Will Immigration Rule Changes be Made to the Graduate Visa?
If you had asked our Immigration Solicitors a few weeks ago if changes to the Graduate Visa were likely we would have said yes.
Things aren’t so definite now. Our Sponsorship Licence lawyers explain why changes may not be made to the Graduate Visa and why that’s good news for UK business owners, sponsor licence holders and international students.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
The Graduate Visa review
The UK government asked the Migration Advisory Committee to rapidly review the Graduate Visa. The review was requested as part of the government 5-pronged plan to reduce UK net migration figures.
It was widely anticipated by Sponsorship Licence lawyers that the Migration Advisory Committee would recommend significant changes to this Work Visa route because having such a flexible post-graduation Work Visa seemed to fly in the face of the government decision to increase the Skilled Worker Visa minimum salary threshold to £38,700 and the decision to reduce the number of international students coming to the UK on Student Visas through changing the immigration rules to prevent most international students from being able to bring family members with them on Dependant Visas.
The Migration Advisory Committee has now completed its rapid review and has recommended retaining the Graduate route in its current form.
The Migration Advisory Committee report on the Graduate Visa
The Migration Advisory Committee published its report on 14 May 2024. The report is now with the Home Office to review. The Home Office can decide not to follow the review recommendations so there is still the potential for the Graduate Visa to be the subject of immigration rule changes. This is now considered to be far less likely.
The government requested the MAC review partially because the government thought the Graduate Visa route might be the subject of immigration abuse. The MAC found no evidence of that.
Graduate Visa statistics
The MAC review was requested in part because of a perception that the Graduate Visa was being used by UK business owners to recruit young graduates to do non-graduate level jobs as, after Brexit, UK employers have had no readily available supply of EU nationals willing and able to come to the UK to work in lower-skilled jobs. That perception may have come about because there is no requirement for sponsorship with the Graduate Visa and no minimum salary threshold, other than the fact that all employers must pay the national minimum wage.
The letter requesting the MAC Graduate Visa review referred to most Graduate Visa holders who switch to the Skilled Worker Visa route securing nongraduate-level jobs. The Home Office suggested only around 23% of Graduate Visa holders moving to the Skilled Worker Visa took up graduate-level jobs, with the majority of the remainder working in the care sector.
The Home Office later provided new statistics that reveal nearly 70% of Graduate Visa holders who switch from a Graduate Visa to a Skilled Worker Visa are being employed in graduate-level jobs and only 20% of them are going on to work in the care sector.
The MAC Graduate Visa recommendations
The MAC has made the following recommendations:
- The Graduate Visa route is kept in its current form
- The Home Office reviews the data used for analytical purposes to better define what the data means and the government looks at making further use of data that is matched between the Inland Revenue and the Home Office
- The government only opens new immigration routes or makes major immigration policy changes when it has a clear plan on how to collect and monitor data and how it will assess the route against its objectives
- Universities should provide the Home Office with information on the class of degree awarded to international students on Student Visas
- A mandatory registration system is adopted for international recruitment agents with universities being required to publish yearly data on the amount spent on recruitment agents and the number of international students recruited using these agents
University funding or reducing net migration figures
In the MAC report it is said that changes to the Graduate Visa could result in an ‘overcorrection.’ That’s because international student numbers have already reduced following the change in immigration policy limiting international students from being able to be accompanied to the UK by family members on Dependant Visas.
If international student numbers have already gone down then in time Graduate Visa applications will also reduce in number. That is the logic thought process of the MAC. The MAC also points out the dilemma of meeting the international education strategy and keeping universities financially viable whilst reducing net UK migration figures by making changes to the Student Visa and Graduate Visa.
Next steps for UK employers and international students
Although the MAC review has been warmly welcomed by employers and student bodies there are no guarantees that the Home Office won't make changes to the Graduate Visa in their quest to be seen to be doing something to reduce UK net migration figures.
Accordingly, Sponsorship Licence lawyers recommend that UK business owners and international students keep on top of immigration law developments and that UK employers familiarise themselves with the Graduate Visa route if they are not already taking advantage of it in conjunction with sponsoring overseas workers on Skilled Worker Visas.
If you need more information on the Graduate Visa or on the immigration rules relating to switching from the Graduate Visa to the Skilled Worker Visa then our Immigration Solicitors can answer all your immigration law queries.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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