The prolonged use of its resources is inconsistent with the defined purposes of the International Monetary Fund. The Articles of Agreement claim that IMF resources should only be used temporarily. However, for a significant number of member countries prolonged use became commonplace. The first report of the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office published in 2002 examined the phenomenon. Although in the period since 2000 some former prolonged users have graduated away from the Fund and have not participated in IMF programs even during global economic crises, the existing literature has not specifically examined graduation. This paper aims to fill this gap. It empirically identifies the factors that are associated with graduation from the prolonged use of IMF resources. Using data for the 44 countries selected as prolonged users by the IEO, the paper employs Qualitative Comparative Analysis to identify the configurations of economic, political and social conditions that are associated with graduation. It also re-estimates some of the large sample participation models that have been used in the literature to see the extent to which the results are consistent with our analysis of graduation. A better understanding of graduation should help in designing programs that enable countries to reduce their reliance on IMF resources in the future.