Metropolitan Police: does its police constable entry routes sponsor a UK visa?

No. Metropolitan Police does not sponsor its police constable entry routes for international students who need a visa. The Metropolitan Police recruits police constables through two entry routes and publishes its eligibility criteria under a nationality and residency heading rather than leaving it to the application form. The rule has two parts and both bite. Anyone who is not from the UK must be resident here and must have lived in the UK continuously for the last three years, and must additionally be free from restrictions with indefinite leave to remain. Anyone who is from the UK must also have lived here continuously for the last three years, with an exception for those serving abroad in the British Armed Forces. Indefinite leave to remain is the decisive term: it is a settlement status, not a work visa, so a student route visa, a graduate route visa or a Skilled Worker visa does not satisfy it however long the holder has been here. Sponsorship does not arise as a question, because the Met is not asking whether it can sponsor a visa but whether an applicant already holds settled status. The force separately runs vetting to a high standard, which is its own hurdle on top of residency.