The UK's High Potential Individual (HPI) visa allows skilled graduates from top global universities to live and work in the country without needing a prior job offer. Graduates who obtained a degree from an approved university in the last five years qualify for this route, as per a report by The Financial Express.

Currently, the UK maintains a list of more than 40 elite institutions whose alumni are eligible. The government plans to broaden access to graduates from the top 100 international universities, imposing an annual cap of 8,000 applications to manage inflows.

Benefits of the HPI Visa

Holders of an HPI visa can engage in most types of employment, search for jobs, operate as self-employed individuals, reside in the UK alongside eligible partners and children, participate in voluntary work, and travel internationally while returning to the UK.

Eligibility criteria

To qualify for the HPI visa, applicants must possess a qualification from an eligible university awarded within the past five years, equivalent to a UK bachelor's, postgraduate degree, PhD, or doctorate.

Eligibility depends on the global university rankings for the specific month and year of qualification.

The visa does not require employer sponsorship and targets those who completed an undergraduate or postgraduate equivalent at a listed institution in the preceding five years.

Notably, no job offer is necessary, and applicants cannot have previously held a UK Graduate visa or participated in the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

Visa duration and extension options

The HPI visa grants permission to stay in the UK for two years, or three years for those with a PhD or doctoral qualification. Extensions are not available, but holders may transition to another visa category, such as the Skilled Worker visa.

Applications for the HPI visa are submitted online, either from inside or outside the UK, depending on the applicant's location and current visa status. Proof of sufficient personal savings is required to support oneself, unless the applicant has held a valid UK visa for at least 12 months. Decisions typically arrive within three weeks for overseas applicants and eight weeks for those applying from within the UK.

Eligible Universities (Qualifications from November 1, 2024, to October 31, 2025)

The following institutions are approved for HPI visa eligibility during this period:

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA

Columbia University, USA

Cornell University, USA

Duke University, USA

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland

Fudan University, China

Harvard University, USA

Heidelberg University, Germany

Johns Hopkins University, USA

Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Kyoto University, Japan

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

McGill University, Canada

Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

National University of Singapore, Singapore

New York University, USA

Northwestern University, USA

Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University, France

Peking University, China

Princeton University, USA

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Stanford University, USA

Technical University of Munich, Germany

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Tsinghua University, China

University of British Columbia, Canada

University of California, Berkeley, USA

University of California, Los Angeles, USA

University of California, San Diego, USA

University of Chicago, USA

University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

University of Melbourne, Australia

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, USA

University of Munich (LMU Munich), Germany

University of Pennsylvania, USA

University of Texas at Austin, USA

University of Tokyo, Japan

University of Toronto, Canada

University of Washington, USA

Yale University, USA