Change to UK’s Graduate visa dependants rule now in force

On 1 January new restrictions to student visa routes came into force. It means international students in the UK will no longer be able to bring dependants on their student visa unless they are studying a postgraduate research programme. The change, first announced back in May last year, is part of a wider raft of measures designed to drastically bring down the high numbers of migrants coming to the UK, and to crack down on those who take advantage of the flexibility of the UK’s immigration system. Going forward, the graduate visa route faces a lot more change in the future and we’ll speak to an immigration specialist about that. 

As you might recall, back in early December the government announced a 5-point plan to tackle net migration. The graduate visa route is part of that plan and, in our view, is the most far-reaching aspect of it. 

A reminder. The graduate visa route was introduced in July 2021 as part of the UK's post Brexit immigration system and allows successful applicants to stay in the UK to work unrestricted for up to two years after completing a bachelor's degree in the UK, or three years for PhD holders. It’s useful because, as it’s not employer sponsored, it provides a lot of flexibility because employers are not committing to the significant costs and administrative burden associated with sponsorship. In December, the government announced it will ask the independent Migration Advisory Committee to undertake a review the graduate route, to 'prevent abuse and protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education'. 

The graduate route is for students in the UK who want to work in the UK, or look for work, following the successful completion of an eligible course of study at bachelor’s degree-level, or above. The study must have been with a higher education provider with a track record of compliance.  Individuals who successfully obtain a graduate visa then have permission to stay in the UK for at least 2 years after successfully completing a course in the UK.

The announcement of a review of the graduate route will not result in any immediate changes but a number of our clients are already planning ahead so let’s hear more about that. Earlier, immigration specialist Shara Pledger joined me by video-link from Manchester to discuss this:

Shara Pledger: “The group of graduates in the UK unfortunately are seeing the most squeezes from every direction. When they entered the UK as students, and as people continue to enter the UK students, they themselves are seeing restrictions that are placed on them in terms of their dependents coming to the UK, for example, As they progress through that student journey, and now look to the graduate visa, that currently looks to have a slightly uncertain future. We know that the graduate visa has been very popular but, worryingly, there have been announcements recently which have started to refer to what is perceived as abuse of this system. Now, the graduate visa is very wide, it doesn't require anybody to take a certain type of job, it doesn't require that job to pay a certain amount of money, for example, so it's quite difficult to see where abuse would really come from within it but, clearly, the intention of that route is to allow highly skilled and very capable individuals to remain in the UK to gain crucial work experience and, hopefully, go on to contribute long term to our economy. Now, if the graduate visa goes then there will be difficulties for those individuals getting into the UK labour market. Graduates, in particular, do not need to be sponsored so they have a much smoother path at the moment to transition from that study into the world of work. If that is removed, and we've seen this before, there was previously an immigration route called Post Study Work and that was removed and there were several years where, in order to get work in the UK, a graduate needed to be sponsored right from day one and it is challenging. It’s challenging for the individual trying to find a job and it's challenging for the employer who needs to make that commitment in order to take somebody on in a graduate position. Then even assuming that a graduate then is able to make that leap over into the sponsored skilled worker category, we then know that there are these restrictions coming for skilled worker also with these increased requirements for higher salary raises, etcetera. So, at the moment, it looks like graduates, potentially, are going to face a bit of a tough time.”

Joe Glavina: “What should employers be doing now, if anything Shara?”

Shara Pledger: “I think there are different things that employers can do to try and manage this potential risk to that graduate route. The first relates to individuals that they're already employing who are graduates. A lot of employers will be able to make a decision about whether or not they would like that individual to remain in the business relatively quickly and if those decisions are already being made, and organisations know that there are established workers who will be making that transition from graduates into skilled worker relatively soon, it's probably a good idea to get that going because if those applications can be made now, or in the next couple of months, under the current skilled worker rules then at least that at the moment it is something that's known, we know what the parameters of those rules are and we can be confident that that kind of application would succeed. Besides that, obviously, we've got the idea that there will be new recruitment coming through from graduate routes and, hopefully, that won't be something that is just hard stopped anytime soon. There are other alternatives that organisations can look to. The Youth Mobility Scheme, for example, is a scheme that is increasing as a result of international trade arrangements that the UK is making post Brexit, and there are ever increasing numbers of individuals who are eligible under that scheme, different nationalities eligible under that scheme. It is quite similar to the graduate route in the sense that it gives those young individuals an opportunity to come to the UK and get that work experience for a two-year period. So, that is just one example of an alternative route that actually might be a good source of foreign talent where it's needed.”

Joe Glavina: “We don’t have an exact timetable for the changes yet, Shara, so what’s the advice to clients?”

Shara Pledger: “At the moment, the most important thing that employers can do is just stay connected to this issue. There will of course, be further announcements to come. We are yet to receive a draft version of the immigration rules or guidance that will apply from the spring and as more is known it will then become much easier for employers to be able to make a plan, particularly when it comes to things like graduate recruitment. I’m very conscious of the fact that graduate recruitment as a whole tends to kick off in spring so, unfortunately, it might not leave employers with a huge amount of time to make those plans, and to adjust existing plans, if those adjustments need to be made. So beyond anything, just stay connected, stay involved, and look out for further announcements.”

The changes to the graduate route formed part of the government’s 5-point plan to cut net migration which was announced in the first week of December. We covered it at the time  with comment from Shara. If you’d like to watch that programme you can. That’s ‘UK government unveils 5-point-plan to cut net migration’ and we’ve put a link to it in the transcript of this programme.

LINKS

- Link to HRNews programme: ‘UK government unveils 5-point-plan to cut net migration’
- Link to Government press release: ‘Tough government action on student visas comes into effect’