Ben Xu
Ben has more than 10 years of experience in dealing with UK immigration and nationality matters, particularly matters with complex personal and business immigration issues. As well as high net worth clients, Ben also acted for many corporate organisations, executives, EU nationals, and individuals with human rights claims.
Ben used to practise corporate and commercial law. He finds that his experience as a corporate lawyer gives him a deeper level of understanding of the issues in hand when advising corporate and executive clients and allows him to provide more rounded solutions.
His clients describe him as “a first-rate immigration lawyer...accomplished the “impossible” for” them and a person who has that person touch “in making them comfortable throughout the entire application process”.
Ben is fluent in Chinese and English.
Practice Area
Panels
- Contributing Author
- Q&A Panel
Qualified Year
- 2013
Experience
- Joelson Wilson LLP (2011 - 2016)
- Irwin Mitchell LLP (2016 - 2022)
Membership
- Immigration Law Practitioners' Association
Qualifications
- LLB (2006)
- LLM (2008)
Education
- University of Leicester (2006)
- UCL (2008)
1 Contributions by Ben Xu
PRACTICE NOTES
UK Graduate Route (Appendix Graduate): eligibility, qualification and UK study requirements, dependants, permission period and conditions, applications, fees and administrative review, including November 2025 and January 2027 duration changes.
The Graduate route
The Graduate route is an unsponsored immigration pathway enabling eligible people with permission under the Student route to take up full-time work or self-employment in the UK, at any skill level, once their studies are complete. The permitted period is:
Two years if they have completed an eligible Bachelor's or Master's degree (or other relevant qualification) in the UK and apply before 1 January 2027
18 months if they have completed an eligible Bachelor's or Master's degree (or other relevant qualification) in the UK and apply on or after 1 January 2027
Three years if they have completed a PhD or other eligible doctoral qualification
Launched on 1 July 2021 to attract and retain talented international students, the route bears similarities to the former Tier 1 (Post-study work) category, which was abolished in April 2012. In its Immigration White Paper of May 2025, the government indicated it would reduce the permitted stay to 18 months for Bachelor's or Master's students, arguing that the route had led to large numbers remaining in the UK beyond their studies, and many not moving into the types of highly...
Immigration
If you expected to see yourself on this page, click here.
