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Reviewed 2026-10-25. Effective dates and future changes are shown separately.
Targeted review of official work, study, post-study and accompanying-family guidance. This is not an exhaustive verification of every route, fee, benefit or eligibility condition. Check the linked authority before applying or paying.
Canada
Study funds and the short-study worker policy checked; home-care pilot intake remains paused.
For study-permit applications from 1 September 2026 outside Quebec, living funds for one person are CAD 23,448, excluding tuition and travel; larger families need more. Quebec has separate rules.
From 4 September 2026, eligible holders of a valid work permit may study a programme of six months or less without a study permit, only while their work permit remains valid. An expired permit awaiting extension does not qualify.
Full-time study work experience does not count as Canadian work experience for Canadian Experience Class eligibility or CRS Canadian work-experience points. Check IRCC's specific policy conditions.
Home Care Worker Immigration pilot intake is paused until further notice; IRCC confirmed it would not reopen in March 2026. Existing applications continue to be processed. Do not rely on legacy promises of permanent residence after 24 months of caregiver work.
Skilled Worker salary rules confirmed; Graduate visa duration changes in January 2027.
The usual Skilled Worker salary is at least £41,700 or the occupation's going rate, whichever is higher. Discounts, healthcare/education, medium-skilled roles and transitional cases have separate conditions.
Graduate visa: two years for applications on or before 31 December 2026; 18 months for applications on or after 1 January 2027. Doctoral graduates receive three years.
The Graduate visa is temporary and is not itself a settlement route. Future settlement proposals must not be treated as enacted rules.
2026 Blue Card and student funding/work limits confirmed.
The 2026 EU Blue Card standard salary threshold is €50,700 gross/year. The €45,934.20 reduced threshold is conditional, including eligible shortage occupations or recent graduates and Federal Employment Agency approval.
An admitted student can demonstrate funds with a blocked account of at least €11,904 in 2026 or an accepted alternative.
Student employment is generally up to 140 full days or 280 half days a year, or 20 hours/week under the official conditions. Eligible graduates can seek skilled work for up to 18 months and work in any occupation during that search.
Important nationality-based visa restrictions; OPT is not a visa or a promise of residence.
Effective 1 January 2026, Presidential Proclamation 10998 restricts visa issuance for specified nationalities. Among this site's origin countries, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania are affected for B-1/B-2, F, M, J and immigrant visas. This is not a blanket suspension of every employment visa.
The proclamation applies to people outside the US on the effective date who did not hold a valid visa on that date. Existing valid visas are not revoked by this proclamation. Limited exceptions include certain dual nationals, permanent residents and other specified cases; check State Department guidance before paying.
Eligible F-1 students may receive up to 12 months of OPT; eligible STEM graduates may request a further 24 months. OPT requires authorization and major-related employment and does not guarantee H-1B selection or permanent residence.
Student visa application-location and family rules changed on 2 October 2026.
Most affected temporary visa holders must be outside Australia both when lodging a Student/Student Guardian application and when it is granted. Current primary Student holders have limited exemptions for a further Student visa; dependent Student holders switching to primary Student status must apply offshore without exceptions.
Student applicants can no longer normally include a partner or dependent children unless an exemption applies, such as specified PhD, government-sponsored, Pacific or ASEAN cases. Further applications involving existing family members have specific transitional conditions.
Family members cannot be added as subsequent entrants after a Student visa has been granted; Home Affairs states there are no exceptions. Check its detailed exemption and location rules before arranging travel.
Temporary Graduate visa duration remains stream-dependent: usually two to three years for Post-Higher Education Work or up to 18 months for Post-Vocational Education Work, with specific passport and age exceptions.
Work salary, student work limits, family insurance and graduate job-search rules checked.
The normal work-permit salary requirement is 90% of the median salary, currently SEK 34,470/month; collective-agreement/industry conditions also apply. Certain exemptions use 75%. Transitional extensions filed by 1 December 2026 can follow previous rules; check the decision-date and exemption conditions.
For first-/second-cycle study permits decided from 11 June 2026, term-time work is generally limited to 15 hours/week; summer and specified university-connected work have exceptions. Earlier permits transition on extension. New rules also cover academic progress and address notification.
From 1 October 2026, accompanying student family members staying for at most one year require comprehensive health insurance. A parent accompanying a child who is not the couple's joint child must also be the child's legal guardian. Family maintenance requirements are unchanged.
After eligible Swedish studies, bachelor's/master's graduates may obtain up to one year to seek work; doctoral graduates between one year and 18 months. Apply before the study permit expires. The 2026 maintenance amount is SEK 10,656/month, with family additions and specified reductions. This is not the overseas highly qualified job-seeker route.
The separate EU Blue Card threshold is SEK 53,625/month from 15 July 2026, with a qualifying highly skilled employment contract of at least six months. First permits can last at least nine months and up to four years, subject to conditions.
