UK Graduate Visa: Recruitment Guide for Employers

Section A: Can You Hire Someone on a Graduate Visa?

UK employers can hire someone who holds a valid Graduate Visa without sponsoring them.

The Graduate route is unsponsored, so you do not need a sponsor licence or Certificate of Sponsorship simply to employ a Graduate Visa holder. The worker’s immigration permission is independent of the employer, which means they can join your organisation without the sponsorship process that applies under routes such as Skilled Worker.

For employers, the immediate immigration requirement is to establish that the individual has the right to work in the role before employment begins. You should complete the prescribed right to work check correctly and retain the required evidence to establish a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty for illegal working.

1. What Jobs Can a Graduate Visa Holder Do?

Graduate Visa holders have broad permission to work. There is no Graduate-route minimum skill level or salary threshold attached to the job and their permission is not restricted to a particular occupation or employer.

They can work full-time or part-time and can change jobs without making a new Graduate Visa application. They can also undertake self-employment and voluntary work.

The key restriction is that Graduate Visa holders cannot work as professional sportspersons, including as sports coaches.

Normal employment law obligations also continue to apply, including requirements relating to minimum wage, working time and other statutory employment protections.

2. Do You Need a Sponsor Licence to Hire a Graduate Visa Holder?

A sponsor licence is not required to recruit or employ someone on the basis of valid Graduate permission. This remains the case even if your organisation already holds a sponsor licence. The employee is not sponsored merely because they work for a licensed sponsor and you do not assign them a Certificate of Sponsorship while they remain employed under the Graduate route.

Sponsor duties that arise because a worker is sponsored therefore do not apply to the employment simply because the individual holds a Graduate Visa. Your wider obligations as an employer, including right to work compliance, still apply.

3. Is There a Minimum Salary for Graduate Visa Employees?

There is no immigration salary threshold for employment under the Graduate route. You can therefore employ a Graduate Visa holder in a role that would not meet the salary requirements for Skilled Worker sponsorship, provided the employment itself complies with UK law.

That distinction becomes important where the organisation may want to retain the employee after their Graduate permission ends. A salary that is lawful for employment under the Graduate route will not necessarily satisfy the requirements of a sponsored work route later.

4. Does the Employee Have to Work in a Graduate-Level Job?

The Graduate route does not require the individual to work in a graduate-level occupation. A Graduate Visa holder can therefore take a role below degree level or move between roles at different skill levels while their permission remains valid. The employer does not need to match the job to a sponsored occupation code simply because the worker holds a Graduate Visa.

Occupation codes and sponsored-route skill requirements become relevant if the organisation later intends to sponsor the employee under a route such as Skilled Worker.

5. What Should You Check Before Hiring?

Do not rely on the candidate simply stating that they hold a Graduate Visa. Before employment begins, complete the prescribed right to work check and confirm that the individual’s immigration status permits the work you are offering.

Graduate Visa holders generally evidence their status digitally. The individual can provide a right to work share code, which the employer uses with the worker’s date of birth through the Home Office online checking service. The check will show the individual’s right to work and any relevant restrictions.

You should then retain evidence of the check in accordance with Home Office requirements.

Graduate permission is time-limited, so record the expiry date accurately. If the employee is to continue working for you beyond their existing permission, you will need to conduct the required follow-up right to work check on or before the date their current permission ends to retain your statutory excuse.

Section B: What Does Unsponsored Status Mean for Employers?

A Graduate Visa belongs to the individual rather than to the employer. The worker applies for and holds their immigration permission independently, and taking a job with your organisation does not make you responsible for their Graduate Visa.

That has practical consequences for recruitment and HR. You are not choosing whether to sponsor the candidate when hiring them under existing Graduate permission. The immediate question is whether they have valid permission to do the work being offered. Whether the business may be willing or able to sponsor them in future is a separate workforce decision.

