MAC recommends retaining the UK’s Graduate visa

The Graduate Visa is at risk but it has been thrown a lifeline. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has concluded its rapid review of the UK graduate route and found no evidence of widespread abuse. The MAC has recommended the two-year visa should stay, unchanged.

Times Higher Education reports this as a key moment for the university sector. The highly anticipated 70-page report details the findings of the committee, chaired by Brian Bell, a professor at King’s College London, which was asked to investigate by home secretary James Cleverly. The report finds the graduate route is not undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system as the government suspects but, instead, it is helping universities expand the range of courses offered while making up for financial losses on domestic students and research. 

The BBC reports on this and quotes reaction from Universities UK which represents more than 140 institutions. Its chief executive, Vivienne Stern, said ‘we understand the political pressure to reduce migration" but recent restrictions had already had a "significant effect.’ International students can no longer bring family members with them unless they are on research courses or have government-funded scholarships which the report said would reduce the number coming to study in the UK this year. Ms Stern said: ‘Going further would be a serious mistake.’ 

University leaders had been told to expect the government’s response in the next few days - around the time this programme goes out – alongside the publication of the ONS’s net migration figures. What happens after that is hard to predict.

So, let’s get reaction to this. Earlier I caught up with immigration lawyer Maria Gravelle who joined me by video-link from Edinburgh. I put it to Maria that MAC’s report must come a relief for the university sector:  

Maria Gravelle: “Yes, absolutely. So universities in the UK do financially depend on the number of international students that they recruit each year and the ability of a student coming from outside of the UK to study in the UK, to remain here after the completion of their studies to work for two years, is a very attractive prospect for studying in the UK. Now international study as a very competitive market so the ability to offer students the ability to remain beyond the completion of their studies to work, or travel, or do a working holiday, or whatever it is they want to do, is very, very attractive and does help universities attract international students and therefore does increase their income each year as a result.”

Joe Glavina: “Is it your view that the graduate visa is still at risk, notwithstanding this report?” 

Maria Gravelle: “Yes, I think that's still the case. The MAC report, the Migration Advisory Committee report, answered a question around whether the route is currently being abused or is subject to abuse and the finding was that overwhelmingly, it's not. It is being used for its intended purpose. Now, that is just a report for the government to reflect on, it's not a decisive report in that the government can decide to go in a different direction. Since the report has been published, further comments have been made by the MAC’s chairman regarding the association between the graduate routes and intentions to increase the domestic workforce’s skill sets. Now, the report specifically answered this question around abuse, it didn't answer questions around what is the impact of the graduate route on the domestic workforce in the UK? Does the route serve to increase the domestic workforce’s skill set? So those questions weren’t answered and it's in those areas that the government could still decide to go in a different direction and scrap the route. Now, it's worth bearing in mind that this report was commissioned as part of the government's 5-point-plan to reduce net migration and that is still their objective, to reduce net migration levels so, of course, getting a relevant, reasonably popular immigration route would help them achieve that target. So I think that the outcome of this report and what the government is going to do with it is still very much up in the air.”

Joe Glavina: “So just thinking about clients, and how this might impact their practices. I guess it will have an impact on the recruitment of graduates, in terms of forward planning?” 

Maria Gravelle: “Yes, absolutely. So graduates, just by virtue of where they are in their career tend to be more junior professionals, they tend to be professionals who are perhaps going on to defined graduate schemes that have a fixed duration. Now, sometimes the difficulty with those sorts of rules is that with the now higher salary thresholds for other visa rules, such as skilled worker, the graduate visa is very good because if an individual doesn't meet the salary threshold for skilled worker, the graduate visa is not sponsorship based so you can work for two years in any role, regardless of what the salary or skill level is. So, it is used for junior professionals, professionals coming out of university starting their career. It’s also very helpful to test an individual the individual’s fit with the organisation before it commits to the cost of sponsorship because a skilled worker visa, while it’s absolutely possible to sponsor a student to become a skilled worker straightaway and just bypass the graduate route altogether, that’s a very big financial commitment on the part of the business and they don't necessarily know if the person is the right fit at that stage. So, the graduate visa allows businesses to employ people for two years, get an idea of whether they right for the role and right for the organisation and then only after that would they then want to commit to the cost of sponsorship. Some of these practices, if the route is going to be scrapped, which as we said we are not entirely sure what's happening with it yet, but if it were scrapped then some of those practices would need to be revisited. Now, it doesn't mean that there's no solution. It's absolutely possible to switch somebody from a student visa straight into skilled worker and actually there's a financial benefit to doing that too because there are certain fee concessions, particularly the immigration skills charge is not payable if you do that, whereas it is if you switch somebody from a graduate visa. It’s also possible to switch somebody who is already on a graduate visa into skilled worker at any time. So you don't have to wait until they finish the two years, or you don't have to wait until near the expiry date of their graduate visa, you could switch them halfway through or within six months, or at any time, really. So, there are solutions that could be revisited if the graduate visa is on a more uncertain footing at the moment.”

Joe Glavina: “Final question Maria. What would be your main message to clients watching this listening to you? What's the key point you wouldn't want to get across?”

Maria Gravelle: “The key message I would send, Joe, is that the graduate visa, until it is removed, is still very much an active and useful visa route. So, because of all of these discussions, there is no need to immediately approach any existing employees who have graduate visas and say, oh, we need to switch you over. There's no need to not employ graduates at the moment, but it is something that needs to be on the horizon. So, while the route remains valid, and we don't have any clear picture as to what's going to happen with it, if it's going to be scrapped, and if so, when it's going to be scrapped, but it is something that if you are recruiting for, say, next year, which is often the case with graduate schemes, you would recruit potentially up to a year in advance, making sure that all offers of employment are subject to a right to work clause. So, and your offer letters making sure that they say this offer is subject to you having the right to work in the UK and that means that if somebody is accepting an offer on the basis that they will apply for a graduate visa next year, and if that route then no longer becomes available and, for whatever reason, they don't qualify for skilled worker, or a different route, then that offer of employment can be withdrawn on the basis of that right to work clause.” 

The MAC report was published last week, on 14 May, and we have included a link to it in the transcript of this programme for you. Meanwhile, we await the government’s response to it. As soon as we have that we will let you know.

LINKS
- Link to Report of the Migration Advisory Committee: ‘Rapid Review of the Graduate Route’