Author: Ameya Edvankar

From January, international graduates get eighteen months instead of two years. The experts say it is manageable. The students living it are not so sure.

By Ameya Edvankar

From 1 January 2027, the graduate route visa will be cut from two years to eighteen months for anyone finishing a bachelor’s or a master’s degree. PhD graduates keep three years.

Apply on or before 31 December 2026 and you still receive the full two years. The deadline is the application date, not the day your course ends.

The change was proposed in the government’s May 2025 Immigration White Paper and became law through a Statement of Changes laid before Parliament on 14 October 2025. It is settled, not a proposal.

What the two visas actually do

The student visa lets you study. It needs a place at a licensed university, an English test, and proof you can support yourself. Most taught master’s students have not been able to bring dependants since January 2024.

The graduate route, still widely called the PSW, is what comes next. It lets you stay and work, or look for work, with no job offer, no sponsor and no salary floor. You can only hold it once and you cannot extend it. To stay beyond it you must switch to a Skilled Worker visa, which does require an employer to sponsor you.

“They gave everyone time”

Dhruv Krishnaraj founded Student Circus, which helps international students find work in Britain. He defends how the change was handled.

“I would say it’s a very positively holistic decision taken by the government in a very thoughtful way.”
Dhruv Krishnaraj, Director and Co-Founder, Student Circus

His argument is that nobody was caught out. Students already on a one-year master’s keep their two years, and those on longer courses were told years in advance. His advice is blunt: start applying for jobs twelve months before you graduate, because British hiring moves slowly.

But he does not defend all of it.

“It locks a lot of students out from that eligibility.”
Dhruv Krishnaraj, Director and Co-Founder, Student Circus

He is talking about graduate schemes. Many run for two years. Employers use them to test international graduates before deciding whether to sponsor them. An eighteen-month visa does not cover a two-year scheme, so the student cannot apply at all.

The maths students are doing

Ananya Rajesh Sonawane is applying in October, before the deadline, so she keeps two years. She still sees the problem.

“You’ll be investing the same as the previous years and you’ll be getting less for that.”
Ananya Rajesh Sonawane, Newcastle University

She points at hiring timelines. Large employers can take three to six months from application to offer, and often do not reply quickly. Start that process late on an eighteen-month visa and the clock runs out mid-interview.

Indian nationals received 90,153 graduate route extensions in the year to December 2025, about 42 per cent of the total, ahead of Nigeria and Pakistan. Overall grants fell 6 per cent.

The view from Mumbai

Akanksha Rogay has spent six years advising Indian students on studying in the UK. She thinks the alarm is overstated.

“The impact is very minimal because clarity is there. They’re not diving into uncertain waters.”
Akanksha Rogay, Former Education Counsellor, Edwise International

Her point is that Britain does not change the rules underneath people. Students who arrived in 2025 were promised two years and got two years. On the falling numbers, she is equally calm.

“It is not because this is not a choice, it’s just because there are other options.”
Akanksha Rogay, Former Education Counsellor, Edwise International

What eighteen months feels like

Arpita Roy Choudhury arrived on a full scholarship. She has given herself three months to find a job. If nothing lands by December, she will not apply for the visa at all.

“Eighteen months is actually a crunch. It’s a very high pressure, high stakes debt you’re taking.”
Arpita Roy Choudhury, Newcastle University

The government’s own impact assessment expects the change to reduce student visa applications by around 12,000 a year. It made that trade knowingly. In 2024 the Migration Advisory Committee reviewed the route, found abuse very low and recommended keeping it as it was.

Dame Chi Onwurah MP was approached for comment and was not available.

Two cities, one question

This is the last of five stories reported between Newcastle and Mumbai. They began with food and ended with a deadline.

Between them sits a £35 million shortfall at Newcastle University, around 300 jobs, and 44 days of strike action, all traced back to international students who did not arrive.

The people who advise students say eighteen months is enough. The students counting the months have already started planning their exit. Britain is about to find out which of them was right.

Six months, and a decision that follows you home.

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About the author

Ameya Edvankar is a multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University, reporting on the city and the people. Read more about him here.

Follow more of his work on Instagram at @ameyaedvankar and @ameya_frontrow.

DISCLAIMER

Newcastle University budgeted for international students who never arrived, leaving a shortfall of around £35 million. Two years on, staff say the damage did not stop at the university gates.

By Ameya Edvankar

This story is told as a audio report. Nick Hillman of the Higher Education Policy Institute explains why international student numbers fell across the UK, while the union branch chairs at Newcastle and Northumbria describe what the cuts have meant on the ground.

