Graduate visa expiring without a sponsored job: your options in date order

By Maksym Gavrylenko · Updated 15 September 2026

Short answer

You cannot extend a Graduate visa, and no grace period lets you stay on to look for work. With a sponsored job offer, you can switch to a Skilled Worker visa if you apply before your visa expires. Without one, a sponsor can pay you the new-entrant rate (70% of the going rate, at least £33,400) if you apply from abroad less than 2 years after your Graduate visa expired, with no other visa since apart from a visit visa.

Check how much time you have left

Your Graduate visa runs from the date your application was approved. It lasts 2 years if you applied on or before 31 December 2026, or 3 years with a PhD or other doctoral qualification. Without a doctoral qualification, a Graduate visa applied for on or after 1 January 2027 lasts 18 months: see Graduate visa cut to 18 months.

GOV.UK says: "You cannot extend your Graduate visa." You may be able to switch to another visa, such as a Skilled Worker visa, and you have to apply for that switch before your current visa expires.

The more time you spend on a Graduate visa, the less time you can get at the new-entrant salary rate later. If you qualify for that rate, your total stay in the UK cannot be more than 4 years, and GOV.UK adds: "This includes any time you've already spent in the UK on a Graduate visa."

Example: time left under the 4-year cap, counting only a full Graduate visa
Graduate visa used	Most time left at the new-entrant rate
2 years	2 years
18 months	2 years 6 months
3 years (PhD)	1 year

Before it expires: switch to Skilled Worker from inside the UK

You can move from a Graduate visa to a Skilled Worker visa without leaving the UK if you apply in time. GOV.UK says: "You must apply online before your current visa expires." You'll usually get a decision within 8 weeks. If you travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before then, your application is withdrawn.

The steps, in order

A job offer from an approved UK employer, who becomes your sponsor.
A certificate of sponsorship from that employer: an electronic record with a reference number. GOV.UK says: "You must apply for your visa within 3 months of getting your certificate of sponsorship."
Your visa application, filed before your Graduate visa ends.

The job's occupation code has to be "higher skilled". A "medium skilled" code qualifies only in limited cases, such as a job on the immigration salary list, or on the temporary shortage list for a certificate of sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026.

You need the offer and the certificate early enough to apply before your expiry date. An employer can hold a licence and still not sponsor your role. Read sponsor licence vs sponsored job before you count on one.

The salary the job has to pay

The job has to pay £41,700 or its going rate, whichever is higher. If you're "currently in the UK on a Graduate visa", your sponsor can pay you the new-entrant rate instead: 70% of the going rate, with a floor of £33,400.

Example salaries using the GOV.UK going-rate table updated 22 July 2025
Occupation code	Going rate	Standard rate	New-entrant rate
2134 Programmers and software development professionals	£54,700	£54,700	£38,300
2136 IT quality and testing professionals	£41,200	£41,700	£33,400 (70% is £28,840, below the floor)

Fees and English

Application fee from inside the UK: £943 for up to 3 years, or £1,865 for more than 3 years.
If the job is on the immigration salary list: £628 or £1,235. GOV.UK says this fee is the same inside or outside the UK.
Healthcare surcharge: usually £1,035 a year.
English at level B2. A degree taught in English and awarded by a UK institution counts as proof.

On the expiry date: is there a Graduate visa grace period?

No. Once your Graduate visa expires, no grace period lets you stay in the UK to work or look for a job. Before 24 November 2016, the Immigration Rules gave overstayers a 28-day grace period to regularise their status.

The caseworker guidance on applications from overstayers (version 13.0, published 3 August 2026) says the Immigration Rules were amended to abolish that grace period and instead provide a 14-day period in which overstaying is disregarded. Part Suitability SUI 13.1(a) limits it to an application made within 14 days of your permission expiring, and only where the decision maker accepts "a good reason beyond the control of the applicant" for not applying in time.

If you stay past your expiry date without permission, you are an overstayer, with "no permission to work, privately rent, or access benefits and social care in the UK".

Leaving on time protects your next application

If you were 18 or over, overstaying counts as a breach of immigration law unless an exception applies (SUI 11.4). An application for entry clearance (a visa applied for from outside the UK) made within the set period after a breach must be refused (SUI 11.1). Overstaying that began on or after 6 April 2017 is disregarded if it lasted 30 days or less and you left the UK voluntarily, not at the expense of the Secretary of State (SUI 11.5). If you overstay longer and leave voluntarily at your own expense, the period is 12 months from the date you left (SUI 12.1).

The 30 days give you no permission to stay. A 12-month refusal period would also use up part of your 2-year new-entrant window.

After it expires: leave and keep the 2-year new-entrant window

After you leave, a sponsor can still pay you the cheaper rate. GOV.UK's new-entrant condition covers you if "you're currently in the UK on a Graduate visa (or you have been in the last 2 years, and a Graduate or visit visa was your most recent visa)".