1. Does the Employer Apply for the Graduate Visa?

The Graduate Visa application is made by the individual following their studies. The employer does not make the application, provide immigration sponsorship or obtain permission from the Home Office to employ them under the Graduate route.

The employer will not normally need to provide immigration documents for the Graduate Visa application simply because it has offered the individual a job. A job offer is not a requirement for the route.

This makes the recruitment process different from sponsored work routes, where the employer has a formal role in supporting the worker’s immigration application.

2. Do Sponsor Duties Apply to Graduate Visa Employees?

A Graduate Visa employee is not a sponsored worker.

You do not report the Graduate Visa employee through the Sponsorship Management System as a sponsored worker simply because you employ them. Sponsor reporting duties relating to an individual worker arise where that person is being sponsored under the relevant route.

If your organisation already holds a sponsor licence, employing someone on a Graduate Visa does not convert that individual into a sponsored worker. Your wider duties as a licensed sponsor continue in relation to the licence itself and any workers you do sponsor.

3. Does a Graduate Visa Candidate Need Sponsorship?

Not for employment under their existing Graduate permission. Recruitment forms commonly ask candidates whether they require visa sponsorship. Employers need to distinguish between a candidate who requires sponsorship to take the job now and someone who already has an independent right to work but may require sponsorship in the future.

A Graduate Visa holder falls into the second category. They can work using their existing immigration permission, but that permission has an expiry date. If the organisation wants to retain them beyond it, the employee will need another basis for permission to work.

4. Does Hiring a Graduate Visa Holder Commit You to Future Sponsorship?

Employing someone under the Graduate route does not create an immigration obligation to sponsor them later.

Future sponsorship is a separate decision. The organisation can assess whether it wants to sponsor the individual and whether the worker and proposed role meet the requirements of the relevant route at that time.

Employers should therefore avoid giving candidates the impression that future sponsorship is guaranteed unless the organisation has actually considered the position and intends to make that commitment. Equally, recruitment teams should not treat possible future sponsorship as if the candidate needs sponsorship to start work now.

Section C: Graduate Visa Right to Work Checks

Employers have to establish a Graduate Visa holder’s right to work before employment begins. A compliant check can provide a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty if the individual is later found to be working illegally, provided the prescribed requirements have been followed.

For most Graduate Visa holders, immigration status is held digitally and the check is completed using the Home Office online right to work service.

1. How Do You Check a Graduate Visa Holder’s Right to Work?

The worker will usually provide a right to work share code and their date of birth. The employer enters these details into the Home Office online service to access the individual’s right to work record.

Check that the photograph and personal details relate to the person you are employing and that the online record confirms they are permitted to undertake the work in question.

The check has to be carried out by the employer. It is not sufficient for the candidate to show you their own view of their eVisa, send a screenshot of their immigration status or provide a share code without the employer completing the prescribed online check.

2. What Evidence of the Right to Work Check Should You Keep?

You should retain evidence of the Home Office online check showing the individual’s right to work. You should retain the profile page generated by the Home Office online service, either electronically or in hard copy, for the duration of employment and for two years after the employment ends.

The date of the check also needs to be recorded because the statutory excuse depends on the prescribed check having been completed at the correct time.

3. Do You Need to Check the Graduate Visa Expiry Date?

Graduate permission is time-limited, so the online right to work record should be checked for the date on which the individual’s permission to work expires.

Record that date within your immigration or right to work monitoring system rather than relying solely on the employee to alert HR when their permission is approaching expiry.

Where the statutory excuse is time-limited, a follow-up right to work check will be required on or before the existing permission ends if employment is to continue.

4. What if the Employee Has Applied for a Graduate Visa but is Still Waiting?

A Student who has applied for a Graduate Visa may still have a lawful right to work while the application is pending, but employers should not treat a pending application as equivalent to a granted Graduate Visa.

Where a valid in-time application has been made, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 can extend the individual’s existing Student permission and its conditions while the application remains outstanding.

