Visas and the MAB

The Home Office (UKVI) have announced new guidance for institutions to help navigate MAB issues that could potentially impact Student visa holders, such as applying for your Graduate Route visa, in a timely manner.

Graduate visa

One of the concessions the UKVI have announced is that students who wish to apply for the Graduate Route visa route but unable to do so due to not having received your final result before your current Student visa expires, UKVI will:

• Exercise their discretion and will hold Graduate Route visa applications for 8 weeks from the date the online visa application is submitted and they would therefore expect the university to have the student’s final result within that 8-week period and notify the Home Office of the successful course completion
• The usual rules such as having to apply for the Graduate Route visa from inside the UK before your existing Student visa expires and also needing to remain inside the UK whilst the application is pending, still applies

If your final result will not be available during this set 8-week timeframe then an alternative option could be explored with the Immigration Advisory Service, whereby:

• You may be able to exceptionally apply to extend your Student visa whilst waiting for your final result in order to then later apply for the Graduate Route visa
• This would need to be assessed on a case by case basis by the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) due to the limited number of CAS the university can issue per year

Continuing to study elsewhere

For Student visa holders who aim to be progressing to further study in the UK, you can reach out to the Immigration Advisory Service for further advice and information as to how this may affect your eligibility to apply for a new visa.