Switching from a Graduate visa to Skilled Worker

If you hold a Graduate visa, you can apply from inside the UK to switch to a Skilled Worker visa, provided you have a job with a Home Office-approved sponsor that meets the route’s skill and salary rules, and you apply online before your Graduate permission expires. The Graduate visa cannot be extended, so the switch is the main way to stay in the UK for work once it runs out. This guide explains what you need, what it costs, how the application runs in order, and where applicants most often go wrong.

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TL;DR

You can switch from inside the UK, but only with a sponsored job, a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) and an application made before your Graduate visa ends.
For most new CoS, the job must be at RQF level 6 or above (or on a shortage list) and pay at least the higher of £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation.
Government charges are separate from legal fees: the in-country fee is £943 for up to 3 years, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge, and you will usually need maintenance funds.
Do not travel outside the common travel area while the application is pending, or it is treated as withdrawn.
Start the job search for a sponsor early. The Graduate route is being shortened to 18 months for applications from 1 January 2027.

What switching actually means
The requirements you must meet
What it costs
The application, step by step
While the application is pending
Bringing your partner and children
Timing: the 2027 change to the Graduate route
Mistakes we see, and how to avoid them
Our perspective
How we can help
FAQ
Sources

What switching actually means

The Graduate visa is unsponsored. It lets you work, be self-employed or volunteer (professional sportspeople excluded) without an employer’s backing, but it is time-limited and cannot be extended. The Skilled Worker visa is the opposite: it is tied to a specific job and a specific licensed employer.

That difference matters for your planning. On a Graduate visa you can change jobs freely. On a Skilled Worker visa, a change of job or employer normally needs an update application. In return, Skilled Worker permission can be granted for up to 5 years and can lead to settlement if you meet the settlement requirements, which the Graduate route never can.

Graduate and Skilled Worker route comparison

GOV.UK confirms that a person already in the UK can apply to switch to Skilled Worker if they meet the requirements and apply before their current permission expires. You do not need to leave the country, and your Graduate visa remains valid while the application is decided.

The requirements you must meet

There are four things to line up, and a weakness in any one of them can lead to a refusal.

Your employer must hold a sponsor licence and assign you a Certificate of Sponsorship. A job offer alone is not enough. The Home Office guidance for sponsors treats sponsorship as a three-way exercise: the employer must be licensed, the job must be correctly classified, and pay must meet the applicable threshold.

If the employer has no licence yet, that adds time before they can issue your CoS. Ask early, in the interview stage if you can, whether the company is already licensed and has sponsored before.

2. A job at the right skill level

For applications under the framework in force since 22 July 2025, the job normally has to be at RQF level 6 or above, or qualify through the Immigration Salary List or Temporary Shortage List. Two points catch people out:

The level concerns the work and its duties, not your degree. You do not necessarily need a graduate qualification, but the duties must genuinely fit the occupation code.
The sponsor must choose the correct SOC 2020 occupation code. A job title that sounds graduate-level but whose duties match a lower-skilled code can fail.

Our advice is to ask your employer for the draft job description and the proposed occupation code before the CoS is assigned, not after.

3. The salary threshold

You must be paid at least the higher of £41,700 a year or the going rate for your occupation, unless a specific discounted or transitional provision applies. The going rate varies by SOC code, so a salary that clears £41,700 can still fall short for a higher-paid occupation. Our own guide to the £41,700 salary test explains how the calculation works in practice.

Some occupations on the Immigration Salary List benefit from lower thresholds and lower fees. Check the exact position for your code rather than assuming.

4. English language and maintenance

The English requirement for Skilled Worker was raised from B1 to B2 on the CEFR scale in the October 2025 changes. If you studied a degree taught in English in the UK, check whether your existing evidence meets the current rules rather than relying on what a friend did two years ago.

On maintenance, you will usually need £1,270 available unless you are exempt or your sponsor certifies maintenance on the CoS.

What it costs

Budget for the government charges first, then add professional fees. The figures below are those GOV.UK lists for an in-country switch at the time of writing, and they can change, so confirm them on the day you apply.

Item	Amount	Notes
Application fee, up to 3 years	£943	Per person
Application fee, more than 3 years	£1,865	Per person
Immigration Health Surcharge	£1,035 per year	Usually payable for each year of permission
Maintenance funds	£1,270	Usually required unless exempt or sponsor certifies

These come from the GOV.UK costs page. Lower fees can apply where the job is on the Immigration Salary List.

Worked example: a graduate granted 3 years would pay £943 for the application and £3,105 in health surcharge (3 × £1,035), a total of £4,048 in government charges, before any legal fee and with £1,270 held in savings if the sponsor does not certify maintenance. Ask your employer whether they will cover the visa costs, since many sponsors do, but agree it in writing before you accept the offer.

What it costs — overview diagram

Our own fee for a Skilled / Care Worker visa application is £1,000, and an initial one-hour consultation is £120, both as set out on our fees page. These are our professional fees and are separate from the Home Office charges above.

The application, step by step

Secure an eligible role. Check the duties, occupation code and salary against the rules before you accept.
Confirm the employer’s sponsor licence. Ask the employer to confirm it is active and that they are able to assign a CoS in the relevant occupation.
Receive your Certificate of Sponsorship. The CoS must generally be used within 3 months, so do not let the reference number sit.
Check your evidence. Passport, English language evidence, maintenance funds (or the sponsor’s certification), and your Graduate visa details.
Apply online before your Graduate permission expires. This is the date that matters most. Our firm’s practical advice is to aim to apply weeks before expiry, not days.
Prove your identity and upload documents. Follow the instructions in your application.
Wait for the decision. The usual in-country decision time is 8 weeks. Any expedited service is a separate Home Office service, so do not assume it is available without checking the current position.

