United Kingdom
Two deadlines decide how much time you get after you graduate
The UK's route from a student visa to settlement is the most heavily reformed in this guide. Two dates matter more than anything else: 31 December 2026, after which the Graduate Route drops from two years to eighteen months, and an unresolved proposal that would double the wait for permanent settlement from five years to ten.
Understand this first
The Graduate Route is a bridge, not a step towards settlement
Time on the Graduate Route does not count towards the five years needed for indefinite leave to remain. It buys you unsponsored time to find a job, with no salary floor, no sponsor and no restriction on the kind of work. Your settlement clock only starts when a Skilled Worker visa does.
The date that matters is the date you apply, not the date your course ends or your visa is granted. Applications submitted on or before 31 December 2026 get two years, or three for a PhD. From 1 January 2027 it is eighteen months for bachelor's and master's graduates, with PhDs keeping three years. If you finish a course in late 2026, ask your university registry for your completion notification as soon as results are confirmed and apply before the deadline. Six months of legal working time is often the difference between securing sponsorship and having to leave.
The route
Four stages, and the middle one is where most plans fail
Student visa
Work up to 20 hours a week in term time. The Immigration Health Surcharge is paid upfront for the whole visa length, so a one-year master's granted about 16 months costs two years of it.
Graduate Route
Unsponsored. Any job, any salary, any sector, including self-employment. No Certificate of Sponsorship needed. Two years now, eighteen months from January 2027, three years for a PhD.
Skilled Worker visa
A licensed sponsor, a job at RQF level 6 or above, and a salary meeting the higher of £41,700 or the going rate for the occupation code. Your settlement clock starts here.
Indefinite leave to remain
Five continuous years on a qualifying route today, plus the Life in the UK test, English at B1, and no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12 months.
Stage three
What sponsorship actually costs and requires
| Requirement | The rule in August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary | The general threshold is £41,700, or the going rate for your occupation code, whichever is higher. For many occupations the going rate is the binding figure. £33,400 applies on the Immigration Salary List and under the New Entrant rules, which many recent graduates qualify for. |
| Skill level | Since 22 July 2025 the route is limited to occupations at RQF level 6, degree level, and above. Below-degree roles were removed. A Temporary Shortage List keeps some open until 31 December 2026, and workers sponsored under it cannot bring dependants. |
| English | B2 for new Skilled Worker, Scale-up and High Potential Individual applications from 8 January 2026, up from B1. |
| Employer costs | The Immigration Skills Charge rose 32 percent on 16 December 2025 to £1,320 a year for large sponsors and £480 for small ones. It is waived when you switch directly from Student to Skilled Worker, which is a genuine argument to put to an employer. |
| At settlement | Your salary is reassessed when you apply for indefinite leave to remain, against the threshold in force then. Meeting it on the day your visa was granted is not enough. A salary frozen for five years can fail the test. |
Stage four, and the open question
Five years today. Ten years is proposed, not law.
This is the single biggest uncertainty in UK planning, and it deserves an accurate answer rather than either reassurance or alarm.
- Five continuous years on a qualifying route such as Skilled Worker
- No more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period
- The Life in the UK test, currently £50 per attempt
- English at B1, rising to B2 from 26 March 2027 under a change already laid before Parliament
- Continued employment, salary compliance, and a sponsor who still needs you
- British citizenship normally 12 months after indefinite leave to remain
The 2025 Immigration White Paper set out an earned settlement model raising the standard qualifying period from five to ten years, with fifteen years discussed for lower-paid and below-degree roles. Time could be reduced for higher earners and increased for use of public funds or immigration breaches. The 10-year long residence route would be abolished.
The consultation closed on 12 February 2026 with more than 200,000 responses. As of August 2026 no Immigration Rules have been laid and the existing five-year and ten-year routes remain fully in force. Implementation has slipped from April 2026 to an expected autumn 2026. The proposals were drafted to apply to people already in the UK who do not yet hold settlement.
Plan using the law in force on the day you apply, and build the shorter timeline as a hope rather than an assumption. If a five-year settlement date is the reason you are choosing the UK over Australia or Finland, that is a fragile reason right now. If you are choosing the UK for a one-year master's, the strength of the degree and the employment market, the settlement question is a later problem and the choice still holds.
Bringing your family
Which level lets family come, destination by destination
Ten destinations, ten different answers. If you are married or have children, this table matters more than tuition or ranking.
| Destination | Bachelor's | Master's | PhD | What actually decides it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Declare them in your original application. Work hours for your partner are capped at 48 a fortnight, uncapped if you are doing a research master's or doctorate. |
| Sweden | Yes | Yes | Yes | Money, not level. SEK 4,440 a month for a spouse and 2,664 per child on top of your own 10,656. |
| Finland | Yes | Yes | Yes | A higher education degree gives you an A permit, and your family can hold A permits too, with the right to work. |
| Netherlands | In principle | In principle | In principle | Income, not level. EUR 2,337 a month, which a 16-hour weekly work cap will not reach. |
| New Zealand | No | Partner only | Yes | Level. A partner of a Level 9 or 10 student gets an open work visa. |
| United Kingdom | No | No | Yes | Level. Since January 2024 only PhD, doctoral and research-based higher degrees, plus government-sponsored courses over 6 months. |
| Ireland | No | No | Yes | Level. A Stamp 2 holder cannot sponsor anyone. PhD holders are Category B with no income threshold and no waiting period. |
| Turkiye | After 1 year | After 1 year | After 1 year | Income. A family residence permit needs a year of prior residence plus income, and you cannot work in year one to earn it. |
| Qatar | No | No | No | Sponsorship. Family residency runs off a salaried employment QID, which a student does not hold. |
| Cyprus | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | No reliable published answer. Ask the institution and the Civil Registry and Migration Department directly. |
Corrections
Five things in circulation that are wrong
"You get two years after your degree"
True only if you apply in time.
