Graduate Visa

When you apply for a Graduate visa, you will need to:

A two year Graduate visa may cost approximately £2950 total.

(Prices correct as of April 2025 – for the most recent prices see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table )

The earliest that you can apply will be when Norwich University of the Arts report to the Home office that you have successfully completed your degree. This is likely to be approximately one week after your course end date and final results are published for students who complete their degrees within the expected course end date. You will receive an email from the Student visa compliance team to confirm when this has occurred. If you are undertaking resubmissions, this will occur at a later date

You need to apply before your current Student visa expires.

When you apply, you will need to provide:

To prove you have a valid Student visa or Tier 4 (General) student visa, you’ll need to provide either:

Depending on your circumstances, you might be asked to provide:

• proof of your relationship with your partner or children if they’re applying with you
• a letter from your scholarship or sponsorship provider approving your application, if they paid for your course fees or living costs in the last 12 months.

Graduate visa lasts for 2 years* if you have completed an undergraduate or master’s degree. If you have completed a PHD or other doctoral qualification, it will last for 3 years*.

Your visa will start from the day your application is approved.

*Please note that we are aware of upcoming changes expected to shorten the length of the Graduate visa to an expected 18 months (announced May 2025) but currently have no further information regarding timeframes for these changes.

Your window of opportunity for applying for the Graduate route is from the day your institution confirms your successful completion to you, until the end date of your current Student permission (or the expiry of your exceptional assurance, if applicable).

As long as you make an eligible Graduate route application, your Student permission is automatically extended until the outcome of your Graduate route application, even if its original expiry date has passed. This is a general principle of UK immigration law known as 3C leave. You can therefore legally remain in the UK until you have received a decision.

It is possible to leave the UK and then re-enter using your Student visa before it expires, you will just need to be aware that if you travel during this post-study period, Border Force officials will need to be satisfied when you are entering the UK that you will submit an in-time application to extend your permission in the UK. For example, you may choose to carry evidence of your successful degree completion and proof of the funds required to make the Graduate Route application.

When returning to the UK, you must submit your Graduate visa application before your Student visa expires.

You are also only able to hold permission under the Graduate route once. This means that if you apply for a Graduate visa after completing an undergraduate course, then switch to a Student visa to complete a postgraduate course you will not be able to apply for a Graduate visa again.

Undertaking reassessments and receiving extensions to deadlines can have an impact on your Graduate Route eligibility.

For example, if you will not complete your degree and receive your final award before your Student visa expires you will not be eligible to apply for a Graduate visa. It is not possible to extend a Student visa in order to support a Graduate visa application.

If you have any concerns about how reassessments or deadline extensions will impact your Graduate Route eligibility, please contact visa@norwichuni.ac.uk

You cannot extend your Graduate visa. However, you may be able to switch to a different visa before it expires, for example a Skilled Worker visa.

If your tuition fees and living costs have been paid by a government and/or an international scholarship agency within the 12-month period before you apply, you must provide a letter showing the financial sponsor’s consent to this application under the Graduate route. This applies to both the main applicant and any dependant who has had such a scholarship.

The Immigration Rules do not require sponsor’s consent to the application if you had a partial scholarship from a government and/or an international scholarship agency, or if you were sponsored for fees alone, or living costs alone.

Financial sponsor’s consent is not required if you are or were sponsored by a university, an international company, an independent school, or any other type of financial sponsor.

Even if your type of scholarship does not require the sponsor’s consent for a Graduate route application, you should still check its terms and conditions for any restrictions on extending your stay in the UK, and any financial penalties from the sponsor if you break the terms.

We are unable to advise on the implications of different working routes, but you may wish to consider the following factors:

A benefit of the Graduate Route is that you do not have to have a job lined up to remain in the UK. This enables you to look for work and change employers.