Working after your studies

The main eligibility criteria are as follows: 

• You can only apply in the UK.
• You must apply before your Tier 4 or Student visa expires.
• You must have successfully completed a UK Bachelor's degree or postgraduate degree, such as a Master's or doctoral degree.
• Your successful programme completion must have been reported to the Home Office by SOAS Student Visa Compliance.
• You must have successfully completed the eligible programme during the validity of your current Tier 4 or Student visa. 
• For programmes that are longer than 12 months, you must have studied on that programme in the UK for at least 12 months—you must also have held a valid student visa during those 12 months.
• You must have been awarded the qualification for the programme listed on your CAS unless you meet one of the exemptions listed in the 'CAS' section of UKVI guidance.

Successful applicants will be granted a 2-year visa if they complete an undergraduate or masters' degree course and PhD graduates will be granted a 3-year visa. 

Changes from 1 January 2027

The length of the Graduate visa will be reduced to 18 months for undergraduate and masters graduates who submit their application on or after 1 January 2027. PhD graduates will continue to receive the existing three-year visa if successful in their application.

You can find further information on this change on the GOV.UK website.

You will receive a confirmation email from Student Visa Compliance once your programme completion has been reported to UKVI. Do not submit your Graduate visa application until you receive this email or your application may be refused.

For undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, reports an only be sent by SVC to UKVI after your results are released via Online Student Services. You can view the academic calendar, including result release dates, on MySOAS.

Undergraduate students

If you complete your programme in May, these reports are normally submitted to UKVI in July.

Postgraduate taught students 

If you complete your programme in September, these reports are normally submitted to UKVI from the beginning of December.

Research students

When you are awarded your PhD, the Doctoral School will inform SVC who will then submit the report to UKVI.

If you do not receive an email from the SVC team within the expected timeframe, please contact the SVC team as soon as possible and before your Student visa expires. 

If you do not complete your programme at the expected time because you have deferred submissions, need to resubmit work, or need to resit exams, this can affect your eligibility for the Graduate Route. Seek advice from Student Advice Service if you are in this situation.

Your Student visa allows you to work without any restriction on your weekly hours once your programme is finished. This means you can work full-time once your programme has finished and while you are waiting to apply for your Graduate visa. 

The work conditions of your Student visa remain in place until your Graduate visa has been granted with one exception: you are allowed to take on a permanent full-time position once you have applied for your Graduate visa. However, you will need to discuss this with your employer as they may have their own internal rules about when they can offer you a permanent position.

The Student Advice Service currently does not offer one-to-one appointments regarding Graduate Route or other post-study visa options, as the focus of our advice work is in assisting students and applicants with queries relating to their student visa.

We provide the following resources and links to help you understand how to apply for this visa:

• UK Government guidance
• UK Council for International Student Affairs