Post-Study Work Options: What to Check Before Choosing a Country
Studying in a country does not give you the right to stay and work there. A post-study route, where one exists, is a separate application. It can be refused. It is not permanent residence, a job offer, or a promise that a later work visa will be granted. The notes below are what to look up before you choose a country. They were checked on 25 September 2026, and the government page can change before you apply.
The questions that matter everywhere
Who can apply? How long does the permission last, and from which date? Do you have to apply, or does it arrive with the degree? Does the institution, the level, or the field of study matter? Can the permission be extended, or do you have to qualify for a different visa? If any answer is missing on the official page, you do not yet know whether that country fits a plan to stay.
United Kingdom
The Graduate visa is an application you make inside the UK, while you hold a Student visa or a Tier 4 (General) student visa. Your university or college must have told the Home Office that you successfully completed an eligible course. You do not have to wait for a graduation ceremony. You must apply before that student visa expires.
The length depends on the date you apply. A Graduate visa lasts 2 years if you apply on or before 31 December 2026, and 18 months if you apply on or after 1 January 2027. A PhD or other doctoral qualification is 3 years. The overview page also says the visa gives permission to stay for at least 18 months, which is the floor, not a reason to ignore the date split. You cannot extend a Graduate visa. You may be able to switch to another visa, such as Skilled Worker, only if you meet that visa’s rules. On 25 September 2026 the application fee on the page was £937, plus a healthcare surcharge usually of £1,035 for each year you will be in the UK. Those charges are not a cost of study, and they can change.
Canada
A post-graduation work permit is an application. Graduating from a designated learning institution does not make you eligible. The program has to be at a PGWP-eligible institution and, on the current IRCC pages, at least 8 months long, or 900 hours for a Quebec credential. You generally need to have studied full-time, with a part-time final term allowed, and to apply within 180 days of confirmation that you finished.
Length follows the program, with a ceiling. A master’s of at least 8 months may qualify for a permit of up to 3 years even if the program itself was shorter than two years, if the other rules are met. That has applied to master’s programs since 15 February 2024. Other programs shorter than two years may receive a permit up to the length of the program. Programs of two years or more may receive up to 3 years. Your passport expiry can shorten what is issued.
Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral graduates do not have to meet the field-of-study list. Other credentials may, and IRCC said that for 2026 it would not add or remove fields on that list. Most people applying on or after 1 November 2024 also need language results. The score itself is not repeated here, because the language page has to be read on the day you apply. A PGWP is not permanent residence.
Australia
The route to look up is the Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485. Home Affairs redesigned it from 1 July 2024, including a Post-Higher Education Work stream for degree-level qualifications. The current visa-listing page did not return stay lengths, age limits, or passport exceptions when it was opened on 25 September 2026. Those numbers are not stated here. Do not use an older blog, or a 2024 summary, as the figure on your application. Open the subclass 485 conditions and read the stream that matches your qualification. The visa is not a grant of permanent residence.
Germany
After you complete a degree, you can apply for a residence permit to look for qualified work for up to 18 months. You apply before the student residence permit expires. The permit is not renewable. During those 18 months you may take any job. When you have a qualified job, you apply again, for a skilled-worker residence permit or an EU Blue Card, if that job meets the rules. The job does not have to match your degree except where the Blue Card or a regulated profession requires it. A settlement permit is a later, separate status. Make it in Germany describes extra conditions for it, including time on a skilled-worker permit and pension contributions. The prospects page returned an error on a second check the same day. Use the mission or the foreigners authority to confirm the 18-month permit before you rely on it.
United States
Optional practical training is not a visa handed out at graduation. For F-1 students, USCIS may authorize up to 12 months of OPT at each higher degree level. Post-completion OPT is the part after the program end date, and it has to be at least 20 hours a week. Your designated school official recommends you. You then file Form I-765 and pay the fee. You cannot start until USCIS approves it, you have the employment card, and the start date on that card has arrived. Study in the States updated this description on 24 August 2026.
A STEM extension is another 24 months, for a degree on the DHS STEM list, from an accredited SEVP-certified school, with an employer in E-Verify and a training plan. It is a second application during the initial post-completion period. It is not available in every subject, and it is not a green card.
What to do with this
Use the country comparison to decide which of these questions even belong in your choice. Then price a longer stay, if you are counting on one, inside the study-abroad budget. Do not add a post-study year to the plan until the official page still shows that year on the day you apply.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Graduate visa
- IRCC: About the post-graduation work permit, who can apply, and field of study
- Home Affairs: Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485
- Make it in Germany: Prospects after graduation
- Study in the States: Applying for practical training
