Get a graduate-level job or go home, foreign students to be told

Foreign graduates would be forced to leave the UK unless they get a graduate-level job under plans to cut Britain’s record levels of immigration.

Overseas students can stay in the UK for up to two years after university even if they do not have a job, and can also remain if they find a lower-skilled job and switch to a work visa. However, the government is considering setting a higher bar in a white paper on immigration that is set to be published soon.

Net migration hit a record 728,000 in the 12 months up to June, driven by an increase in non-EU citizens, and ministers want to cut that to pre-pandemic levels of between 200,000 and 300,000 a year.

Brian Bell, the chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), has previously said that a graduate salary level could be defined as between £36,000 and £40,000 a year.

Government sources said the bar would not be set that high but suggested they would target careers in which salaries do not typically rise beyond a certain level after several years.

The graduate visa is open to any international student who successfully finishes their course, including a nine-month master’s degree. It gives permission to stay in the UK for two years, or three years for those completing a PhD, without having to find a job.

• Skilled workers more likely to have mid-career crisis

The MAC estimated that 150,000 progressed onto the graduate visa in the UK last year and that this contributed to 10 per cent of total net migration. Most of those on the graduate route completed postgraduate taught courses and a third studied at Russell Group universities.

Four nationalities dominate the graduate route. Indians accounted for more than 40 per cent of last year’s visas. Students from India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan accounted for 70 per cent of graduate visas.

• Chinese students live in ghettos as they fail to fit in at university

Of those who switched from the graduate visa, 43 per cent moved onto a skilled worker visa and 50 per cent left the country, according to Home Office data from last year. The remainder switched to smaller visa schemes or to a student visa.

In early 2022, the government decided to make care workers with salaries of £21,000 a year eligible for a skilled worker visa. Twenty per cent of those switching from the graduate route to the skilled worker visa end up as care workers, and about 25 per cent switch to a job paying less than £24,000.

In a report last year, the MAC suggested there was “a small portion of the graduate route cohort [who] prioritise settlement above their future career prospects” and that “students may be working at a level below their experience and training”.

• UK population forecast to reach 72.5 million by 2032

However, any changes to career options for those leaving the graduate route will be scrutinised by universities, who rely on international students and the higher tuition fees they bring, and by the care sector, a third of whose workers are migrants.

Universities UK, which represents 142 institutions, said: “Given the enormous economic, social and cultural contribution which international students bring to the UK, both while studying and in later life, it will be important to review any proposed changes to our points-based immigration system carefully.

“We look forward to working with the government on their upcoming immigration white paper and preserving our attractiveness as a global study destination.”

The Home Office said: “Our upcoming immigration white paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system, linking immigration, skills and visa systems to grow our domestic workforce, end reliance on overseas labour and boost economic growth. We are not getting into a running commentary on what will be contained in the white paper.”