Corrected the Norwegian graduate/researcher job-seeker route.
Eligible recent Norwegian graduates and specified researchers can receive up to one year to seek skilled employment, not a universal six-month non-working permit.
Full-time or part-time work, including non-skilled jobs, is allowed during the search; self-employment and running a business are not. This period does not count toward permanent residence.
Apply before the current qualifying permit expires. Normally document NOK 28,448/month or NOK 341,373/year; UDI has specific income and former-PhD exceptions.
October 2026 changes shorten many graduate job-search periods and restrict accompanying family.
For eligible state-approved professional bachelor's, bachelor's, part-time master's and master's programmes, study-permit applications on/after 1 October 2026 generally lead to one year of graduate job seeking, rather than three. Earlier applications and PhD programmes generally retain three years. Working-professional master's and Turkish Association Agreement cases have separate rules.
For these non-PhD routes, spouses/partners normally need both applications before 1 October 2026; children's eligibility normally depends on the student's application being before that date. PhD and specified Turkish cases have exceptions.
Job-search work is normally limited to 90 hours/month September–May and full-time June–August, unless a suitable additional work permit is obtained.
The 2026 standard Pay Limit Scheme threshold is DKK 552,000/year. FUTURE: the Collective Agreement Scheme starts 1 January 2027 and is limited to specified nationalities, certified employers and qualifying collective-agreement jobs; it is not currently an open route.
March 2026 employment-permit salary increases and graduate durations confirmed.
From 1 March 2026, the usual General Employment Permit minimum annual remuneration is €36,605 and the usual degree-based Critical Skills threshold is €40,904. Graduate, occupation-specific, higher-remuneration and public-pay-agreement cases have separate rules.
Specified healthcare assistant/home carer and agri-food roles have a €32,691 threshold under the published roadmap. Check the exact occupation and permit category.
Eligible Level 8 Irish graduates may obtain 12 months on Stamp 1G; Level 9+ graduates receive 12 months initially, potentially renewable for a further 12 months. Current Stamp 2, registration, application deadlines and overall student-permission limits apply.
Official work-residence and worker-protection guidance checked; no new rule asserted.
The standard employment route requires a Qatari employer and work residence permit; the employer normally arranges the application.
Government guidance confirms QAR 1,000/month basic minimum wage plus QAR 500 housing and QAR 300 food when these are not provided in kind.
The government confirms the removal of the previous-employer No-Objection Certificate requirement for changing jobs. Ministry procedures and notice requirements still apply. This review does not establish a new 2026 transfer deadline or a change to every family-visa condition.
Current official work-permit guidance checked; no new general visa entitlement asserted.
A valid applicable work permit is required for private-sector employment. Family-sponsored residence alone does not authorize employment.
MOHRE lists separate permits for overseas recruitment, transfers and family-sponsored residents; these categories normally have two-year permits, subject to their conditions.
The employer submits the applicable work-permit application; regulated professions need the relevant licence. Green and Golden residence categories have separate eligibility and are not substitutes for all work-permit requirements.
These three countries remain reference material only; they have not been added back to the destination filters.
Finland
Historical reference destination: national permanent-residence rules changed in January 2026.
For national permanent-residence applications from 8 January 2026, the standard path requires six years of continuous residence, two years of work history and satisfactory Finnish/Swedish.
Alternative four-year paths and a qualifying Finnish higher-education-degree path have distinct income, work-history, language and degree requirements. P-EU follows separate rules. Graduation does not automatically grant permanent residence.
Historical reference destination: graduate changes announced for 16 November 2026, not yet available.
FUTURE — from 16 November 2026, qualifying Level 7 graduate-diploma holders with a bachelor's degree can obtain up to one year of Post-Study Work Visa, subject to full-duration New Zealand study and enrolment conditions.
FUTURE — a separate six-month Short-Term Graduate Work Visa opens on 16 November 2026 for eligible Level 5–7 graduates not eligible for the Post-Study Work Visa. It requires at least 24 weeks' full-time NZ study, NZD 5,000 and an application within three months of student-visa expiry; it cannot support partner work or dependent-child student visas.
Historical reference destination: July 2026 rules shorten graduate job-search stay to 18 months.
Eligible Icelandic university bachelor's, master's and doctoral graduates may renew student residence for up to 18 months to seek qualification-related employment, replacing three years. Doctoral specialist-permit holders have a separate up-to-12-month renewal.
Students may work up to 60% of full-time across all employers without a separate work permit; academic breaks, graduate job seeking and specified training have exceptions.
Student renewals require satisfactory progress of at least 75% of a full-time course load. Family reunification is limited to full-time bachelor's, master's or doctoral students, excluding diploma programmes. Work-permit processing transferred to the Directorate of Immigration on 8 July 2026.