In September 2024, Newcastle University told staff it was facing a shortfall of around £35 million. No funding had been withdrawn. The university had planned its budget around international students who did not arrive.

Closing that gap cost around 300 jobs and led to 44 days of strike action.

A national problem, felt hardest here

Nick Hillman OBE, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the fall hit the whole sector, but not evenly.

“International students are down across the board, but it’s universities like Newcastle that are the most affected.”
Nick Hillman OBE, Director, Higher Education Policy Institute

Asked how much of the drop was down to visa rules and how much to competition from other countries, he was clear.

“I think it’s almost entirely the first one. The changes to visa rules.”
Nick Hillman OBE, Director, Higher Education Policy Institute

The change he pointed to came in January 2024, when the previous government stopped most one-year taught master’s students bringing dependants. HESA figures show international enrolments fell 5.9 per cent in 2024/25 to 697,365, driven mainly by a drop in postgraduate taught numbers, the very courses universities like Newcastle rely on most.

Hillman ruled out the idea that students are simply going elsewhere, pointing out that the United States, Australia and Canada were all tightening their rules at the same time.

He also warned that cuts made to plug the gap carry a long tail.

“Good quality education of the sort that Newcastle offers costs a lot of money to deliver, and if Newcastle has less money to deliver it, it’s likely not to be as good.”
Nick Hillman OBE, Director, Higher Education Policy Institute

What it cost inside the university

Matt Perry, branch chair of Newcastle University UCU, said the union never accepted that the cuts were necessary. The branch argued the university had strong cash reserves and a good borrowing profile, and could have weathered the shortfall without cutting courses and jobs. The university has said it remains in a sound financial position.

After 44 days of action, the branch secured an agreement that nobody would be made compulsorily redundant.

“Although there were job losses, nobody went on compulsory grounds. That was a big success, and that’s not happening at many universities.”
Matt Perry, Branch Chair, Newcastle University UCU

But Perry said the win was local, and the problem is not.

“We shifted the context at Newcastle. We didn’t shift the UK-wide context, and therefore those pressures are still there.”
Matt Perry, Branch Chair, Newcastle University UCU

He argued the deeper issue is that universities have been using international student fees to cross-subsidise what government funding does not cover, calling it an Achilles heel for the sector.

Two universities, one city

Newcastle is not the only university in the city under pressure. Northumbria sought a further £12.5 million in staff cost savings, with its vice chancellor pointing to a sudden drop in students from Nigeria and elsewhere. Staff there have since balloted for industrial action.

Adam Hansen, branch chair of Northumbria University UCU, said the effects reach well past the two campuses.

“The decline in international students has a direct impact on the economic well-being of the people in this region. If there are fewer staff, there are fewer well-paid jobs, and well-paid jobs is something this region really needs.”
Adam Hansen, Branch Chair, Northumbria University UCU

That money reaches well beyond the lecture halls. Research by HEPI and London Economics puts the contribution of international students in Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, the constituency both universities sit in, among the highest per resident anywhere in the country.

Asked to sum up the situation for the people of Newcastle, Hansen did not hesitate.

“Inhibiting international students coming to the city is a self-inflicted wound. It doesn’t need to happen, and it’s bad for students, it’s bad for staff, and it’s bad for the region.”
Adam Hansen, Branch Chair, Northumbria University UCU

Next in this series: what happens when 18 months is all you get

From next year the graduate route visa drops from two years to 18 months. Hillman, who has written about how few employers even understand the route, said the timing makes little sense, because most new staff only begin proving their worth after the first six to twelve months.

For the students already here, that is not a policy debate. It is a countdown.

Read the next story in this series on what those six lost months really mean.

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About the author

Ameya Edvankar is a multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University, reporting on the city and the people. Read more about him here.

Follow more of his work on Instagram at @ameyaedvankar and @ameya_frontrow.

DISCLAIMER

From a handful of people in the 1950s to hundreds in a civic square. The Indian flag went up at Newcastle Civic Centre on 15 August. This is the community behind it.

By Ameya Edvankar

At twelve o’clock on 15 August, the Indian flag went up outside Newcastle Civic Centre. There were drums, an anthem, and hundreds of people standing in a square three and a half thousand miles from Mumbai.

Speeches came from Meenu Malhotra, Honorary Consul General of India, and Professor Jane Robinson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Newcastle University. Cultural performances followed, and some of those who spoke answered in Marathi and Hindi. The turnout was covered by ChronicleLive.

At the 2021 census, more than 7,300 people in Newcastle identified as Indian or British Indian, part of an Asian population in the city of over 34,000.

But a flag goes up once a year. The community behind it is here on the other 364 days, so that is where this story went next.

