Overview of Processing Graduate Immigration Route

Graduate Immigration Route is a scheme introduced by the UK government that allows students to work unsponsored for two or three years after graduation depending on which qualification they have achieved. To be eligible, sponsored visa students need to have completed their course, been awarded an eligible qualification, and have met the minimum requirements for UK study time.

Here's the process flow to support the Graduate Immigration Route scheme.

  1. Institutions use a PS Query that selects CAS Details records of students that meet the eligibility criteria and haven’t already been reported to UKVI. This can reference completed Student Program records, Student Degree records, Visa/Permit Data records, and any other records that are required. The criteria can be defined to exclude students who have already been reported to the UKVI by referencing the Graduate Status (SAD_PB_GRADUATE) value in CAS Details.

  2. Run the CAS Record Update process using the PS Query to update the Graduate Status value in CAS Details to “Eligible” for students who meet the eligibility criteria and haven’t already been reported. The Graduate Status can also be manually set to “Eligible” in CAS Details if required for eligible students who were not included in the query results but need to be reported.

    The Graduate Status can be manually set to “Ineligible” in CAS Details for students who were included in the query results but haven’t met all of the eligibility criteria and need to be excluded from the extract.

  3. Run the Create Extract Process to extract the CAS Numbers for records with a Graduate Status of “Eligible." The process generates a file ID that is used in the XML file. The CAS Details records that have been included are updated to set the Graduate Status to “Reported,” and to populate the File ID to indicate which file contains the record that was reported to the UKVI.

    The extract data can be reviewed and, if required, the process re-run after manual adjustments are made to Graduate Status values in CAS Details.

  4. Run the Create XML Process to generate an XML file for the File ID containing the CAS Numbers that need to be reported.

Once the XML file has been submitted to the UKVI, records with errors can be manually updated in CAS Details to set the Graduate Status value to indicate the student hasn't been successfully reported.

If eligible students have already been reported to the UKVI (either via the portal or in a CSV file), the Graduate Status can be set to “Reported” either manually in CAS Details, or by running the CAS Record Update process to prevent those students from being reported again. The CAS Record Update process allows a PS query or a CSV file to be used for the population selection.

Files are submitted to the SMS portal using the Bulk Report File, which is similar to the process of reporting students who used the CAS number in their visa application, but isn't attending your institution. A successful notification appears on individual CAS records in SMS.