There is also a specific provision allowing an eligible Student who has successfully completed their course and made a valid Graduate application to start employment in a full-time permanent vacancy while the Graduate application is pending, where the requirements in Appendix Student are met.

The employer still needs to establish the individual’s current right to work using a prescribed method rather than relying on evidence that an application has simply been submitted.

5. What if the Online Right to Work Check Cannot Confirm Their Status?

In some cases, the employer may be unable to establish the individual’s right to work through the prescribed online or document-checking process, for example where an immigration application is pending and the Home Office record does not yet confirm the position.

Where the circumstances are eligible for Home Office verification, the employer can use the Employer Checking Service (ECS) to obtain confirmation of the individual’s right to work.

If the ECS confirms the right to work, the employer will receive a Positive Verification Notice (PVN). A PVN can provide a time-limited statutory excuse for six months, after which a further prescribed check will be needed if the individual is still employed and permanent evidence of the right to work has not become available.

6. What Happens if You Miss a Follow-Up Right to Work Check?

Allowing a time-limited statutory excuse to expire without completing the required follow-up check can leave the organisation without that protection if the employee is subsequently found to be working illegally.

The issue is not simply whether the employee ultimately had permission to work. The statutory excuse depends on the employer carrying out the prescribed checks in accordance with the Home Office requirements.

If an employee’s Graduate permission is approaching expiry and they say they have applied for further immigration permission, establish the new right to work position rather than allowing employment to continue solely on the basis of the employee’s assurance.

Section D: Managing a Graduate Visa Employee

Once a Graduate Visa holder has joined the organisation, their immigration status generally gives the employer more flexibility than a sponsored work route. Their permission is not tied to a particular job, occupation code or employer, so ordinary changes to the employment relationship do not usually require an immigration application or Home Office notification.

The employer should, however, continue to distinguish between what is permitted under the employee’s current Graduate permission and what may be required if the organisation later wants to sponsor them.

1. Can You Promote a Graduate Visa Employee?

A Graduate Visa holder can be promoted without needing to update their immigration permission simply because their job title, duties or seniority change.

Unlike a sponsored worker, their Graduate permission is not based on a particular Certificate of Sponsorship or occupation code. The employer therefore has considerably more freedom to develop the employee’s role during the Graduate period.

A promotion may become relevant to immigration planning later if the organisation intends to sponsor the employee, since the role that exists at the point of sponsorship will need to satisfy the requirements of the sponsored route.

2. Can You Change Their Role or Duties?

A Graduate Visa employee can generally move into a different role or take on materially different duties without making a new Graduate Visa application.

There is no requirement to report the change through the Sponsorship Management System because the individual is not being sponsored under the Graduate route.

The position changes if the organisation later moves the employee onto a sponsored work route. At that stage, the actual role and duties will need to be assessed against the relevant occupation and sponsorship requirements.

3. Can a Graduate Visa Holder Work More Than One Job?

Graduate permission does not restrict the individual to a single employer.

A Graduate Visa holder can work for more than one organisation at the same time, subject to the terms of their employment contracts and ordinary employment law requirements.

From an immigration perspective, the worker does not need permission from one employer to take additional employment elsewhere while they remain on the Graduate route.

4. Can You Change Their Hours or Pay?

Changes to working hours or salary do not in themselves require a Graduate Visa application or immigration notification.

The employer still needs to comply with applicable employment law, contractual obligations and statutory pay requirements. The immigration significance arises mainly where future sponsorship is being considered.

Reducing hours or salary may make no difference to the employee’s current Graduate permission but could affect whether the role can later satisfy the salary requirements of a sponsored route. Equally, increasing salary does not by itself make a role eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship if the occupation or other requirements are not met.

5. Can a Graduate Visa Employee Work Remotely?

Graduate permission is not tied to a specific sponsored work location, so remote or hybrid working arrangements can generally be agreed in the same way as for other employees.