Seventy years, one building

The answer sits in the west end of the city, at the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, where the doors stay open and the langar kitchen feeds whoever walks in.

Jaswinder Singh has watched most of it happen. His parents came from India to Slough in 1978 and moved north to Newcastle in 1984. He was born here, into a community that in the mid-1950s, by his account, amounted to only a handful of people.

“A lot of them were more door-to-door sales people selling clothes and things like that, trying to make a living,” he says. From doorsteps they moved to market stalls, travelling between towns, and some of them stayed.

The building followed the people. The first gurdwara was set up in a house in the 1970s. The older building, across the road from where he now stands, opened in 1976. The current one was completed in 2013.

“Generally, the north of England is very hospitable, very kind, very open-hearted. That’s the energy of the people around here.”

Jaswinder Singh, Sevadar, Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha

Today it works as something wider than a place of worship. Students arrive from Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, South Shields and Teesside, and the langar kitchen serves anyone who comes through the door, which matters when the cost of student living is what it is.

“It’s like a home calling within the UK,” he says. And on who gets fed: “We honour everybody that walks through these doors.”

A table for twelve

Sharmishta Chatterjee-Banerjee has now lived in Britain longer than she lived in India.

She came from Kolkata about thirty years ago, having studied at Jadavpur University, and did not arrive as a student. She went straight into the job market and took her master’s only once her son was five. She lived in the south of England and in Northern Ireland before the North East.

“Newcastle is definitely my home,” she says. “It’s small enough to know what’s going on, and yet big enough to have plenty to do.”

Her supper club, SHOR.shé, grew out of lockdown cook-alongs with colleagues at Newcastle University. It runs once a month and seats twelve people. That number is a conscious decision, she says, not to overdo it. Twelve is small enough that everyone ends up in the same conversation.

The name carries the same idea. “The shor is basically half of my name,” she explains. “And the she is because it’s an inclusive kitchen and our table is an inclusive table. She in Bengali means they.” It also means mustard, which sits at the centre of Bengali cooking.

What she serves is a deliberate argument. Indian food in Britain, she says, has been flattened into a North Indian menu, and Bengal’s own food and trade history rarely reaches the table. Her next evening, on 20 August, tells the story of her family and the jute trade through her family’s recipes. She has a waiting list of more than ninety people for twelve seats.

“People can talk to each other. They come as strangers, and leave as friends.”

Sharmishta Chatterjee-Banerjee, founder of the SHOR.shé Supper Club

She has never shortened her name. In 2024 she was named on the Northern Power Women power list, reported as the only Indian and the only first-generation immigrant among that year’s thirty recipients, and her supper club has since been written about by Salt and Soil Stories and Cynx.

“I’ve always said originally from India, but British,” she says. “I’ve never lost my identity in my journey of becoming British, and I’m very proud to be both.”

The newest arrival

If Jaswinder is the community’s memory and Sharmistha its table, Saumitra Gore is what has just walked in the door.

He arrived from Pune last year to study for an MSc in Digital Marketing, having swum for thirteen years and represented India internationally. He picked Newcastle for the cost, and for the swim team.

That decision has already gone into the record books. At the Short Course BUCS Championships he broke three records in the S15 category, in the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle, and took silver in the 100m freestyle. Newcastle University describes them as the first-ever BUCS swimming records achieved by the university. At the long course championships in February he set two more and won a second silver.

Five records and two medals, inside a single academic year. He is now training towards the 2027 World Championships, with Indian team selection expected at the end of this year.

Where it ends, for now

I ended the day sitting on the floor of the langar hall with a plate in front of me, which is how these things tend to end here.

Seventy years ago this community was a few families selling clothes door to door. On 15 August it filled a civic square, and by the afternoon it had gone back to what it does the rest of the year. Cooking for strangers. Feeding students. Training at six in the morning.

The flag comes down at the end of the day. The community does not.

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About the author

Ameya Edvankar is a multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University, reporting on the city and the people. Read more about him here.

Follow more of his work on Instagram at @ameyaedvankar and @ameya_frontrow.

DISCLAIMER

Every international student pays for the NHS before they land in the UK. Two Newcastle students told me what happened when they finally needed it, and a city practice manager explained how to make the system move faster.

By Ameya Edvankar

You pay for the NHS before you get here.

The Immigration Health Surcharge costs £776 for every year of a student visa, paid in full and upfront when the application goes in. On the Graduate Route, the post-study work visa, it is £1,035 a year.

It has climbed steadily. Students paid £150 a year when it started in 2015, then £300 in 2019, £470 in 2020, and £776 in February 2024.

