Those who have graduated from certain global universities may be eligible for a High Potential Individual visa to come and work in the UK for up to two years.
The High Potential Individual route allows those who have been awarded qualifications from an eligible international university on the approved global universities list to come and work in the UK for up to two years.
Those who have successfully completed a PhD or other doctoral-level qualification may stay for up to three years. You cannot extend the visa after that time, but you may be able to switch to a Skilled Worker visa or other eligible UK visas.
A High Potential Individual Visa allows you to work in most jobs, be self-employed, and live in the UK with your partner and children, as long as they also meet the eligibility criteria.
You don’t need to have a job offer in order to be eligible for the High Potential Individual visa route.
With a High Potential Individual visa, you can:
However, you cannot:
If you wish to come to the UK to work as a sportsperson, you will need to apply for a dedicated Sportsperson visa.
If you wish to settle permanently in the UK, there may be another suitable immigration route available to you. Take a look at our guide for Indefinite Leave to Remain, contact one of our legal advisers, or get in touch with us online.
Only individuals who have been awarded qualifications from institutions in the eligible global universities list are eligible for a High Potential Individual visa.
In addition, you must have been awarded the qualification in the past five years to be eligible.
Whether or not your university is eligible depends on what month and year you were awarded your qualification. As the global universities list is determined by academic ranking lists for that specific year, not all global universities may be eligible for all years.
In addition to this, the qualification you received must be at the same level as any of the following:
You must apply to Ecctis to verify that your qualification is valid and at the right level.
In order to be eligible for the High Potential Individual visa route, you must also:
You can’t apply if:
You will need to provide the following when you apply for a High Potential Individual Visa:
Additionally, if you’ve applied to Ecctis to confirm that your qualification was taught in English, you will need to provide an ‘Academic Qualification Level Statement and English Language Proficiency Statement’.
You may also be asked to provide the following documents, depending on your personal circumstances:
Note that you will need to provide a certified translation of any documents that aren’t in either English or Welsh.
You must apply online for the High Potential Individual visa.
As part of the application process, you’ll be asked to prove your identity. You will either be asked to:
You will be told which one you need to do when you apply.
If you do need an appointment:
You do not need to have received a job offer in the UK to apply for a High Potential Individual visa.
You may be able to switch to a High Potential Individual visa if you’re already in the UK on a different type of visa. You must apply online.
Your partner or children will also need to apply separately to switch their visa. They can either apply at the same time as you, or at any time before their current visa expires.
Note that you can’t apply to switch to a High Potential Individual visa if you’re currently in the UK on any of the following visas:
Additionally, you can’t apply for a High Potential Individual visa if you’re in UK:
If any of the above apply to you, you must first leave the UK and apply for a High Potential Individual visa from abroad.
Also note that if you plan to switch to this visa from a Student visa, one of the following must apply to you:
You will need to pay the following fees as part of the High Potential Individual visa:
| Fees | Cost |
| High Potential Individual visa application fee | £715 |
| Ecctis qualification verification | £210 (£252 if applying from inside the UK) |
| Immigration health surcharge | £624 |
Note that the immigration health surcharge is an annual fee paid every year you’re in the UK.
In addition, to gain entry clearance, you will need to ensure that you meet the financial requirement of having £1,270 of cash funds to your name to support yourself while you’re in the UK. You will need to have had the money available for at least 28 days in a row, with 28 of those days being within 31 days prior to you applying for the visa.
You’ll usually need to show that you meet the financial requirement when you apply unless you’ve been in the UK with a valid visa for at least 12 months.
Your partner and children will also need to prove they can potentially support themselves while they’re in the UK if they’re accompanying you.
If you’re applying from outside the UK, you will normally receive a decision within three weeks.
If you’re applying from inside the UK, you’ll usually get a decision within eight weeks.
Your application may take longer than this if you’re contacted because:
After you apply and your application has been processed, you will receive an email or a letter containing the decision of your application.
If your application is successful, you’ll be given either:
If you’ve received a vignette in your passport, you must also collect a biometric residence permit after you arrive in the UK. You must do this before the vignette sticker expires or within 10 days of arriving in the UK.
If your application is refused, you’ll get a letter or an email explaining why your application was refused and your passport will be returned to you.
Your refusal letter will explain if you have the right to either:
The High Potential Individual visa route is one of the most highly attractive visa regimes available to attract overseas talent from global universities to come to the UK.
If you’re considering applying for a High Potential Individual visa or unsure about your eligibility, WMYV can help. We are expert immigration lawyers with years’ worth of experience in helping people gain entry clearance into the UK on various UK visas.
We can assist you step-by-step through the application process, guiding you through the complexities of immigration rules to ensure that you’re eligible for a High Potential Individual visa. We can also help if your application was rejected by the UK government and if you wish to take out an administrative review or an appeal for your rejection.
Reach out to us for more information or to see how we can help you?
World universities will only be eligible for the High Potential Individual visa for years in which they appeared in at least two of the following three ranking systems:
It’s important to double check and be certain that your university is eligible for the visa before applying, as the global universities list rankings can vary greatly from year to year.
The Graduate visa immigration route is primarily for those who have completed a course such as a UK bachelor’s or master course. Meanwhile, the High Potential Individual route is only for those who graduated outside of the UK.
Neither immigration route requires applicants to have a job offer in order to be eligible for entry clearance, unlike visas such as the Skilled Worker visa, which does require a job offer.
For more information about the Skilled Worker visa, Graduate visa or any other of the UK’s long term employment visas, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, or contact us online.
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