Where an employee proposes to work from outside the UK for an extended period, the organisation should consider the wider legal and practical implications, including tax, employment law and the employee’s ability to return to the UK using their existing immigration permission.

6. Do Employment Changes Need to Be Reported to the Home Office?

Ordinary changes to a Graduate Visa employee’s job, salary, hours or duties do not need to be reported through the Sponsorship Management System simply because the individual holds Graduate permission.

That differs from sponsored employment, where certain changes involving the worker’s role, duties, salary or other employment details can create reporting obligations or require further immigration action.

The employer should nevertheless keep its own personnel and right to work records accurate, particularly where a change to the role could affect future sponsorship plans.

Section E: Managing Graduate Visa Expiry

Graduate permission is time-limited. If the employee is to remain with the organisation beyond their current visa expiry date, HR needs to establish what immigration permission will allow them to continue working and ensure the right to work position is verified before the existing statutory excuse ends.

The Graduate Visa itself cannot be extended. The employee will therefore need to secure permission under another immigration route if they want to remain in the UK longer.

1. When Should Employers Start Planning for Visa Expiry?

There is no Home Office rule requiring employers to start retention planning a fixed number of months before Graduate permission expires. In practice, the lead time should reflect the immigration route being considered and any action required from the employer.

Where sponsorship may be needed, waiting until the final weeks can leave insufficient time to assess the role, deal with sponsor licence arrangements and prepare the relevant immigration steps.

Expiry dates should therefore form part of workforce planning rather than being treated solely as a right to work compliance deadline.

2. Can the Employee Keep Working After Their Graduate Visa Expires?

Not simply because the organisation wants to retain them.

The employee needs an ongoing lawful basis to work in the UK. If they make a valid in-time application for further permission before their Graduate Visa expires, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 can extend their existing permission and its conditions while that application remains pending.

Where section 3C applies, the employee can normally continue working under the conditions attached to their Graduate permission while UKVI considers the application.

The employer still needs to establish and maintain its statutory excuse through the prescribed right to work process.

3. What if the Employee Says They Have Applied for Another Visa?

Do not rely solely on confirmation from the employee that an application has been submitted.

Establish whether the application was made before the existing permission expired and verify the employee’s continuing right to work using the prescribed Home Office process.

Where the employer cannot establish the continuing right to work through the normal prescribed check and the circumstances require Home Office verification, the employer should use the Employer Checking Service and obtain a Positive Verification Notice.

An in-time application can preserve lawful status under section 3C, but the employer still needs the appropriate evidence to maintain its statutory excuse.

4. What if No Further Immigration Application Has Been Made?

If the employee’s Graduate permission expires and they have no continuing immigration permission or other lawful basis to work, they cannot simply remain in employment.

Continuing to employ someone who no longer has the right to work can expose the organisation to illegal working sanctions. Employers should therefore resolve the position before the existing permission ends rather than waiting for the expiry date to pass.

Where the immigration position is uncertain, establish the right to work before allowing employment to continue.

5. What if the New Visa Application is Refused?

A refusal does not necessarily mean the employee’s right to work ends on the date of the decision.

Where section 3C applies, it can continue during the period in which an eligible administrative review or appeal may be brought and while a valid administrative review or appeal remains pending. Whether the employee can continue working depends on their immigration position and the conditions preserved by section 3C.

Employers should not assume either that employment has to end immediately or that it can automatically continue. Establish the current right to work position through the prescribed process.

6. Should Employers Promise Future Sponsorship?

Graduate Visa expiry often leads to discussions about whether the organisation will sponsor the employee. Any commitment should follow an assessment of whether sponsorship is both commercially appropriate and legally available.

Avoid allowing informal assurances from managers to become an assumed immigration strategy before HR has established whether the organisation can sponsor and whether the role and employee can meet the requirements in force at the relevant time.

Section F: Switching a Graduate Visa Holder to Skilled Worker

A Graduate Visa holder can switch into the Skilled Worker route from inside the UK if the worker, role and sponsor meet the requirements in force at the time of application.

