UK Master's and the Graduate Visa: The 18-Month Test
What comes after is much harder. A Skilled Worker visa needs a job with an approved sponsor in an eligible occupation, paid at least £41,700 or the job's going rate, whichever is higher (GOV.UK, Skilled Worker visa: Your job). Oxford's Migration Observatory notes that the Graduate route postpones those thresholds and doesn't remove them, and that the Skilled Worker criteria have changed numerous times in the past few years (Migration Observatory).
What the Oxford data does and doesn't tell you
The closest thing to evidence on who makes the jump comes from Oxford's Migration Observatory, in an analysis published in July 2026 that uses Home Office data obtained through freedom of information requests. Among non-EU students who got study visas in 2021, 23% had switched to a Skilled Worker visa by the end of their fourth full year in the UK (Migration Observatory).
That cohort arrived in 2021, when the main salary threshold was roughly £26,000 and middle-skilled jobs were eligible, and care roles were added in early 2022. The threshold has since risen to £41,700, medium-skilled jobs now qualify only if they're on the immigration salary list or the temporary shortage list, and the care route has been closed to overseas recruitment since July 2025 (Migration Observatory; GOV.UK, Your job).
Oxford says that 23% may fall for more recent cohorts, and that it's too early to know how recent arrivals will fare, because the Graduate visa lets them delay the decision. Its figures on what switchers do cover people who moved directly from a study visa to work, not those who went through the Graduate visa first, and 47% of them went into graduate-level jobs in the year ending March 2026. It has no data on subject or level of study for people receiving Skilled Worker visas, although most international students in the UK study for master's degrees (Migration Observatory). I'd read 23% as a best case and not a forecast.
Someone who tried to stay
A man I know finished his UK master's and spent his two years on the Graduate visa looking for a sponsored job. He didn't find one in time. What kept him in the UK was a care job whose employer agreed to sponsor him, and that's how he was able to stay.
His story fits the pattern in the Oxford data. Between January 2021 and March 2026, 44% of people who moved directly from a study visa to a Skilled Worker visa became care or senior care workers (Migration Observatory). That door has narrowed. Oxford suggests students switching into care may now need previous UK experience in the sector, though it offers that as one possible explanation for falling numbers and not as a confirmed rule. The government is due to close the care sector to all migrant recruitment from 2028, and has proposed lengthening the wait for permanent status from 5 to 15 years for jobs below graduate level (Migration Observatory).
I read his case as proof that people find ways to stay, and as a warning not to plan on the same route being open to you.
Five conditions that must all hold by month 18
Think of these as a chain. A break in any link ends the plan.
First, a sponsor. You need a job offer from an employer approved by the Home Office, and the approved list is public. An employer that isn't on it can apply for a licence, which costs £611 for small businesses and charities or £1,682 for medium and large organisations, and usually takes around eight weeks (GOV.UK, Skilled Worker visa: Your job).
Second, an eligible occupation. Every job has a four-digit occupation code. Jobs coded "higher skilled" qualify. Jobs coded "medium skilled" qualify only if they're on the immigration salary list or the temporary shortage list (GOV.UK).
Third, the salary. It has to meet both the £41,700 floor and the going rate for the occupation code, and GOV.UK's own example is a £42,000 salary that fails because the going rate is £45,000. New entrants get a discount: you can be paid 70% of the going rate as long as the salary is at least £33,400. It applies if you're on a Graduate visa (or were within the last two years and it was your most recent visa), or if you're currently on a Student visa studying at bachelor's level or above (GOV.UK, When you can be paid less).
Fourth, the new-entrant clock. GOV.UK says your total stay can't be more than four years if you use that discount, and that this includes time you've already spent on a Graduate visa. If you use all 18 months of Graduate time first, at most about two and a half years are left. GOV.UK doesn't spell out how it counts a switch partway through the Graduate visa, so ask the employer's immigration adviser.
Fifth, the timing. You must apply for the visa within three months of getting your certificate of sponsorship (GOV.UK, Your job). The job offer and the certificate both have to arrive, and the application has to follow, inside your 18 months.
English is the condition you can mostly set aside. A degree-level qualification awarded by a UK institution and taught in English is one of the accepted ways to prove it, and the required level is B2 for people switching from another visa (GOV.UK, Knowledge of English).
