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
