THE HIGH POTENTIAL VISA
The UK has created a new visa scheme called the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa to attract the “best and brightest” graduates worldwide. This visa is open to graduates from eligible top non-UK universities who graduated within the last five years.
How to get an HPI Visa?
Graduates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a global top 50 non-UK university can get a work visa that lasts two years and three years if they hold a PhD.
You can apply regardless of your nationality, and you do not need to have a job offer in the UK.
All applicants must be proficient in English to at least B1 intermediate level, meaning they can speak and understand English without effort.
While you can’t extend your stay with the HPI visa, you may well be able to switch to other long-term employment visas, such as the Skilled Worker visa, if you meet the right requirements.
How long you can stay
An HPI visa usually lasts for 2 years. If you have a PhD or other doctoral qualification, it will last for 3 years.
If you want to stay longer in the UK
You cannot extend your HPI visa. However, you may be able to switch to a different visa, for example a Skilled Worker visa.
Check you can apply for another type of visa to stay in the UK.
How Much Does The HPI Visa Cost?
The visa costs £715 plus the immigration health surcharge (about £524 per year), which allows you to use the country’s public healthcare services. Additionally, you must be able to provide proof that you will be able to support yourself when you arrive in the UK, with at least £1270 in your account.
Which Universities Qualify For The HPI Visa?
To be eligible, your university must appear in at least two of these rankings when you attended.
- Times Higher Education world university rankings
- Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) world university rankings
- Academic Ranking of World Universities
This link provides a comprehensive list of the universities that qualify you for an HPI visa.
For graduates of 2021-2022, to qualify for a visa, you must graduate from one of the following universities:
North America
- University of British Columbia (Canada)
- University of California, Berkeley
- California Institute of Technology
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of California, San Diego
- University of Chicago
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Harvard University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- McGill University (Canada)
- University of Michigan Ann Arbor
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Princeton University
- Stanford University
- University of Texas (Austin)
- University of Toronto
- University of Washington
- Yale University
Asia & Oceania
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- University of Hong Kong
- Kyoto University (Japan)
- University of Melbourne (Australia)
- Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
- National University of Singapore
- Peking University (China)
- Tsinghua University (China)
Europe
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland)
- ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
- Karolinska Institute (Sweden)
- University of Munich (Germany)
- Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University (France)