How to test each condition before you pay
Do the arithmetic for a role you actually want. GOV.UK's Your job page links to the CASCOT tool for finding a job's four-digit code, the table of eligible occupations, the going rates table and the list of approved employers. Check the code is eligible, then look up the going rate. Your new-entrant minimum is the higher of £33,400 and 70% of the going rate. As an illustration of GOV.UK's rule: if the going rate is £45,000, 70% is £31,500, so the £33,400 floor applies. If it's £60,000, 70% is £42,000, so you'd need £42,000 even with the discount.
Then check the sponsor side. Search the approved list for employers in your field and city. A licence tells you an employer can sponsor, not that it will sponsor your role. If a recruiter promises sponsorship, ask four things: is the employer on the approved list, what occupation code and going rate does the job carry, what salary is on offer, and who assigns the certificate of sponsorship and when. If the employer isn't approved yet, ask whether it has applied for a licence, since that adds delay.
If you can't name approved employers who hire for your target code at your new-entrant minimum, treat that as the answer to the feasibility test, before you pay a deposit.
Start the search during the degree
Take a 12-month master's that starts in September 2027. You finish around September 2028, your university reports completion, and you apply. The visa starts the day it's approved, and GOV.UK says decisions usually come within eight weeks (GOV.UK, Graduate visa). From that start date you have 18 months to land an offer, get a certificate of sponsorship, and apply within three months of receiving it.
Your search doesn't have to wait for that clock. The new-entrant salary discount also covers people still on a Student visa at bachelor's level or above (GOV.UK, When you can be paid less), so the salary test is the same whether you meet an employer in your first term or your last month. The practical limit is your Student visa's work rules.
At degree level you can work up to 20 hours a week in term time, counted Monday to Sunday, and you can't average hours across weeks (University of Edinburgh; University of Warwick). Paid work counts, and so does unpaid work done under an obligation, which includes an unpaid internship that isn't part of your course. Genuine volunteering for a charity or public body, with no contract and no pay, doesn't count (University of Edinburgh; University of Warwick). A placement that is an assessed, integral part of your course can be full-time and sits outside the 20 hours (University of Edinburgh; University of Warwick).
For a one-year taught master's, most of the course is term time. Edinburgh lists only winter and spring vacations and treats the summer dissertation as term time, and Warwick treats the whole one-year course as term time (University of Edinburgh; University of Warwick). You can work full-time once your programme end date has passed and you have no outstanding academic work, until your visa expires. Unlike the Graduate visa, a Student visa doesn't allow self-employment or freelancing (University of Edinburgh; University of Warwick). Check how your own university defines term time before you accept an internship.
What the visas cost
The Graduate visa is £937 plus the healthcare surcharge, usually £1,035 for each year you'll be in the UK (GOV.UK, Graduate visa). A later switch to Skilled Worker costs £943 for a stay of up to three years or £1,865 for longer, plus the surcharge, and you'd need £1,270 in savings unless you've held a valid UK visa for at least 12 months or your employer covers the first month (GOV.UK, Skilled Worker visa: How much it costs). Compare those figures with your tuition before you decide, and ask whether the degree pays back if the Graduate visa turns out to be all the UK work you get.
When I'd say yes, and when I'd say no
My rule is simple. I'd say yes to a UK master's if the occupation I'm aiming for is in high demand and employers actually sponsor for it. If I can't show both, I'd say no. "In demand" and "sponsorable" are separate tests: a job can be easy to find and still sit outside the eligible list, so check the occupation tables before you rely on job adverts.
The second half of my rule is about the degree itself. While you're still in school, do internships or volunteer work so you have real experience before you graduate. Oxford notes that people who switch directly from study to work visas may include those who found a job quickly, perhaps by working part-time during their studies (Migration Observatory). That's a possibility, not a finding, but it fits the rule. The section above covers how to fit that experience inside your visa's work limits.
What to do this week
Pick the job titles you'd want two years after graduating, find their four-digit codes, and note the going rates. Work out your new-entrant minimum for each. Search the approved list for employers in your field. Email your target university's careers team and ask what share of last year's international graduates on your course held a sponsored job within 18 months. If they can't say, you've learned something. Re-check the rules the week you pay, since the Skilled Worker criteria have changed numerous times.
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