Marking Boycott: Impacts for Potential UK Visa Applicants

On 20 April 2023, the University and College Union (UCU) began a marking and assessment boycott (MAB) in response to disputes relating to pay and working conditions.

As the MAB continues, there are concerns that this boycott could have an impact on international students seeking to apply for the Graduate visa route.

Home Office Q&A on marking boycott and graduate route applications

The Home Office released a written statement, supplemented with Q&As, to cover situations where the MAB has impacted international students who intend to apply for a Graduate visa. Due to the MAB, international students may not receive their results before their Student visa expires, otherwise preventing an application to switch to the Graduate visa route. To mitigate the potential disruption, the Home Office may apply exercise discretion for 1) Graduate route applications and 2) Student visa extension applications.

1) Discretionary arrangement for graduate visa applications

For international students with Student visas due to expire before receiving results, the UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) will consider exercising discretion and will hold Graduate route applications made before the applicants’ results have been received, provided that the results are received within eight weeks from the date the application is submitted.

The UKVI states that applications made in the above scenario (i.e., without an applicant’s results) is done so at the student’s risk. If the successful completion of the course has not been reported to the UKVI within eight weeks of the application submission, the application may not be successful and applicants who no longer hold a valid Student visa will be required to leave the UK or switch to an alternative eligible visa route.

Although discretionary, this arrangement puts Graduate route applicants at risk because once they leave the UK, they will not be able to apply for the Graduate route from outside the UK unless they re-enter the UK with a completely new Student visa. The UKVI confirms that there will not consider the option to allow applicants to obtain entry clearance from outside the UK. Additionally, it is the student’s sponsor’s responsibility to ensure that the successful completion of the course notification is provided to the UKVI which makes it especially challenging for applicants to foresee whether such notification will be made within the eight-week period from the date of application deadline.  

2) Discretionary arrangement for student visa extension

Alternatively, for international students who do not know when they will receive their results due to the boycott, they will be exceptionally exempt from meeting the academic progression requirements in order to apply to extend their Student visa whilst waiting for their results, but all other requirements of the Student route, including having a new Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), would still need to be met. Sponsors of international students should include a sponsor note on the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) that the extension is due to the marking boycott.

The UKVI understands that extending an application would incur additional fees and costs for the applicant but has made it clear that they will not be held responsible for any costs associated with the extension application. If the sponsor chooses not to extend the Student visa, the international student will lose their eligibility to apply for the Graduate route and will be required to leave the UK before their current visa expires or switch to an alternative eligible visa route. If the student’s sponsor supports the extension, this then leads to the potential issue of extra costs being passed on to the international student. Therefore, the international student affected by the MAB who otherwise would have been looking to switch to the Graduate route may face additional visa application fees for the extension of their Student visa on top of the Graduate visa application once their course has been completed following the issuance of their results.

Impacts on further studies

International students who are due to progress onto further study would not benefit from the above discretionary arrangements because the UKVI already has provisions in the Student visa guidance to allow letters of formal written confirmation to be provided by the sponsor confirming that the student is highly likely to complete their course successfully. If such a statement is not made prior to the expiration date of the Student visa, the student can apply for a new student visa from outside the UK.

Additional requirements for student visa holders switching to sponsored work visas

As of 17 July 2023, the Home Office introduced new conditions which Student visa holders must meet before they can apply to switch to one of the sponsored work visa categories, such as the Skilled Worker visa route.

On the date of submission of the Skilled Worker visa application, the Student visa holder applicant must:

1. 1. have completed the course of study as per CAS; or
   2. be studying a full-time course of study at degree level or above with a higher education provider which has a track record of compliance and the start date on the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is no earlier than the course completion date; or
   3. be studying a full-time course of study leading to the award of a PhD with a higher education provider which has a track record of compliance and the start date on the CoS must be no earlier than 24 months after the start date of the course.

Interestingly, the difference between the Graduate visa requirements (successful completion requirement) and the sponsored worker (course completed) suggests the recent changes will result in minimal impact within the context of the MAB for individuals looking to switch into sponsored visa categories, assuming their future employer does not need to see final grades as a possible condition before commencing the role.

The reason for this, according to the caseworker guidance, is that it is normally determined whether the applicant has completed their course by checking the end date on the CAS and, it is possible to apply for a sponsored work visa up to three months in advance of the start date (provided that the start date is post-course completion). Therefore, applications for a sponsored visa could be made up to three months in advance of the course completion, rather than the date results were received.

Need to know more?

For questions related to the MAB and its impacts, please reach out to Senior Associate Adam Hickling at [email protected].

This blog was published on 28 July 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.