Two years for applications submitted on or before 31 December 2026. Eighteen months from 1 January 2027 for bachelor's and master's graduates. A September 2026 starter graduating in late 2027 falls under the shorter rule. Anyone still describing a flat two years for a 2027 graduate is describing something that will not be true.
"The Graduate Route counts towards settlement"
It does not.
It is unsponsored permission to work, and none of it counts towards the five years. Your settlement clock starts on the Skilled Worker visa. Two years on the Graduate Route means settlement is roughly seven years from arrival, not five.
"Settlement is now ten years"
Not yet, and possibly not in that form.
It is a proposal from a consultation that closed in February 2026. No rules have been laid. Both accuracy and honesty require saying that the five-year route is in force and that it may not survive.
"Any graduate job will get you sponsored"
The rules narrowed sharply in July 2025.
The occupation must sit at RQF level 6 or above and the salary must clear the higher of £41,700 or the going rate. A large number of graduate-entry roles no longer qualify at all. Check the occupation code before accepting an offer, not after.
"You can bring your family on a student visa"
Not since January 2024.
Only students on a PhD, other doctoral qualification or research-based higher degree, or government-sponsored students on courses of six months or more, may bring dependants. A taught master's does not qualify, whatever your finances.
Applying from Pakistan
What the money and the medical require
The fee stack
Student visa £558 since 8 April 2026, plus biometrics £19.20, plus a VFS or Gerry's service fee of roughly PKR 6,000 to 8,000. Paid in rupees at the Home Office's own quarterly rate, around PKR 365 to the pound, so the market rate does not apply.
The IHS surprises people
The Immigration Health Surcharge is £776 a year, paid upfront for the whole visa length. A one-year master's is usually granted about 16 months, so you pay for two years, £1,552. It is refundable if the visa is refused, but only if claimed within 30 days of the refusal.
Maintenance and medical
£13,761 for London or £10,539 outside, for 9 months, plus unpaid tuition. Held for 28 consecutive days without the balance dipping on any single day. A TB test before applying, at an IOM-approved clinic only. Any other clinic is rejected.
Refusal rates rose sharply and some universities responded
Pakistan's UK student visa refusal rate rose from under 6 percent to 41 percent in the six months to March 2026, the steepest rise of any major sending country. Sponsoring universities must keep their own refusal rate under 5 percent or risk their licence to enrol international students, and some have restricted or paused Pakistani admissions to protect that rating. Check that a university is currently open to Pakistani applicants before you pay a deposit. Where a file looks weak, some students withdraw rather than be refused, which protects the university's metric and costs the student the money.
A levy on international student fees from August 2028
The 2025 Budget announced an international student levy of £925 per student per year of study, starting in August 2028. It is charged to universities, not directly to you, but it is widely expected to be passed through into tuition fees. It requires an act of Parliament, unlike most of the other changes in this guide, so it is further from certain. If you are planning a 2028 or later start, budget for tuition being higher than today's published figures.
The one-year master's is still the best value in this guide
Nowhere else in this set delivers a full master's in twelve months. Typical placements run £14,000 to £18,000 for a one-year master's, or £18,000 to £23,000 in total for a two-year master's with a placement year, which is the route most students take. Living costs vary far more than tuition: about £600 a month covers everything in Belfast, against roughly £1,200 a month sharing in London on a minimum budget. Choosing the city is a bigger financial decision than choosing the course.
Straight answers
What this guide will not promise you
This guide does not promise that a degree produces settlement. Every stage past the Graduate Route depends on a licensed sponsor offering a qualifying role at or above a threshold that has risen repeatedly.
Do not rely on a remembered salary threshold or occupation list. Both changed in 2024 and again in July 2025, and the Temporary Shortage List is scheduled to close at the end of 2026.
Whether earned settlement passes, in what form, or who it applies to. Anyone telling you confidently either way is guessing. Plan on the rules in force and review annually.
About this briefing
Written for students and families. Figures reflect the Immigration Rules in force in August 2026, including the July 2025 skill-level changes, the January 2026 English requirement and the Graduate Route change taking effect on 1 January 2027.
Verify before advising
gov.uk for the Student, Graduate and Skilled Worker routes and the current salary thresholds. The Home Office earned settlement consultation for the proposed changes, which are not yet law. Your university's international office for sponsor status.
Not immigration advice
This is a general guide, not immigration advice. It does not replace a qualified immigration solicitor or adviser where one is required.