Experiencing the UK Graduate route: Nigeria, master's degree

Date:May 2023

Topic(s): Graduate route, Recruitment, Student experience, 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	Nigeria
Current visa	Graduate route
Are your expectations of your Graduate route visa being met?	Agree
University, level of study and programme of study	University in Yorkshire and the Humber Higher degree, mainly by taught course (eg. MA, MSc, MBA) Geography, Earth and Environmental Studies
How many roles have you applied for since leaving university?	1-10
Current activity	Employed – full time (temporary contract)

Where do you work?

Job title	Geospatial engineer
Employer / organisation	Power network organisation
Region of your contracted place of work	Yorkshire and the Humber
Briefly describe your role and your main responsibilities	I use software to help optimize the performance of electricity networks. I model and carry out temperature calculations on circuits to predict the likelihood of falling trees on electrical lines and to ensure that electric wires don’t encroach certain heights detrimental to human lives with the use of data.
Time between the end of your course and start date for your current role	3-6 months
How did you find your current job?	Through a graduate recruitment website

Thoughts on your visa

The visa has made it possible to gather more knowledge working over here. Without the visa, I wouldn’t have been able to work my way to the opportunity which I now have. Seeing as not all jobs sponsor visas, most organisations tend to shy away from giving you the opportunity to work with them even when you have what it takes.

The process for applying for the visa was quite smooth. I believe the only thing I was unclear about was the fact that the visa starts to count from the period you apply for it instead of the expiration of your previous visa. Although some organisations are willing to let you work for them as long as you’ve got a visa, it still isn’t the easiest finding jobs that are willing to sponsor. What happens when you work an organisation for the whole 2 years, and at the end they don’t sponsor your visa?

“The visa has made it possible to gather more knowledge working over here.”

Employer knowledge and attitudes

I don’t believe all employers fully understand what the Graduate route visa is. As stated earlier, some people are only hired for the duration of their visa, even if they adequately carried out all their duties properly.

Apart from the top companies that sponsor visas, other employers are quite straightforward. When they realise you require a visa, you don’t even get the chance to be interviewed.