Our guide to the UK job offer visa process walks through the employer side in more detail, and our Skilled Worker requirements guide covers the rules in full.

While the application is pending

The most expensive mistake after a good application is travelling. GOV.UK says you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you get a decision; if you do, the application is withdrawn. Book nothing non-refundable until you have your outcome.

Other practical points:

Keep working under your Graduate visa conditions. Your existing permission continues until the decision, and you should be clear with your employer about the start date they expect.
Keep your CoS details and application reference together and respond promptly to any Home Office request.
Have a fallback in mind. If the sponsored job falls through before you apply, you will need a new sponsor and a new CoS, and the clock on your Graduate permission keeps running. Some graduates in that position weigh up building a career abroad instead, and a practical guide to relocating from the UK to Dubai shows what moving there involves, from company set-up to family visas.

Bringing your partner and children

A Skilled Worker’s partner and children may apply as dependants, but each person submits a separate application and meets the relationship, immigration and financial requirements. Dependants are not automatically transferred from your Graduate visa to your new one. From inside the UK they can generally apply at the same time, or before their current permission expires, subject to the switching exclusions, as GOV.UK explains.

GOV.UK lists dependant maintenance of £285 for a partner, £315 for one child and £200 for each additional child, with funds generally held for 28 consecutive days, unless an exemption applies. The same page sets out the rules on timing. Because each application has its own fee, surcharge and evidence, family planning belongs in your first review, not at the end. Our fee for each additional family member on top of a main application is £400, listed on our fees page.

Timing: the 2027 change to the Graduate route

People also ask what happens to the Graduate visa from 2027. GOV.UK states that the route is reduced from 2 years to 18 months for applications made on or after 1 January 2027, while PhD and other doctoral graduates continue to receive 3 years. Existing permission is not described as being shortened retrospectively.

In practice, the date that counts is when you applied for the Graduate visa, not when you plan to switch. If you apply for a Graduate visa in 2027, you will have less time to find a sponsor, so treat the job search as a project that starts in your final year of study, not in the last months of your leave.

Mistakes we see, and how to avoid them

Waiting until the last month. Sponsor licences, CoS assignment and document gathering all take time. Leaving it late risks losing lawful status.
Trusting the job title. The duties and the SOC 2020 code decide eligibility. Review them before you resign from anything or turn down other offers.
Missing the 3-month CoS window. Apply promptly after the CoS is assigned.
Forgetting the going rate. £41,700 is a floor, not always the figure that applies to you.
Travelling while pending. It withdraws the application.
Ignoring dependants. Separate applications, fees and evidence apply to each person.
Not thinking beyond the first visa. Settlement can come after five years if all requirements are met, so keep your employment and absences record tidy from day one. Our Skilled Worker ILR checklist covers this.

And if you later get promoted or change role, check first whether it needs an update application. Our note on why a promotion can need a visa update explains when.

Our perspective

We see the same pattern again and again: a graduate has a good job offer, a few weeks left on their visa, and an employer who has never sponsored anyone. The case is rarely lost on eligibility. It is lost on timing and on small details, such as an occupation code that does not match the duties, or a salary that clears the general threshold but not the going rate.

That is why every enquiry at MNS Solicitors is handled by a qualified solicitor from the start, not passed to a trainee. We review the job description, the code and the salary before you commit, and we tell you plainly if the offer will not work. Our fees are fixed and published, so you know the cost of our work upfront. If your deadline is close, our fast-track service can prepare an application in as little as 24 hours.

The Graduate and Skilled Worker routes solve different problems. Graduate permission gives you flexibility, and Skilled Worker gives you security and a path to settlement. Weigh the two honestly before you accept the terms of sponsorship.

— michelle

How we can help

We prepare Skilled Worker applications for a fixed fee of £1,000, with a one-hour initial consultation at £120 if you want to test your job offer first. If your Graduate visa is close to expiry, our urgent visa service is designed for tight deadlines. You can see all published prices on our fees page, or read about how a solicitor supports these cases in our guide to the solicitor’s role in Skilled Worker applications. Over 170 clients have left us five-star Google reviews, and you can start from our main site.

FAQ

Can I switch to a Skilled Worker visa without leaving the UK?

Yes. If you hold a Graduate visa you can apply from inside the UK, as long as you have an eligible sponsored job and apply online before your permission expires. You must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you have a decision.

Can I work in the UK on a Graduate visa while I wait?

Yes, the Graduate visa allows work, self-employment and voluntary work, but not work as a professional sportsperson. Your Graduate conditions continue to apply until the Skilled Worker decision. Your new sponsored job under the Skilled Worker visa should only start once that permission is granted, unless your adviser confirms otherwise for your case.

How long does a switch take?

The usual GOV.UK decision time for an in-country application is 8 weeks. Do not assume a faster service is available without checking the current Home Office options. Plan to apply well before your Graduate visa ends.

What happens to the Graduate visa from 2027?

For applications made on or after 1 January 2027, the Graduate visa is 18 months instead of 2 years, with 3 years for doctoral graduates. The change is not described as shortening permission already granted. The date you applied for the Graduate visa is what counts.

Does my degree have to be relevant to the job?

The rules look at the job’s skill level and duties rather than requiring a specific degree. The job must normally be at RQF level 6 or above, or on a relevant shortage list, and the occupation code must fit the real duties. A solicitor can check this before your employer assigns the CoS.