduate visa does not lead to settlement, or Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), in the UK.
An applicant for a UK Graduate visa needs to pay an application fee and a health surcharge.
An application fee amounts to £715. If your application is refused, the Home Office will not refund this fee. Therefore, if you do not know how to fill in your application correctly and properly prepare accompanying documents, contact regulated immigration advisors.
A health surcharge amounts to £624 per year per applicant. For example, as the main applicant, you will pay £1,248 for two years of stay on a UK Graduate visa. If you add two dependants to your application, the costs will grow to £3,744. The health surcharge is paid fully when you apply for a UK Graduate visa. If your visa is refused, you will get your money back.
Imperial & Legal qualified specialists have years-long experience of helping foreign nationals to relocate to the UK and EU, launch their business here and get quality education with top universities.
A UK Graduate visa is a relatively new immigration route with a high potential. Since applicants for a UK Graduate visa are already UK residents who have British education and speak good English, Imperial & Legal immigration advisors do their best to carefully prepare application documents to avoid visa refusals and save a client’s time and money.
With our legal assistance, you will promptly obtain a UK Graduate visa and avoid any additional costs because the risks of refusal will be eliminated at the stage of preparing documents and filling in an application. You will get your UK Graduate visa in a few steps.
Imperial & Legal specialists are regulated immigration advisors. A consultation can be held face-to-face in an office or remotely via an audio or a video call in Zoom/Skype. During the consultation, your advisor will get to know your case, listen to your comments and answer all your questions. After you sign a contract with us, our experts will proceed with your case.
Timeframe: 1–3 weeks
Imperial & Legal immigration advisors act as your official representatives till you get a final decision from the Home Office. Our experts will prepare a list of documents that will be required from you to get a UK Graduate visa, have them translated into English, draft a cover letter and prepare your application – fill in an online form, pay an application fee and submit an application. Then you will have to choose the date and time of your visit to one of the UK visa centres to submit biometrics and upload all the necessary documents into the system.
Timeframe: up to 8 weeks
An application for a UK Graduate visa is processed within 8 weeks. After your application is approved and you get your visa, you can search for a job or launch your business in the UK.
Imperial & Legal do not just help you get a visa, we also offer comprehensive support with all the issues concerning relocation to another country, like searching for a comfortable flat or enrolling children into a nursery or school.
Timeframe: 5–8 years
If you plan to stay in the UK, depending on the validity period of your UK Graduate visa, you need to contact your legal advisor two months prior to its expiry to switch to another immigration route. This is required to continue working and running a business in the UK and then apply for an Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), for example, if you switch to a UK Skilled Worker visa or one of the business visas.
In three to five years after switching to a long-term visa (depending on its type), you can apply for ILR if you meet all other requirements. Imperial & Legal specialists will prepare all the necessary documents and help you prepare for an English test and the Life in the UK test.
In a year after obtaining ILR and after at least five years of staying in the UK on a long-term visa, you can apply for British citizenship. Our immigration advisors will help you prepare and submit all necessary documents so that you obtain a certificate of naturalisation and a UK passport.
A UK Graduate visa is valid from the moment your application is approved. Before it expires, you need to switch to another immigration route as this type of visa cannot be extended.
To get a UK Graduate visa after you complete your course, you need to choose an education provider from the Register of Sponsors. Each valid sponsor must have “Student Sponsor – Track Record” ticked in the Status section.
But even if an education provider has this record, it does not mean that it cannot be revoked in the future. That’s why you need to check the reliability and reputation of the chosen sponsor carefully. It is better to consult Imperial & Legal specialists on this matter at the stage of applying for a UK Student visa.
A UK Graduate visa does not lead to settlement, so your stay on a UK Graduate visa is not included into the time that you need to spend in the UK to apply for ILR. You need to switch to a long-term visa for this.
Therefore, after you switch to a new immigration route, e.g. Skilled Worker, you will still have to live and work in the UK for at least five years to get an ILR.
However, your stay on a UK Graduate visa can be included into a 10-year period of required time spent in the UK to obtain an Indefinite Leave to Remain on common grounds.
Unfortunately, after Brexit, there are no special programmes for the citizens of the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland or Liechtenstein. If a national from these countries applies for a UK Graduate visa, they must meet the same requirements as any other applicant.
The only exception applies to the EU citizens who have applied for EU Settlement Scheme before 30 June 2021 and got a pre-settled or settled status. They are allowed to use the benefits of EU Settlement Scheme. Besides, the EU nationals who have family members in the UK and could not apply for residence before 30 June 2021 for a good reason will be able to do this. Such residents will not need a UK Graduate visa to stay in the country.
Yes, it is. If you are from Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Turkey, Finland, France, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Sweden, the application fee amounts to £645 that is £55 less than for nationals of other countries. However, this discount is applicable only to the main applicant. All dependants pay full fees.
After Brexit, the EU citizens enjoy no special benefits concerning relocation to the UK.
Imperial & Legal qualified specialists will help you obtain the required visa and launch a company in the UK. Contact us for more details.
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