In recent months, the U.S., UK, and Australia have all announced upcoming changes - or potential changes - to their post-study work visas. For each, the opportunity to remain and work after graduation is one that is taken up by many thousands each year and is often cited as a key reason for choosing a study destination. Today we will investigate the announced changed and delve into our data to explore what the impact might be for prospective students.
What is happening to U.S. post-study work visas?
In March 2026 the Depart of Homeland Security announced that it would review Optional Practical Training (OPT), the U.S.'s post-study work stream following concerns about its purpose and value raised in November last year.
Currently, OPT is a type of work permission available for eligible F-1 students. Effectively, it allows international students to stay and work for 12 months pre- or post-graduation to gain real-world experience related to their field of study. STEM students have the option of a 24-month extension.
The uptake of OPT has risen considerably in recent years, partly as an effect of increasing international enrolments.
Just under 300,000 utilizing the scheme during the 2024/25 academic year - representing a rise of 245% from 2014/15. Indian students accounted for almost 50% of OPT participants in 2024/25, while Chinese students made up slightly over 20%.
What does the OPT re-evaluation mean?
We don’t yet know what the review of OPT will recommend or what action will be taken as a result, but post-study work remains a key driver for international study in the U.S., with 48% of respondents in recent Keystone Pulse data saying they intend to take up graduate work in the U.S. after studying abroad there. See below for a comparison of post-study work intentions across different study destinations.
These findings are consistent other research, including a recent survey of over 1,000 current students, published jointly by the Institute for Progress and NAFSA, which revealed that 26% would definitely not have chosen to study in the U.S. without the existence of OPT, while a further 55% would have reconsidered their choice.
What is happening to UK post-study work visas?
October 2025 saw confirmation that the UK's Graduate Route post-study-work-visa will be cut from 24 months to 18 months. A policy shift previously analyzed by my colleague, Dr. Mark Bennett.
To summarize, the change applies to Bachelors and Masters degrees, not PhDs (which retain a 3-year option), and will take effect for visa applications made after 1 January 2027. Which means that all Bachelors and most (if not all) Masters enrolments from this point onwards will be impacted.
The Graduate Route was launched in July 2021 and originally allowed users to stay in the UK for 2 years after successfully completing a UK bachelor's degree, postgraduate degree, or other eligible qualification requiring a Student visa. Use of the Graduate Route grew from 66,000 in its first full year (Q3 2021-Q2 2022) to 221,335 extensions in 2025 - though, this 2025 figure represents a 6% year-on-year fall. Chinese, Indian, and Nigerian nationals are its main users.
Its existence came into question only a few years ago when the Migration Advisory Committee conducted a review of the scheme in May 2024. That review concluded that "the Graduate route should remain in place in its current form", so it came as somewhat of a surprise when the new UK government started to consider a new set of changes to post-study work visas in early 2025. Their publication of the May 2025 Immigration White Paper announced that a reduction in "the ability for Graduates to remain in the UK after their studies to a period of 18 months".
This change is perhaps not as drastic as some of the proposals that had been speculated prior to the publication of the White Paper (my colleague had investigated the impact of reductions to 12 and 6 months prior to the confirmation), however, it does weaken the appeal of the Graduate Route.
What impact might the Graduate Route cut have?
With the Graduate Route cut having been confirmed almost 6 months ago, we have a decent timespan from which to judge the early impact of the policy change. Below we can see responses from prospective students seeking UK study to the question: Will cutting the length of the UK Graduate Route post-study work visa from 24 to 18 months make you less likely to study in the UK?
The results, while not ideal, are perhaps better than some UK universities might've feared.
Only 16% say they are 'Much less likely' to pursue UK study following the Graduate Route cut, while just under 60% saying their interest in UK study remains unchanged.
We can also use Keystone's Share of Search data to understand how the Graduate Route changes (proposed in May 2025 and confirmed in October 2025) have impacted prospective student behaviour:
Above we see interest in UK Masters study from international audiences indexed to Q4 2023 (the last quarter prior to the introduction of a number of immigration-based education policies in the UK). Anything above 100% therefore represents growing interest, and vice versa.
We see interest fall through early 2024 (coinciding with the introduction of the dependants ban and the Graduate Route review) before picking up after Q3 2024 (coinciding with a change in messaging from the new government and policy changes in other major international study destinations). That growth continues well into 2025 but stalls in Q4, which just so happens to be when the shortening of the Graduate Route was confirmed.
This isn't to suggest that the flattening of interest is entirely due to the change made to the Graduate Route. There are a great many factors which will influence that, both internal and external. But, given that 41% of our respondents consider themselves at least slightly less interested in UK study as a result of the cut, it's safe to assume that it has had at least some impact.
It should also be noted that only 51% of our respondents stated that they were aware of the impending Graduate Route cut prior to answering the survey. Therefore, we could well see interest dip slightly further as awareness becomes more commonplace.
What is happening to Australian post-study work visas?
1 March 2026 saw a doubling of the application fee for the Temporary Graduate visa subclass 485 (TGV) in Australia, increasing the cost from AUD $2,300 to AUD $4,600. The visa fee rise was introduced without prior warning and comes only months after Australia became the holder of the world's highest study visa fee following an increase in July 2025.
The TGV is available to those aged 35 and under that have held a Student visa in the previous 6 months and have a recent qualification in a CRICOS-registered course, and allows users to stay (with dependants) and work for between 1 and 3 years depending on visa stream eligibility - Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders may stay for up to 5 years.
In 2024/25, slightly over 100,000 people used a TGV, with the majority of users coming from India (33%), Nepal (12%), and China (12%).
What impact might the TGV application fee increase have?
As the fee increase was only introduced on the 1 March 2026 without prior warning, we are yet to see impact in the actions of our searching audiences. We do, however, know that post-study work is a major driver for international audiences seeking international study in Australia, just as it is for the U.S. and UK. Our always-on Keystone Pulse survey shows that 50% of our respondents that are seeking international study in Australia intend to stay and work upon graduation, and a further 40% are at least considering it. Post-study work is therefore factored into the decision making of a significant proportion of prospective international students seeking Australian study, a group that will now have to weigh up the feasibility of the fee rise.
Again, see below for a comparison of post-study work intentions across different study destinations.
Comparing the effects of post-study Work visa changes?
Our always-on prospective student survey asks those seeking international study whether they plan to stay and work in their study destination after graduation. Below we can see the results for each of the study countries whose visa changes we've investigated today:
Clearly, post-study work is important in each destination. At least 41% of international audiences for each say that they intend to make use of post-study work visas, and at least 84% of all audiences say they are considering it.
We have already started to see the impact of the UK Graduate Route cut, whereas the changes in the U.S. and Australia are either yet to happen or have only just happened, meaning the effects are yet to be felt.
Furthermore, the degree of impact is likely to differ. The UK reduced the benefits of their visa but eligibility and entry remain the same, and their reduction to an 18-month visa is still competitive: slightly shorter than the 24-months offered by Australia and Canada, and slightly longer than the 12-months offered by the U.S..
In Australia, the visa itself is still just as appealing but the barriers to accessing it have been raised. It's worth noting that in our survey, cost is consistently remarked as the largest obstacle for students pursuing international study, so it's reasonable to assume that the cost of a post-study work visa would be factored into their decision making.
Finally, the impact of the OPT re-evaluation in the U.S. is hard to assess for now, as we are unsure of what it will lead to. Were the largest fears of the sector to be realized and OPT scrapped, then we can assume it would have an even greater impact than either of the changes seen in the UK and Australia. But it may still come to pass that the re-evaluation leads to no concrete changes, à la the UK Graduate Route review of May 2024.