The UK’s Graduate visa, which lets international students stay and work after their degree, will be cut from two years to 18 months for bachelor’s and master’s graduates who apply on or after 1 January 2027. PhD graduates will still receive three years.
Days before the change, however, the government announced in its 28 October Budget that graduates of “high-compliance universities” with strong graduate job outcomes will keep two years. Which universities will qualify, and from when, has not yet been set out.
What changes on 1 January
The cut was set out in the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 1333), laid before Parliament on 14 October 2025. The deciding factor is the date of the visa application, not when a course starts or ends:
- Applications made before 1 January 2027: bachelor’s and master’s graduates receive two years, as now.
- Applications made on or after 1 January 2027: bachelor’s and master’s graduates receive 18 months.
- PhD and other doctoral graduates: three years, unchanged.
The other rules stay the same. Graduates must apply from inside the UK while their Student visa is still valid, and only after their university has reported to the Home Office that they have completed their course. The Graduate visa cannot be extended.
Why the government is making the cut
The reduction was first proposed in the immigration white paper of May 2025. “This change is informed by data showing that too many graduates are not progressing into graduate-level employment,” the Home Office minister Lord Hanson said, The PIE News reported when the rules were laid.
The Home Office’s own impact assessment described the likely effect on demand as “modest”, estimating about 12,000 fewer student visa applications a year, ICEF Monitor reported.
A two-year exception for some universities
The Budget published on 28 October said the Graduate visa will last two years for graduates of “high compliance universities where there are strong labour market outcomes”. Officials at the Home Office and the Department for Education are still working out the criteria, and no start date has been given, The PIE News reported.
University groups welcomed the move. Hollie Chandler of the Russell Group said it was “encouraging to see the government recognising the benefits” of international students. Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, called for the rules to be stable and fair, and said UUK would work with the government on how compliance and outcomes are judged.
Others warned of a divided sector. Diana Beech of the Finsbury Institute told Times Higher Education there was a “real risk of creating a two-tier sector” that could disadvantage universities in poorer regions and small specialist institutions. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, described the plan as a partial U-turn, and estimated that between a quarter and a third of mainstream universities might qualify.
What students should know
If you finish your course before the end of 2026, check with your university when it will report your completion to the Home Office. An application made before 1 January 2027 is assessed under the current two-year rule.
If you finish in 2027 or later, plan on 18 months unless your university is confirmed as eligible for the two-year exception. Until the criteria are published, no university can promise this.
If you are choosing a UK university now, it is reasonable to ask how it expects to be affected, and to treat any answer as provisional.
If you are doing a PhD, the three-year Graduate visa is not changing.
Always check the official Graduate visa guidance on GOV.UK and speak to your university’s international student advice team about your own situation. This article is general information, not immigration advice.
Sources: Home Office, Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules HC 1333, 14 October 2025; HM Treasury, Budget 2026, 28 October 2026; The PIE News, October 2025 and 28 October 2026; ICEF Monitor, 16 October 2025; Times Higher Education, 30 October 2026; University of Bath. Checked on 1 November 2026.