That buys NHS access on the same basis as a UK resident. It does not buy a shortcut, and it comes with no instructions.

“It’s obvious that they’re understaffed”

Marina Hristova came from Bulgaria in 2022 for her degree. In an exclusive interview, she said friends already studying here had warned her before she arrived.

“They would tell me that the healthcare wasn’t one of its best and everything would be treated with either paracetamol or ibuprofen.”

Marina Hristova, Newcastle University graduate

She packed accordingly. “I loaded my suitcase with a certain amount of meds,” she said.

Her turning point came in January 2023, when a teammate broke his arm at night tennis. The minor injuries unit had shut, so they reached the emergency department at around ten. He was called in at seven the next morning.

“That’s 10 hours. We had to stay there overnight till he got called in.”

Marina Hristova, on her teammate’s injury

The buildings, she is clear, were not the problem.

“As much as the hospitals are nice and clean, very modern, very organized, it’s obvious that they’re understaffed.”

Marina Hristova, on staffing levels

Her comparison is Varna, Bulgaria’s third city, with a population she says is comparable to Newcastle and its districts. “It has at least four emergency hospitals,” she said.

Three weeks to register, three months to be turned away

Breeya moved here from Taiwan three years ago and did exactly what students are told to do. She also spoke exclusively.

“I registered the first day I’ve been here.”

Breeya, student from Taiwan

Registration still took three weeks. She was the last of her classmates confirmed, and said she panicked with nothing she could do.

The longer wait came later. She booked an HPV vaccine appointment after seeing it offered on the NHS. She was over the age limit. The booking still went through.

“I was waiting for the phone call and waiting for the appointment, like three months, and then I’ve been there, they said, oh, you’re not allowed to do that.”

Breeya, on an appointment she could not have

Her sharpest experience came on a Sunday, when a friend fell ill. They used NHS 111 online, which sent them to a pharmacist, who judged the pain serious enough for A&E. They waited over four hours.

“My friend was crying and crying again. While she’s crying, no one can help. We even saw people just left. They say they’d rather die here.”

Breeya, on waiting in A&E

Her friend had started a GP registration but never finished it, so had no practice to fall back on. They were seen eventually, and Breeya says the doctor was really nice. By then it was past five and no pharmacy was open to dispense what she was given.

The pressure behind the wait

What they describe is not unusual right now.

Figures published this week by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, covering July 2026, show emergency departments in England under record summer pressure. More than 150,000 patients spent over 12 hours in major A&E departments, the worst July on record, and over 47,000 waited on a trolley. Four-hour performance fell 1.4 points on last July.

The NHS standard is 95% of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. The King’s Fund says it has not been met nationally since July 2015.

What the practice said

I reached out by email to Newcastle Medical Centre, the GP practice inside Boots at Eldon Square where many students are registered. Practice manager Cheryl Mooney responded with written answers.

She said registering early matters more than students realise.

“It is best for a student to register ASAP as it can take up to 7 working days to be registered although this could be longer at busier registration times.”

Cheryl Mooney, Practice Manager, Newcastle Medical Centre

For anyone unregistered, she said walk-in centres and Pharmacy First may still help.

On eligibility, the question that cost Breeya three months, she was blunt.

“In the UK the practices are the main point of contact before secondary care, so you need to be seen by the GP before a referral to a specialist can be done.”

Cheryl Mooney, Practice Manager, Newcastle Medical Centre

Vaccines, blood tests and referrals can all be checked with the practice first. On waiting, she said it uses a GP-led triage tool to decide appointments and signposting.

“The only thing that can determine the wait is the problem.”

Cheryl Mooney, on what decides the wait

Her main advice was to check usetherightservice.com, which sets out which service to use and when, plus the practice website and leaflet. If anyone is unsure, she said, ask the practice how it works, as practices differ.

What you can actually do

1. Register with a GP on arrival, not when you fall ill. It is free, needs no ID, and can take seven working days or longer.
2. Check eligibility with the practice before booking, especially for vaccinations with age limits.
3. Use 111 for anything urgent but not life-threatening. Call 999 in an emergency.
4. Not registered yet? A walk-in centre or Pharmacy First can still see you.

• WATCH: When to use NHS 111 online or call 111
• WATCH: When to call 999

The wider picture

Students are not the only ones weighing up the wait. Deccan Herald reported this week on a British patient facing a three-year wait for a knee replacement who flew to India instead, cutting the cost from about £40,000 to £14,000.

Breeya would take the same route again. Her advice to new arrivals is simpler than the system itself.

“They should register GP as soon as possible. And even if you don’t have the GP, it’s alright. You still can go to the hospital once you need it.”

