Working in London
International students are allowed to work for up to 20 hours per week during term time, and full-time during vacations. Once a student successfully completes their degree, they are eligible for a 2-year Graduate Visa. During this 2-year period, they can work without restriction (or sponsorship). If a student finds a sponsor, they can be granted a work permit for up to 5 years, after which they are eligible for indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
To ensure our international students succeed beyond higher education, they have access to:
- Our Let’s Grow programme (within and outside the curriculum) which has a specific employability focus.
- One-to-one employment support is provided through our Centre for Student Engagement, Wellbeing and Success (SEWS).
- Access to Student Circus as soon as we issue them with a CAS (no other higher education provider does this)
- A range of extra-curricular activities through our Centre for Community Engagement and Learning, further developing their transferrable skills, for example through:
- We provide on-going engagement with our graduates through our alumni service.
Graduate Visa
If you successfully achieve a UK degree qualification from us, you can make an application to the Graduate Visa. This allows you to work or look for work after your studies for a maximum period of 2 years (3 years if you obtain a PhD qualification).
To qualify, you must have:
- successfully completed one of our degree courses
- valid permission to stay in the UK under the Student or Tier 4 route at the time of submitting your application
- no access to public funds
You do not need to show your living costs for your visa application, but you will need to provide the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number you used for your most recent student application.
Via application costs
The visa application costs £700 for the standard service, plus £1,248 for the Immigration Health Surcharge for the two years, which is £624 per year. You do not need a job offer to apply to the Graduate visa
Non-settlement route
The Graduate visa does not lead to settlement, but at the end of the two years you can switch into other immigration routes. These include the Skilled Worker, Global Talent or the Innovator routes, all of which lead to settlement. You will be able to make the application from within the UK, as long as you submit the application before your existing visa expires. A Fact Sheet about the Graduate immigration route can be found here.
If you have any questions regarding the Graduate route or any of the above information, please contact our Compliance Manager at visa.compliance@bil.ac.uk or call us on +44(0)20 7078 8843.