The Graduate visa lets international students stay and work in the UK after completing a degree, without needing a job offer or sponsor. It had been due to fall from two years to 18 months for bachelor's and master's graduates applying on or after 1 January 2027, with doctoral graduates keeping three years. The Budget published on 28 October 2026 softens that cut for one group: the visa duration will be set at two years for graduates from high-compliance universities where there are strong labour market outcomes.

What the Budget changed

The change is part of a wider package ministers frame as tightening routes for lower-skilled migration while improving the offer to international talent. The same package expands the High Potential Individual visa from graduates of the world's top 80 institutions to the top 150, with a proportional rise in the cap, and gives highly skilled sponsored workers up to six months' curtailment time to find a new job. Employer payments of the Immigration Skills Charge and Certificate of Sponsorship fees will no longer count as a taxable benefit in kind for payments from 28 October 2026.

What is still unknown

Crucially, the Budget does not define "high-compliance" or say how strong outcomes will be measured, nor does it list which universities will qualify. The detailed criteria are understood to be worked out by the Home Office and the Department for Education, with a further Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules needed before the change takes effect. Until that detail is published, students should not assume their university qualifies, and applications made on or before 31 December 2026 remain under the current two-year position.

Check the official GOV.UK Graduate visa page before making any decision — immigration rules change, and this article is general news, not personal immigration advice. Sources: Times Higher Education; The PIE News; official guidance: GOV.UK Graduate visa.