Breeya, on her advice to new arrivals

The surcharge is paid before anyone lands. Learning how to use what it buys, takes far longer.

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About the author

Ameya Edvankar is a multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University, reporting on the city and the people. Read more about him here.

Follow more of his work on Instagram at @ameyaedvankar and @ameya_frontrow.

DISCLAIMER

For the city’s Indian students and families, comfort food is never far away.

By Ameya Edvankar

Ask anyone who has moved here from India what they miss most, and food is usually the answer. So I spent a few days going around Newcastle, asking restaurants and students where the city hides its taste of home. Here is what I found.

Moving to a new country changes almost everything, from the weather to the way people speak. For many, the hardest thing to leave behind is the food.

Newcastle is home to more than 23,000 residents of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage, according to the 2021 Census, and the city has a food scene to match, running from Mumbai-style street food to South Indian dosas.

In this video, I set out across Newcastle to answer one simple question: if you are far from home and craving the tastes you grew up with, where do you go?

I stopped at some of the city’s popular Indian spots and asked each of them for one dish worth trying. I also spoke to Ishaan Raghav, a student from Chennai, about what a taste of home really means. He pointed me to Chit N Chaat, and that is where the trail ends, over a dosa and a cup of chai.

“When I want a taste of home, I want a dosa. My top place for that is Chit N Chaat in Eldon Square.”

Ishaan Raghav

For Ishaan, the move to Newcastle came with an adjustment at the dinner table.

“The shift food-wise was bad, because my taste buds were used to Indian food.”

Ishaan Raghav

Over time he found his spots. When he wants to feel at home, he keeps it simple.

Where to find a taste of home in Newcastle

• Chit N Chaat, Eldon Square – Mumbai-style street food and chaat in the city centre, known for its dosas, pav bhaji and biryani.
• Rani Indian Restaurant, Queen Street – North Indian cooking near the Quayside.
• My Delhi, Clayton Street – Delhi street food, a multi-award winner known for its butter chicken.
• Snackwallah, Grainger Market – vegan Indian street food and chaat, known for its samosas masala chai.
• Urully Bell Restaurant, Queen Street – Keralan South Indian cooking, known for its dosas. Recommended by Ishaan.
• Zaiqaa, West Road – Punjabi cooking out in the West End. Recommended by Ishaan.

This is far from the full list. TripAdvisor lists dozens more Indian restaurants across Newcastle, ranked by diner reviews, if you want to keep exploring.

One dish each: the places from the video

• My Delhi suggested their butter chicken with cauliflower manchurian. You can find them on Instagram at @mydelhieatery.
• Snackwallah suggested a plate of samosa chaat with masala chai. You can find them on Instagram at @snackwallah.
• Rani Indian Restaurant suggested with dhaaba murg pilau rice. You can find them on Instagram at @ranisncl.

Hidden gems: two more spots on Westgate Road

House of Aroma, 432 Westgate Road – a spot for a range of Indian chicken and meat dishes as well as South Indian options.

Wingrove Cafe, The Beacon, Westgate Road, Fenham – known for its South Indian cooking, including dosas and biryani.

The bigger picture

Newcastle is not alone. Indian food has been part of British high streets for decades, and London’s Drummond Street, near Euston, is where much of it began. As BBC Travel reported, the street pre-dates better known South Asian hubs such as Southall and Wembley’s Ealing Road, and it was here in 1958 that L G Pathak opened the grocery shop that grew into the household name Patak’s. Some of its restaurants have been serving the same crowds since the 1980s.

Across the UK, Indian food is a fixture of the high street. Industry figures have long put the number of Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants and takeaways in the thousands, together employing more than 100,000 people, though many traditional curry houses have closed in recent years. Against that national picture, Newcastle’s scene has kept growing.

Newcastle’s Indian food scene is always shifting. In July 2026, ChronicleLive reported that The Last Days of the Raj, a much-loved restaurant known for its quality curries, had closed after 11 years in Dinnington, having first made its name over in Low Fell. On the way out, its owners thanked the customers and villagers who had made them so welcome.

Finding your own taste of home

Whether it is a dosa in Eldon Square or a biryani out on Westgate Road, Newcastle gives its Indian students and families plenty of ways to find a taste of home. You might be a long way from where you grew up. The food, it turns out, does not have to be.

The trail ended where Ishaan said it would, over a cup of chai. Yours might end somewhere else entirely, and that is the point.

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About the author

Ameya Edvankar is a multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University, reporting on the city and the people. Read more about him here.

Follow more of his work on Instagram at @ameyaedvankar and @ameya_frontrow.

DISCLAIMER