Published: 21 Apr 2022 3,453 views
The High Potential Individual route is a new immigration route which aims to deliver the UK Government’s commitment in the Plan for Growth to “introduce an elite points-based route to attract the brightest and best to the UK to maintain our status as a leading international hub for emerging technologies”.
Opening on 30 May 2022, the High Potential Individual route will be available to recent graduates of leading overseas universities who wish to work, or look for work, in the UK.
Unlike the existing Skilled Worker route and the forthcoming Scale-up route, opening on 22 August 2022, the High Potential Individual route is not a sponsored route.
This means that graduates do not need a job offer for an eligible skilled job in the UK from a Home Office-approved sponsor. While the route will be open to overseas graduates with a UK job offer, it will also be available to graduates who have no current job offer in the UK and who simply wish to look for work (any type of work) in the UK.
Although applicants for a High Potential Individual Visa must be at least 18 years old to apply, unlike the Youth Mobility Scheme there is no upper age limit for a High Potential Individual visa and the route is also open to all nationalities.
The High Potential Individual route will not lead directly to settlement in the UK. However, graduates in the UK with a High Potential Individual Visa will be able to apply from within the UK to switch into another immigration route which may subsequently lead to settlement. High Potential Individuals may also be joined or accompanied by a partner and dependent children.
Application Deadline | Not Specified |
Country to study | United Kingdom |
Type | Postgraduate |
Sponsor | UK Government |
Gender | Men and Women |
Applicants must have attended a university from the Home Office’s Global University List. Released annually, the list will comprise schools outside the UK that appear in the top 50 on at least two of the following world rankings:
The schools that appear on world rankings may vary from year to year, but tend include a lot of familiar names, such as Harvard, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US; Canada’s University of Toronto; Peking University and Tsinghua University in China; and the University of Tokyo in Japan.
People who’ve received their bachelor’s, master’s, or post-doctorate degrees from a qualified school within the past five years also have to meet a few other eligibility requirements. According to the immigration law firm Richmond Chambers, these include:
Application opens 30th May 2022