The Graduate Route Ends.
Your Career Doesn't Have To.

The two-year clock starts the day your Graduate visa is granted, and Your two years on the Graduate Route are counted from the day it is granted, so it helps to plan early. If you decide to move into sponsored work, the Skilled Worker route lets Graduate Route holders apply from inside the UK, at any point before the Graduate visa expires.

Gov.uk keeps a short list of visas that cannot switch to Skilled Worker from inside the UK, visit visas and short-term student visas among them. The Graduate Route is not on it. That means you apply online from within the UK, and your lawful status continues while the Home Office decides. You do not need to leave the country and start again — you build on the time you have already put in.

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The new entrant rate — the lower £33,400 salary threshold — is what makes Graduate Route holders affordable to employers early in their careers. It comes with a limit: new entrant status lasts a maximum of four years in total, and that count includes the time already spent on the Graduate visa. Once those four years are used, or new entrant status otherwise ends, the standard threshold (£41,700, or the occupation's going rate) applies.
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The thresholds are not fixed. The general figure rose to £41,700 in July 2025, and the Home Office reviewed salary requirements again in December 2025, publishing its report in January 2026. They have generally moved upward, not down.
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One date affects the Graduate Route itself: students who apply on or after 1 January 2027 receive 18 months rather than two years. If you already hold the visa, your two years stand. Our Graduate Route guide has the full picture

Once your Skilled Worker visa is granted, the day-to-day rules are straightforward. Your visa is tied to the sponsoring employer and the specific role, so if you change jobs — or your role changes significantly — you will usually need a fresh Certificate of Sponsorship and a new application. Keep your own copies of your CoS, payslips and visa documents; you will want them at every step.

Beyond the job itself, the wider rules around this route change often. The Home Office reviews salary thresholds, eligible occupations and requirements regularly, and further changes are expected. What is true this year may not hold next year, and how a change applies to people already on the route is not always clear when it is announced.So treat gov.uk as the source of record, and for anything about your own longer-term position, speak to an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA, formerly OISC) or a qualified immigration solicitor. NISAU cannot advise on your individual case — but we track the rules as they move, and we update this guide when they change.

Sources: [9]