For employers, the central question is not whether the individual is already working for the organisation. It is whether the job they will be sponsored to do satisfies the Skilled Worker rules and whether the organisation is authorised to sponsor that role.

1. Can a Graduate Visa Holder Switch to Skilled Worker?

Yes. Graduate Visa holders can generally apply from inside the UK to switch into the Skilled Worker route.

The employer will need to sponsor the individual for an eligible job and assign a valid Certificate of Sponsorship. The applicant must also meet the other Skilled Worker requirements, including the applicable salary and English language requirements.

Existing employment with the organisation does not give the employee an automatic right to switch. The Skilled Worker application is assessed against a separate set of immigration requirements.

2. Does the Existing Job Qualify for Skilled Worker Sponsorship?

The role has to fall within an eligible SOC 2020 occupation code under Appendix Skilled Worker. Since July 2025, eligible occupations have generally been focused on roles at RQF level 6 or above, although specified occupations below that level can still qualify where they are included on the relevant Immigration Salary List, Temporary Shortage List or covered by an applicable transitional provision.

Employers should identify the correct occupation code by reference to the actual duties of the role rather than the job title alone. The occupation code determines whether the role can be sponsored and which going rate applies.

A Graduate Visa holder may therefore have been lawfully employed in a role for some time but still be unable to switch into Skilled Worker sponsorship in that same job.

3. What Salary Does a Graduate Visa Holder Need for Skilled Worker Sponsorship?

Under the standard Skilled Worker salary option, the salary will normally need to meet the higher of £41,700 per year and 100% of the applicable going rate for the occupation.

Different salary options can apply where the worker qualifies for a permitted reduction or falls within another specified category.

Employers should not assess eligibility against the general threshold alone. The occupation-specific going rate can be higher and both elements of the relevant salary option have to be satisfied.

Salary calculations also need to follow the Skilled Worker rules on what remuneration can be counted and, where relevant, how going rates are adjusted for working hours.

4. Can a Graduate Visa Holder Qualify as a New Entrant?

Potentially. Graduate Visa holders can fall within the Skilled Worker new entrant provisions, which allow a lower salary requirement where the relevant conditions are met.

Under the current rules, the new entrant salary option can apply at £33,400 per year and 70% of the applicable going rate for the occupation. The applicant must also satisfy one of the qualifying new entrant conditions.

One of those conditions applies where the applicant’s most recent immigration permission, disregarding permission as a Visitor, was under the Graduate route. If that Graduate permission has already expired, it must generally have expired less than two years before the Skilled Worker application.

The new entrant concession is also time-limited. Granting the application cannot result in the worker having more than four years in total under the relevant combination of Graduate, Skilled Worker and Tier 2 permission for these purposes, whether or not those periods were continuous.

Employers should therefore calculate how much of the new entrant period remains rather than assuming every Graduate Visa holder can receive four years of discounted Skilled Worker sponsorship.

5. What Does the Employer Need to Do to Sponsor the Worker?

The organisation needs to be authorised to sponsor Skilled Workers for the job in question and, for a Graduate Visa holder switching into Skilled Worker, has to be A-rated when the application is made.

The employer will need to assess the role, select the correct occupation code, confirm the applicable salary option and assign a valid Certificate of Sponsorship containing the required details about the job and pay.

Any Immigration Skills Charge due in relation to the sponsorship will also need to be paid.

Once Skilled Worker permission is granted, the employment becomes sponsored employment and the sponsor duties applying to Skilled Workers will become relevant.

6. When Should the Certificate of Sponsorship Be Assigned?

The Certificate of Sponsorship has to be assigned before the employee submits the Skilled Worker application.

The CoS must generally have been assigned no more than three months before the date of application. It must also contain the required details of the sponsored role, including the salary and intended start date.

The employment start date stated on the CoS must generally be no more than three months after the date of the Skilled Worker application.

