Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered introducing minimum academic achievement requirements, alongside minimum attendance or engagement criteria, as part of the eligibility conditions for the Graduate Route.

The Home Office is taking steps to improve data quality and transparency regarding agents. From 7 April Student sponsors will be required to provide agent details on the Certificate of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) for all student applications where the sponsor has used an agent to recruit the student. From the same date, all sponsors will also be required to adhere to the Agent Quality Framework (AQF).

Minimum academic, attendance and engagement requirements already apply to the Graduate route. Graduate applicants are required to have successfully completed an eligible qualification whilst holding permission on the Student route and student sponsors are required to comply with the Home Office’s academic engagement policy in relation to all sponsored students.

As announced in the Immigration White Paper, from 1 January 2027 Graduates will be granted 18 months of permission instead of 2 years in recognition of the need for Graduates to transition into Graduate level jobs more quickly.