What is the Graduate route visa and how many people get it?

The Graduate visa lets international students who complete an eligible UK degree stay to work or look for work. According to GOV.UK, it lasts 2 years if you apply on or before 31 December 2026 and 18 months if you apply on or after 1 January 2027, with longer for people with a PhD.

Home Office immigration system statistics show 157,356 Graduate route grants in the year ending June 2026, 39% fewer than the year before. Indian (64,495), Pakistani (22,383) and Nigerian (20,604) nationals received the most.

Graduate route grants are extensions for people already in the UK, so they are counted separately from new study visas. Rules on length have changed, so check which date a claim refers to.

Official sources: GOV.UK: Graduate visa · Home Office: study visas statistics

The latest figure

The newest value is at Home Office. More on it: Work visas granted (UK).

When is the next figure out?

Quarterly in Immigration system statistics (next: 26 November 2026, covering the year ending September 2026). The Home Office also publishes monthly provisional figures on applications for key work routes. File URLs change each quarter

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Net migration
  Long-term immigration minus long-term emigration over a period, usually a rolling year. It measures the net change in population from migration.
• Rolling average
  An average recalculated each period over a fixed window, such as the latest three months or twelve months, to smooth out short-term ups and downs.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Headline figure
  The main summary number that a statistical release leads with, such as annual CPI inflation or quarterly GDP growth. Other measures in the same release can tell a different story.

Where the figures come from

• Higher education and student finance statistics (HESA, Student Loans Company, Office for Students and DfE)
  Official figures on UK student numbers, international students, student loan debt, graduate earnings, university finances and apprenticeships.
• Home Office statistics (immigration, borders and policing)
  Find Home Office figures on small boat arrivals, asylum, hotels, visas, returns, detention, police numbers and stop and search, and how to read them.

Related questions

• How many international students are in the UK?
• What is net migration to the UK?
• How much student loan debt is there in the UK?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about universities and student finance: all Universities and student finance questions.