Post-Study Work Visa Comparison 2026: Germany, UK, Canada, Australia

Everyone compares the length of the post-study window, and on its own it is the least useful number in the decision. What decides whether your degree becomes a career is what the visa costs to hold, how cleanly it turns into a work permit, and whether those months count toward permanent residence. On the last point the four countries split cleanly, and the shortest window is not the worst one.

A German master's sits behind the uni-assist application process, an APS certificate if you studied in India, and an anabin or ZAB check on your bachelor's. It also sits behind a tuition bill of zero, which is the number that changes the whole calculation further down this page.

How long each country gives you

Germany: 18 months. Section 20(3) of the Residence Act (AufenthG) gives graduates of German universities an 18-month permit to look for work matching their qualification. You can work without restriction during it, including unrelated jobs that pay the rent. You apply at your local Auslaenderbehoerde before your student permit expires, showing health insurance and proof you can support yourself. The mechanics are in our guide to applying for the 18-month job-seeker permit. A separate route, the Chancenkarte, gives 12 points-based months to people who did not study in Germany.

UK: 2 years, 3 after a PhD. The Graduate route needs no sponsor and no job offer, and it lets you work at any skill level. Two things catch people out. It cannot be extended, and the time on it does not count toward Indefinite Leave to Remain: your settlement clock only starts when you move onto a sponsored Skilled Worker visa. The Home Office's 2025 immigration white paper also proposed shortening the route to 18 months, so check gov.uk before you plan around two years.

Canada: up to 3 years. The Post-Graduation Work Permit matches the length of your programme, capped at three years. Programmes under eight months get nothing, while a master's of at least eight months can still draw the full three. Since November 2024 there is also a language floor, CLB 7 for university graduates and CLB 5 for college graduates, and college programmes have to sit on an eligible field-of-study list.

Australia: 2 to 4 years. The Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485, gives two years after a bachelor's or a coursework master's and three after a research master's or a doctorate. Selected fields and regional study stretch it further. Watch the age cap: you generally have to be under 35 when you apply.

The four routes side by side

What the visa costs to hold

Germany's number is the outlier. The student visa costs EUR 75, and the 18-month permit is a residence-permit fee at the Auslaenderbehoerde of roughly EUR 100. Public universities charge no tuition, with one exception: Baden-Wuerttemberg bills non-EU students about EUR 1,500 per semester, which hits the University of Stuttgart, KIT in Karlsruhe, Heidelberg and Freiburg. Everywhere else you pay a semester contribution of EUR 150 to 390.

The UK is the expensive one to simply exist in. GBP 822 for the application plus the immigration health surcharge at GBP 1,035 a year comes to about GBP 2,890 across two years, before you have paid a month's rent. Canada asks roughly CAD 255 for the PGWP. Australia's subclass 485 base charge sits above AUD 2,000, plus Overseas Student Health Cover.

Germany's running costs are not zero either. You need student health insurance at about EUR 140 a month under 30, and proof you can support yourself, which for most people means a blocked account holding EUR 11,904 for the year, or EUR 992 a month. That money is yours. It is a deposit, not a fee, and you draw it down as you live on it.

Total cost, degree plus visa

The post-study window is half the picture. Here is the other half, for a two-year master's, in euros.

Eighteen months of job hunting with no loan behind you buys more patience than three years with EUR 80,000 outstanding. That is the trade the length comparison hides. Our line-by-line breakdown of what a year in Germany costs has the detail, and a scholarship or a Werkstudent job at EUR 13.90 an hour offsets more of it, within the 140 full days or 280 half days a year that student status allows.

Turning the visa into a work permit

1. Germany asks only that the job matches your qualification. Clear the EU Blue Card salary line, EUR 45,934 in shortage occupations or EUR 50,700 otherwise, and you get a Blue Card. Below it, a skilled-worker permit under Section 18b covers you. No employer licence, no annual cap, no lottery, and no anabin recognition step, because the degree is already German.
2. The UK requires a Skilled Worker sponsor holding a Home Office licence and a salary above the going rate for the occupation code. Small firms often are not licensed, which quietly removes part of the job market from your search before you have even applied.
3. Canada lets you skip the work-permit step and go straight to permanent residence through Express Entry, scoring the work experience your PGWP produced.
4. Australia routes you through employer sponsorship on a subclass 482, or through points-tested skilled migration.

How each route reaches permanent residence

Germany. A settlement permit is available to skilled workers after three years in qualified employment under Section 18c, and to EU Blue Card holders after 27 months, or 21 months with B1 German. Citizenship comes at five years of residence, three with strong integration, and dual nationality has been allowed since June 2024. Your student years count toward that residence total, which is the quiet advantage in this whole comparison.

UK. Five years of sponsored skilled work for Indefinite Leave to Remain, and the Graduate route months do not count toward any of it. The 2025 white paper proposed extending the standard qualifying period to ten years, the biggest potential change on this page.

Canada. One year of skilled Canadian work experience makes you eligible for the Canadian Experience Class, and category-based draws favour healthcare, STEM, trades and French speakers. Permanent residence within two years of graduating is realistic, not optimistic.

Australia. Points-tested, and the points are the problem. The 65-point minimum only gets your expression of interest into the pool. Invitation rounds land far above it, and the bar moves with demand.

Who should pick which

• Germany if you want the lowest total outlay and a job market that does not hinge on an employer holding a sponsorship licence. Engineering, IT and healthcare graduates from the TU9 group of technical universities get hired quickly. Start with the master's routes into Germany, or search every programme in our catalogue and the full university directory.
• Canada if permanent residence is the goal and speed matters more than cost.
• The UK if a two-year window and the university brand are worth GBP 2,890 in visa charges plus tuition, and you can find a licensed sponsor who will pay above the going rate.
• Australia if you want the longest English-language window, you are under 35, and you can carry both the fees and the points competition.

Mistakes that cost people the stay

• Applying too late in Germany. File for the 18-month permit before your student permit expires. A lapse turns a formality into a problem.
• Assuming UK Graduate route time counts. Two years on it is two years off the settlement clock.
• Ignoring Canada's language floor. CLB 7 is checked when you apply for the PGWP, not when you are admitted.
• Treating the window as the start of the job hunt. In Germany, the students who land offers did a Werkstudent role or wrote their thesis with a company, and they usually have a contract before the 18 months even begins.

Sources

• UK Government, Graduate visa
• IRCC, Work in Canada after you graduate
• Australian Department of Home Affairs, immigration and citizenship
• Aufenthaltsgesetz (German Residence Act), full text
• Make it in Germany, federal portal for skilled workers
• BAMF, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees
• DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service

Weighing Germany against the other three? Get a free profile evaluation and we will tell you which German programmes your grades reach, and what the 18-month window looks like in your field.