The SQE for international students in the UK

Read the first row with care. The lengths match only if you are in full-time qualifying work for every week of the visa, from its first day. Each week spent looking for a job, or in work that is not legal services, comes off that. The second row does not mean the route is closed either: it means the Graduate visa cannot be the only place your two years come from. The next section sets out where else they can.

• Who can applyYou must be in the UK on a Student visa, have studied a UK bachelor’s degree, postgraduate degree or other eligible course for the minimum period, and your education provider must have told the Home Office you completed it. You apply before your Student visa expires.
• What it costs£937 to apply, plus the healthcare surcharge, which GOV.UK puts at usually £1,035 for each year.
• What it allowsGOV.UK says the holder can work in most jobs, look for work, be self-employed and do voluntary work.
• What happens at the endIt cannot be extended. GOV.UK says you may be able to switch to another visa, and gives "a Skilled Worker visa" as its example. Whether that is open to you is a question for GOV.UK and an immigration adviser, not for this page.

Does work on a Graduate visa count as QWE?

Neither official page answers that in terms, so treat what follows as our reading and not as a rule. GOV.UK’s Graduate visa page says the holder can "work in most jobs". It does not mention the SQE or QWE. The SRA’s QWE page says QWE is real-life legal services work, paid or voluntary, in up to four organisations. It does not mention visas. Put side by side, paid legal work done on a Graduate visa, as a paralegal for example, can count as QWE if it meets the SRA’s rules and is confirmed by a solicitor of England and Wales or a compliance officer for legal practice. Check the GOV.UK page for your own circumstances before you rely on it.

The exam calendar runs on the same clock

• SQE1 is held twice a year, in January and July. SQE2 is held four times a year, in January, April, July and October.
• SQE1 has to be passed before SQE2 can be booked.
• SQE1 results arrive about 5 to 6 weeks after the sitting, and SQE2 results about 14 to 18 weeks after.
• Booking closes about five weeks before a sitting. The dates are on our SQE1 and SQE2 exam dates page.

• SQE1 and the SQE2 written papers are sat at Pearson VUE test centres in other countries as well as the UK. The fee is the same wherever you sit.
• The SQE2 oral assessments have no overseas venue. They run over two consecutive days in London, Cardiff, Manchester or Birmingham, and must fall in the same assessment window as your written papers, so plan on one trip back.
• The clock keeps running. You have six years from the first day of your first SQE assessment to pass every part, and three attempts at each.
• QWE gained at home counts, on the conditions in the table above.

The list is the SRA’s record of cities its assessment provider aims to include. It is illustrative only, and the cities for a sitting are confirmed when booking opens. What an English solicitor qualification is worth in your home country, and whether it lets you practise local law there, is a separate question that each country guide answers. The visitor rules for coming back to sit the oral assessments are on sitting the SQE from outside the UK. Sources: SQE1 and SQE2 written locations, SQE2 oral locations and SQE resits.