International students with leave to enter/remain as Students or under Tier 4 General, who have completed a degree at undergraduate level or above at a Higher Education Provider with a track record of compliance, will be eligible to apply. If an applicant’s leave to enter/remain will expire before 01 July 2021, they will not be able to apply.
According to the Home Office, the purpose of the category is to allow those under the Graduate route to “work flexibly, switch jobs and develop their career as required.” As such, there will be no requirement for an applicant to have a job offer to apply for the role and there will be no minimum salary or skill level for the jobs they do take.
Those who have applied under the route having completed a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, will be able to stay for two years and doctorial students will be able to stay for three years. It will not be possible to extend leave to remain under this category so once the Graduate’s two/three year leave to remain ends, it will be necessary to apply to remain in the UK under a different immigration category such as the Skilled Worker category. This category will not count towards settlement.
The Immigration Rules for the Graduate category have not yet been published so please do revisit our site for further updates.