Employers should work backwards from the intended application date, allowing enough time to complete the occupation code and salary assessment and deal with any sponsor licence, internal approval or compliance issues before the CoS is assigned.

7. Can the Employee Continue Working While the Skilled Worker Application is Pending?

Where the employee makes a valid Skilled Worker application before their Graduate permission expires, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 can preserve their existing Graduate permission and its conditions while the application is pending.

That will generally allow them to continue working under their Graduate conditions during the decision period. The organisation should continue to maintain the appropriate statutory excuse through the prescribed right to work process.

The worker does not become subject to Skilled Worker conditions merely because the application has been submitted. Those conditions apply once Skilled Worker permission is granted.

Section G: Employer Risks and Workforce Planning

Graduate Visa employees can sit outside the immigration governance processes used for sponsored workers, even though their permission is time-limited. That creates a different type of risk for employers: the issue is often not sponsor compliance, but whether responsibility for immigration expiry, retention decisions and future sponsorship is clearly owned within the organisation.

A business can remain technically compliant in the short term while still creating avoidable operational risk if those issues are not managed early.

1. Who Owns the Graduate Visa Expiry Date?

Responsibility should be clear between recruitment, HR, line management and any internal immigration or global mobility function.

A Graduate Visa employee will not be managed through the Sponsorship Management System as a sponsored worker simply because they hold Graduate permission, so relying on sponsor licence processes alone can leave them outside normal immigration monitoring. The expiry date should instead be captured within the organisation’s wider right to work and workforce planning systems.

The practical issue is ownership. Someone should know when the permission expires, when the business needs to make a retention decision and who is responsible for progressing any immigration action.

2. Are Recruitment Teams Asking the Right Sponsorship Question?

Recruitment processes can create unnecessary confusion where candidates are asked a single question such as whether they “require sponsorship”.

A Graduate Visa candidate may not need sponsorship to start the role but could require it later if the organisation wants to retain them. Treating those as the same question can lead to suitable candidates being screened out unnecessarily or, conversely, to future sponsorship being assumed without proper assessment.

Recruitment forms and hiring guidance should distinguish between the candidate’s current right to work and whether they may require employer-sponsored permission in future.

3. Are Managers Making Commitments HR Cannot Deliver?

Line managers may view sponsorship primarily as a retention decision, but the business cannot guarantee a visa outcome simply because it wants to keep the employee.

A manager may also assume that an existing role can be sponsored because the employee is already performing it successfully. Sponsored work has its own occupation, salary and sponsor requirements.

Immigration commitments should therefore be controlled through the appropriate HR or immigration function. Managers can recommend retention, but any assurance about future sponsorship should follow an immigration assessment and the organisation’s internal approval process.

4. Could Your Workforce Become Too Dependent on Graduate Visa Staff?

Graduate Visa recruitment can provide access to employees without the immediate cost and administration of sponsorship. Problems can arise if a team becomes dependent on several employees whose immigration permission ends within a similar period.

The organisation may then face multiple sponsorship decisions, salary adjustments, role assessments or departures at the same time.

Workforce planning should therefore consider the concentration of immigration expiry dates across teams and roles, rather than assessing each Graduate Visa employee entirely in isolation.

5. Is the Role Developing Towards Future Sponsorship Eligibility?

Graduate Visa employees often join at an early career stage and their roles can change materially over time.

Where retention is likely, employers should periodically consider whether the role being developed could support the intended onward route. A role can become more senior and better paid without necessarily falling within an eligible sponsored occupation, while an otherwise eligible role may still fail the applicable salary requirements.

The purpose is not to redesign every Graduate employee’s job around immigration rules. It is to avoid discovering at the retention stage that the organisation’s assumptions about the role do not match the requirements for sponsorship.

6. What Should Employers Record for Workforce Planning?

Where appropriate and necessary for compliance and workforce planning, useful management information can include the employee’s immigration route, permission expiry date, whether longer-term retention is expected, whether sponsorship is likely to be considered and who owns the next review.

