Experiencing the UK Graduate route: Hong Kong, undergraduate degree

Date:Apr 2023

Topic(s): Graduate route, Recruitment, Student employability, Transition

Type(s): AGCAS Case study

The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS), a member of UKCISA’s International Student Employability Group (ISEG), has captured the experiences of international graduates seeking employment in the UK after graduation in a series of case studies.

Who are you?

Name	Anonymous
Nationality / country of origin	Hong Kong
Current visa	Graduate route
Are your expectations of your Graduate route visa being met?	Strongly disagree
University, level of study and programme of study	University in north-west England Undergraduate degree, including integrated master’s degrees (eg. BA, BSc, MBChB, MEng) Accounting and Finance (Industry)
How many roles have you applied for since leaving university?	25-50
Current activity	Employed - full-time. I had a fixed-term contract due to the visa issue and am changing to a permanent one.

Where do you work?

Job title	Associate
Employer / organisation	Restructuring advisory firm
Region of your contracted place of work	North-west England
Briefly describe your role and your main responsibilities	I work in a restructuring advisory firm, supporting insolvency cases with day-to-day work as a case administrator. I take the research and analysis role for business development and different advisory projects.
Time between the end of your course and start date for your current role	Less than 3 months
How did you find your current job?	Through my university career service

Thoughts on your visa

I could not begin Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) study with the Graduate visa. The Graduate visa has been the reason for the employer postponing and delaying my application for a Skilled worker visa.

“It was very easy to apply for a Graduate visa.”

It was very easy to apply for a Graduate visa, which I could have done online with a mobile app. However, it caused confusion when no biometric residence permit (BRP) was posted to me. This has been confusing on police registration and when arriving in the UK at the airport.

Support and development

While at university, I received CV feedback and attended both an employer event and a careers fair. Since university, I’ve undertaken self-study on data analytics, but this is not related to my current job.

Employer knowledge and attitudes

My employer does not really understand the eligibility for a Graduate route visa holder. They were not sure if a Graduate route visa holder could take ACA study. They did not seem to know how to switch me from a Graduate route visa to a Skilled Worker visa.

Although they are positive about recruiting a Graduate route visa holder, as they do not need to sponsor a visa at first, their lack of knowledge about the Skilled worker visa is used as an excuse for delaying granting me a long-term working visa. This is different to what I expected and was told when I joined the firm.

My employer has been working on acquiring a skilled worker visa for me for two months. I will hopefully be switched to a skilled worker visa soon.

What advice would you give to current international students seeking graduate employment in the UK?

“Go for a Skilled Worker visa if you can.”

Do go for a Skilled Worker visa if you can. It could take longer than you expect to transfer from a Graduate visa to a working visa.

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