Switching from the Graduate visa to a Skilled Worker visa
A Graduate visa holder can switch inside the UK at the new entrant rate: 70 % of the going rate, at least £33,400. Graduate time counts towards the 4-year limit on that rate.
Your salary test after the Graduate visa
Minimum salary for this job
£33,400
Your salary of £34,000 meets it, with £600 to spare.
| Points option E | £33,400 floor · 70% of the rate |
| Going rate (full time) | £41,200 |
| Going rate per hour | £21.13 |
| Your pay per hour | £17.44 |
| Visa fee, up to 3 years (outside the UK) | £819 |
| Health surcharge, 3 years | £3,105 |
Higher skilled occupation (Table 1): eligible.
Your total stay on these discounted rates (including Graduate visa time) is limited to 4 years.
Threshold in each situation
| Standard rate | £41,700 |
| New entrant (under 26, recent student or graduate, in training) | £33,400 |
| PhD in a STEM subject relevant to the job | £33,400 |
| PhD in another subject relevant to the job | £37,500 |
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
The Graduate visa cannot be extended, so staying on means switching to another route, and GOV.UK gives the Skilled Worker visa as its example. The switch has a clear advantage: because your most recent permission is as a Graduate, you count as a new entrant, and your job only needs to pay 70 % of the going rate for its code with a floor of £33,400, instead of £41,700 or the full rate. An IT tester (code 2136) would need £33,400 rather than £41,700. The limit is time. Your combined Graduate and Skilled Worker permission on that rate cannot exceed 4 years, so a 2-year Graduate visa leaves 2 years at the new entrant rate. Graduate visas applied for from 1 January 2027 last 18 months, leaving 2 years and 6 months. Switching inside the UK costs £943 for up to three years plus the health surcharge. The checker above is set to the new entrant rate.
Why Graduate visa holders get the lower rate
Rule SW 12.2(f) treats you as a new entrant if your most recent permission, ignoring any visit, was as a Graduate, and if that permission has expired, it expired less than two years before you apply. You do not need to be under 26. The employer sponsors you at option E: the 70 % column of Appendix Skilled Occupations, never below £33,400. The job must still be in an eligible code, normally one of the 91 higher skilled codes in Table 1, with a sponsor that is A-rated on the register.
The link is to your most recent permission. Move from Graduate to another visa first and you lose the Graduate route into option E, though you may still qualify through age or professional training. Students who finish a UK degree can also go straight to Skilled Worker as new entrants without passing through the Graduate visa, if the job starts after the course ends.
The four-year clock and the 2027 change
Rule SW 12.3 adds up your permission as a Skilled Worker, Graduate and Tier 2 migrant: granting a new entrant application must not take the total past 4 years. What you spend on the Graduate visa is deducted first.
| Graduate visa | Graduate leave | Left at the new entrant rate |
|---|---|---|
| Applied for on or before 31 December 2026 | 2 years | 2 years |
| Applied for on or after 1 January 2027 | 18 months | 2 years and 6 months |
| PhD or other doctorate | 3 years | 1 year |
Switching earlier keeps more of the allowance. A graduate who starts a Graduate visa of 18 months on 1 February 2027 would see it end on 1 August 2028, and the 4-year allowance measured from the same day would run out around 1 February 2031; a certificate of sponsorship has to fit inside that. After it, the next application is tested at £41,700 or the full going rate, and settlement also uses the full going rate, so the salary has to grow before then.
Applying from inside the UK
You switch online before the Graduate visa expires and wait in the UK. The fee is the in-country one, £943 for up to three years or £1,865 for longer, plus the health surcharge for the new leave. A switch for 2 years costs £943 plus £2,070, £3,013 in total. The standard decision time is 8 weeks, and you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until it arrives.
Two requirements are often easier at this point. If you have been in the UK with permission for 12 months, you do not need to show the £1,270 of savings. And a degree awarded by a UK institution and taught in English proves English at the level required, B2. Your employer pays the certificate of sponsorship and, unless an exemption applies, the immigration skills charge; neither can be passed to you. Partners and children who were not with you on the Graduate visa can apply to join you once you hold Skilled Worker permission, if your code allows dependants. The new entrant page lists the other routes into the lower rate, the Graduate visa page covers the visa itself, and GOV.UK: Graduate visa has the official text.