UK slashes graduate visa period, tightens immigration rules

UK slashes graduate visa period, tightens immigration rules

 Hopes of Nigerians aspiring to study and work in the United Kingdom have taken a hit following the British government’s announcement of sweeping immigration reforms, including a cut to the graduate visa route duration.

The change is part of a broader immigration reform detailed in an Immigration White Paper released on Monday, aimed at tightening what the UK government described as “systemic abuse and mission drift” across the student, asylum, and family visa systems.

“Migration must be controlled and compliant. Our reforms will close the back doors and shut down abuse across the system,” the Home Office stated on its website.

Under the revised rules, the Graduate Route, originally designed to offer international graduates two years of post-study work rights, will now provide just 18 months, and with stricter conditions. The new framework also includes a tighter transition to work visas and fewer rights to bring dependants.

“The Graduate Route has not met its original objectives,” the document stated.

“It has become a loophole for unsponsored work and a magnet for abuse.”

As part of the clampdown, only institutions that meet “enhanced compliance standards” will retain their licenses to recruit international students. Universities with low progression-to-work rates or those found to have engaged in misleading recruitment practices may face sanctions, including loss of sponsorship privileges.

The reform is expected to significantly impact Nigerian students, who in recent years have accounted for one of the largest groups of international enrollees in the UK.

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