The condition, point by point

Your most recent visa has to be the Graduate visa or a visit visa. If you hold any other UK visa after it, this reason no longer covers you.
The Immigration Rules count the 2 years from the date your Graduate visa expired to the date you apply, whatever day you left the UK (Appendix Skilled Worker, SW 12.2). JLocate counts from the end date you enter, so enter the date your visa expired.
Being under 26 on the date you apply is a separate new-entrant reason, so the 2-year limit matters most if you are 26 or over.
The 4-year total-stay cap still applies, including your Graduate visa time.

Example: for the 2134 programmer role above, a sponsor has to pay you at least £38,300 while your window is open. Once it closes, if you are 26 or over and no other reason for a lower salary applies, the minimum rises to £54,700.

Applying from abroad

Decision: usually within 3 weeks once you've applied, proved your identity and provided your documents. You may be able to pay for a faster decision.
Application fee from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, or £1,618 for more than 3 years. The healthcare surcharge still applies.
English: your UK degree taught in English still proves B2.

Apply for a Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK walks through the application. The new-entrant salary rate lists the conditions for the cheaper rate.

Can you switch to High Potential Individual or Global Talent?

GOV.UK sets these conditions for the two other routes checked for this guide:

High Potential Individual: ruled out. GOV.UK says you cannot apply for an HPI visa if "you have already been given a Graduate visa".
Global Talent: only if you qualify. The visa is for a leader or potential leader in academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology, and you need an endorsement or an eligible prestigious prize. With an endorsement it costs £766 (£561 for the endorsement and £205 for the visa), plus the healthcare surcharge.

Spend the time left on jobs that can sponsor you

With a few months left on your Graduate visa, you have little time for employers who cannot sponsor. UK Visas and Immigration publishes the register of licensed sponsors, a list of organisations licensed to sponsor workers, showing the type of worker each can sponsor and its rating. It last updated the register on 14 September 2026. A licence tells you the employer can sponsor. You still need to check the job itself.

For each role, compare the occupation code and salary with the standard rate and the new-entrant rate. The calculator runs that check. How to ask for visa sponsorship covers raising the question with an employer, and getting visa sponsorship after a Graduate visa sets out the wider plan.

The sponsor licence checker searches a copy of the GOV.UK register by employer name, taken when the site was last built, so confirm the current entry on GOV.UK. The 26 demo vacancies in the JLocate app, and their employers, are fictional; a vacancy you paste has its employer looked up on the register copy. The rules and thresholds are real. Maksym Gavrylenko checked them on GOV.UK on 15 September 2026, and Sources lists each page. This guide is information, not legal advice. For advice on your own case, speak to an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, or a solicitor.

Questions people ask

Is there a grace period when a Graduate visa expires in the UK?

No. Before 24 November 2016, the Immigration Rules gave overstayers a 28-day grace period. The 14-day period that replaced it covers only an application made within 14 days of your permission expiring, where the decision maker accepts a good reason beyond your control. It gives you no permission to stay or to work.

My Graduate visa is expiring and I have no job: what are my options in the UK?

If an offer and a certificate of sponsorship can reach you in time, you can apply to switch to Skilled Worker before your visa expires. If not, you can apply from abroad after you leave, and a sponsor can still pay you the new-entrant rate if you apply less than 2 years after your Graduate visa expired and it, or a visit visa, was your most recent visa. Global Talent needs an endorsement or an eligible prestigious prize. You cannot get a High Potential Individual visa once you have been given a Graduate visa.

What happens after my Graduate visa expiry date if I am still in the UK?

You become an overstayer, with no permission to work, privately rent, or access benefits and social care. The 14-day rule helps only an application made with a good reason beyond your control. If you were 18 or over, overstayed by more than 30 days and then left voluntarily at your own expense, an entry clearance application you make within 12 months of leaving must be refused, unless an exception applies.

Can I apply for a Skilled Worker visa after my Graduate visa has expired?

You can apply from outside the UK. GOV.UK says you must apply to switch before your current visa expires, so after that date you apply from abroad. A sponsor can pay you the new-entrant rate if you were in the UK on a Graduate visa in the last 2 years and your most recent visa was that Graduate visa or a visit visa. The 4-year cap on your total stay still applies.

Can I extend my Graduate visa?

No. GOV.UK says: "You cannot extend your Graduate visa." You may be able to switch to another visa, such as Skilled Worker. Without a PhD or other doctoral qualification, a Graduate visa applied for on or after 1 January 2027 lasts 18 months: see Graduate visa cut to 18 months.

Add your visa and the date it ends. JLocate shows the time you have left, then checks the jobs you paste in against the salary rate that applies to you, standard or new-entrant.

Check your time left →

Sources

Checked against these pages on 15 September 2026. Immigration rules change; the official page wins if it disagrees with this guide.

Built for information and planning, not legal advice. Every threshold links to its official source on the Sources screen.