UK reduces post-study work visa from 2 years to 18 months

Nigerian students studying in the United Kingdom are among the thousands of international students affected by the UK government’s latest policy reducing the duration of the Graduate Route visa from two years to 18 months.

The change, announced Monday as part of the UK government’s new Immigration White Paper, forms part of what officials describe as a sweeping crackdown on “systemic abuse and mission drift” in the areas of education, asylum, and family immigration.

According to the UK Home Office, the Graduate Route, originally designed to allow international graduates to remain in the country for two years post-study to gain work experience, is now considered vulnerable to misuse. The revised policy reduces that window to 18 months and imposes stricter conditions on eligibility for skilled work visas, as well as tighter restrictions on the ability to bring dependents.

“The Graduate Route has not met its original objectives. It has become a loophole for unsponsored work and a magnet for abuse. Migration must be controlled and compliant. Our reforms will close the back doors and shut down abuse across the system,” the policy document stated.

The new rules are also designed to target institutions that fall short of compliance benchmarks. Only universities that meet “enhanced compliance standards” will be allowed to continue recruiting international students.

Schools with low progression-to-employment rates or those found engaging in questionable recruitment practices face the risk of losing their international recruitment licenses.