Graduate route for University of Westminster students

You must apply for the Graduate Route in the UK. You cannot apply outside the UK. If you are currently outside the UK and meet the requirements, you must return to the UK before your Student visa expires to apply.

Do not travel outside the Common Travel Area after submitting your Graduate Route via application and while it is being processed. Doing so will automatically withdraw your application.

When should I apply for the Graduate route visa?

You should only apply for the Graduate route:

• once you have successfully completed and been awarded your degree (Bachelor's, Master's or PHD), and
• once you have received confirmation that the University has reported your successful completion to the UKVI, and
• before your student permission (Student visa) expires, and
• while you are in the UK, and
• if your Student visa was granted for a specified time during which all study took place in the UK – this is known as the Study in the UK rules, and
• if you have not previously held a Graduate route visa or a Doctorate extension scheme visa, and
• if you were financially sponsored by a government or International Scholarship Agency in the last 12 months, you have a letter of consent from your sponsor.

If you have studied and successfully completed one of the following courses: Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, the Legal Practice Course, the Graduate Diploma in Law or the Bar Practice Course, you will meet the course requirements for the Graduate route.

Please note that if you graduate with a lower qualification, for example, a Postgraduate Diploma, you will not be able to apply for the Graduate route visa. However, students awarded a Bachelor’s degree without honours called an ordinary degree may still be eligible. If you have been awarded an ordinary degree you should contact Student Advice for help with assessing your eligibility for the Graduate route visa.

Successful completion means that you must have been awarded your qualification. Your award is confirmed after your results are published and your Assessment Board has met and agreed your degree classification. Your award will then be published on your student profile.

Your date of award is the date your final results are published and emailed to you by the Student Centre.

If you will be completing later than originally planned due to repeats, deferrals, referrals and/or resit modules then your award date may have been delayed. Some students may not successfully complete while holding a Student visa.

If there has been a delay paying all of your course fees, then the final completion (award date) may also be delayed. If your new completion date (award date) is after your visa expires then you may not be eligible for the Graduate Route Visa. If you are awarded your degree before your visa expires but after all your classmates have been awarded their degree, you should contact the Visa Compliance Team via the Student Centre to ask that they report your successful completion.

You will only be eligible for the Graduate route visa once the University has reported your successful completion to the UKVI. It is important that you do not submit your Graduate route visa application until you have received confirmation via email from the University's Visa Compliance Team. The email will confirm that your successful course completion has been reported to the UKVI. You should expect to receive your University email confirmation between 2–4 weeks after your award date. 

What if I have not received a confirmation? 

First, check that you have been awarded your degree by looking at your student profile.

Then check that you have a valid Student visa. The University does not report successful completion to the UKVI if your Student visa has expired. The Visa Compliance Team can only confirm successful completion for students whose immigration records have been kept up to date. If you have received requests for immigration/travel documents from the Visa Compliance Team and you have not provided your updated documentation, then the University is not able to confirm completion. 

Please check your junk email to see if you have been sent a confirmation.

Contact the Student Centre if you Student visa is expiring within two months and you have not received a University email confirming that we have reported successful completion.

When you apply for the Graduate route, you must have a valid Student visa for the course you have just completed.

If you must repeat an element of your course, for example, you have deferred modules, repeat modules or re-sit assessments, your results and award date may be after your Student visa expires.

If your Student visa expires before you complete your course, the University will only sponsor a further Student visa application if you are required to attend classes past your visa expiry date. If you will be completing your course without any timetabled class attendance, then you will not be able to extend your Student visa to reach the end of the course or the award date and therefore you will not be eligible for the Graduate route visa. 

An example of completing your course without a valid Student visa would be for a September 2024 start Master’s student who has a Semester 1 module repeat. Their timetabled classes would be from September 2025 to January 2026. There would be no additional timetabled classes after the visa expires in January 2026. This student can’t extend their student visa as they are not attending timetabled classes past the expiry of their student visa and their new award date may be after their student visa expires.

If your Student visa expires before you are awarded your degree, you will not be eligible for the Graduate route visa.

If you are not eligible for the Graduate Route Visa you can ask about other immigration options that may be available to you. University immigration advisers are not regulated to give complex immigration advice and will suggest you see an Immigration specialist (see www.ilpa.org.uk).

You must meet the ‘Study in the UK requirement’ which specifies the minimum period that you must hold a Student visa during which all study must have taken place in the UK.

The Study in the UK rules are different depending on the length of your course.

Most University of Westminster courses are longer than 12 months, this includes Master’s courses that are usually 12 months and two or three days long. The course start and end date are on your CAS.

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 take place in the UK.

If you study your course using a combination of immigration routes (eg you start your course with a non-student visa and then switch to the Student visa), your most recent visa must be a Student visa and you must have spent a minimum of 12 months in the UK studying on your Student visa.

For courses of 12 months or less you must hold a Tier 4 or Student visa for the duration of your course.