The purpose is to give the organisation enough information to identify upcoming decisions without creating a duplicate sponsorship system for employees who are not sponsored.

Any immigration records should be handled in accordance with the organisation’s data protection obligations and access controls.

7. Should Graduate Visa Retention Be Reviewed Centrally?

For organisations employing several Graduate Visa holders, a central review process can improve consistency.

Without one, sponsorship decisions can depend too heavily on individual managers, departmental budgets or how close an employee happens to be to visa expiry. That can result in comparable employees being treated differently or immigration work being initiated too late.

A central process can establish when cases are reviewed, who assesses sponsorship feasibility, who approves cost and headcount implications and how decisions are communicated to employees.

Summary

The Graduate Visa gives employers a flexible way to recruit international graduates without sponsorship, but the arrangement is temporary. Employers still need compliant right to work checks, accurate expiry monitoring and clear ownership of retention decisions.
If the business may want to keep the employee longer term, sponsorship feasibility should be assessed early. A role that is lawful under the Graduate route will not necessarily qualify for Skilled Worker sponsorship, and new entrant treatment does not remove occupation or salary requirements. The strongest approach is to separate immediate hiring from longer-term immigration planning and make retention decisions before visa expiry becomes urgent.

Need Assistance?

DavidsonMorris advises employers on hiring and retaining international graduates, from right to work compliance and visa expiry management to assessing Skilled Worker sponsorship options.

If you need advice on a Graduate Visa employee or your organisation’s longer-term sponsorship strategy, book a fixed-fee telephone consultation to speak directly with one of our immigration solicitors.

Graduate Visa FAQs for Employers

Can I employ someone on a Graduate Visa?

Yes. A person with valid Graduate permission can work for a UK employer without sponsorship, subject to the conditions of their visa.

Do I need a sponsor licence to hire a Graduate Visa holder?

No. A sponsor licence is not required simply to employ someone who already holds valid Graduate permission.

Does a Graduate Visa employee need a Certificate of Sponsorship?

No. A CoS is only relevant if you later sponsor the employee under a route such as Skilled Worker.

Is there a minimum salary for Graduate Visa employees?

There is no Graduate-route immigration salary threshold. Normal employment law and statutory pay requirements still apply.

Does the job have to be graduate level?

No. Graduate permission is not restricted to graduate-level roles or a specific occupation code.

How do I check a Graduate Visa holder’s right to work?

The worker will usually provide a share code and date of birth, which the employer uses to complete the prescribed Home Office online check.

Do I need a repeat right to work check?

Yes, where the statutory excuse is time-limited. A follow-up check is required on or before the existing permission ends if employment is to continue.

Can a Graduate Visa employee change role or be promoted?

Yes. Graduate permission is not tied to a specific sponsored job, so ordinary changes to role, duties or seniority do not generally require a new immigration application.

Can a Graduate Visa holder switch to Skilled Worker?

Yes, if the worker, role and sponsor meet the Skilled Worker requirements in force when the application is made.

Can a Graduate Visa holder qualify as a Skilled Worker new entrant?

Potentially. Graduate permission can support new entrant treatment where the relevant requirements are met, but the concession is time-limited.

Can the employee keep working after their Graduate Visa expires?

Only if they have a continuing lawful right to work, for example where a valid in-time application engages section 3C.

Does hiring a Graduate Visa holder commit us to future sponsorship?

No. Future sponsorship is a separate employer decision and depends on whether the worker, role and organisation meet the relevant requirements.

How long does a Graduate Visa last?

Non-doctoral applications made by 31 December 2026 normally receive 2 years. Applications from 1 January 2027 normally receive 18 months. Doctoral graduates receive 3 years.

What should HR track for Graduate Visa employees?

HR should maintain effective right to work controls and, where appropriate, track visa expiry, retention decisions and ownership of any future immigration action.

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