However, guidance states that if you applied for Student permission (your Student visa) before you started the course, but it was not granted until after you started, you will be treated as having Student permission (Student visa) from the start date of the course. This scenario mainly occurs for Student visa applications that are made in the UK, for example where a Student visa has taken longer than usual for the UKVI to decide and a student has been able to start the course while their Student visa application is pending.

If you would like to travel outside the UK and want to know if this will affect your eligibility for the Graduate route visa, then short trips during weekends and vacation periods should not affect your Graduate route visa application.

If you intend on travelling for a lengthier period, then assess whether you have already met the Study in the UK rules as described above. Lengthy travel can also jeopardise your Student visa – you may need an agreed absence from the Visa Compliance Team.

A student studying a 3-year undergraduate course will find it easier to meet the 12-month requirement and may do this after the first 12 months of their course. A Master's student whose course is only 12 months and whose visa will be 16 months long should do all their study in the UK.

The Study in the UK rules are complex to interpret, and universities wait for clarification from the UKVI on a number of points. We suspect over time we will see a relaxation of these rules with a greater focus on holding a Student visa rather than being in the UK, however at present we can only advise caution about travel outside designated holiday periods and weekends.

If you have previously held a Graduate route visa or a doctorate extension scheme visa then you would not meet the validity criteria for the Graduate route visa and should not apply.

If you have been sponsored for your fees and living costs by a government or International Scholarship Agency in the 12 months before you submit your application for the Graduate route, you must submit a letter of consent from your sponsor organisation to support your application. Failure to submit a consent letter could mean that your Graduate route visa application will be invalid which has serious consequences including the possibility of overstaying your visa. Contact Student Advice for further advice before you apply for the Graduate route if you are unable to obtain a consent letter from your sponsor.

• You are required to apply online on the GOV.UK website. The application will cost £880 and you will have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) of £1,035 per year. The total IHS for the 2-year visa will be  £2,070 and the 3-year visa for PhD students will be  £3,105.
• You should receive a decision on your visa application within 8 weeks. You will be contacted if your application is likely to take longer, for example, if documents need to be verified or if the Home Office needs to undertake further checks. You must stay in the UK whilst waiting for the decision.
• You will need to know the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number that you used for your Student visa application when you apply for the Graduate route. Your CAS would have been emailed to you before the start of your course and it will also be quoted in the email confirming that your successful course completion was reported to the Home Office

The Graduate route application process has been designed to be straightforward and simple. As part of the application, you will need to prove your identity and scan your passport or your old BRP using the UK Immigration: ID check app.

You'll then be able to use the digital process to complete the application and will receive a digital status if your application is successful. If you cannot scan your passport or BRP with the app, you will be asked to attend an appointment at a UK Visas and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) Service point. You will be told what to do when you apply.

You will normally receive the decision on your application via email. It will explain how to view your visa. The digital visa will be accessible via the GOV.UK ‘view and prove’ service.

There is no restriction on the type of work you can do, except work as a professional sportsperson or coach. The work can be in any sector and at any level without minimum salary requirements. You can be employed or self-employed.

The Student visa work rules allow students who originally made their Student application on or after 6 April 2022 to start a permanent full-time job while waiting for a decision on a Graduate visa application. You still cannot be self employed or do the types of work which are restricted under the Student rules until your Graduate Route visa is approved. The rule will also not benefit you if you do not hold Student permission when you apply for the Graduate Route.

If you applied for your Student Visa before 6 April 2022 you must stick to the normal Student visa work conditions until you have your Graduate route visa.

If you are issued with a Graduate route visa, your visa will be subject to the following conditions:

• You cannot study a course that would usually require sponsorship under the Student route. Study is subject to the ATAS requirements
• No access to public funds
• Work, including self-employment and voluntary work, is permitted. You will not be able to work as a professional sportsperson

You will be issued with one Graduate route visa which means that you cannot extend your visa under the Graduate route. You can switch to other work visa categories to continue working in the UK, for example, the Skilled worker route.

You can also switch back to a Student visa, if you wish to study another course and if you meet the requirements of the Student route including meeting academic progression rules. In most cases you will need to hold your Student visa before you can start the course and will not be able to study while waiting for your application to be decided. When you complete your new course, you will not be able to apply for a second Graduate route visa.

Dependants (family) include your partner and/or child under the age of 18. If your dependents are already in the UK with you as your student dependants, they can apply to extend their stay under the Graduate route. They can only apply for their visa from inside the UK.

If you are not permitted to have dependants with you under your Student visa, for example, you are studying an Undergraduate course, your dependents will be unable to apply to be your dependant under the Graduate route.

It is important to think about how you are going to support yourself while you are on the Graduate route. You may not find a job immediately, so it is important you have access to enough funds to pay for your living costs while you are looking for work.

The University offers support and guidance to students even after they have completed their course. For more information visit our Zone29 website.