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Qualifying Universities – Global Universities Lists
The government website publishes an annual list of qualifying universities starting from 2016. For the HPI visa, your application must be made within 5 years of graduation, and your university must be on the list for your graduation year, not the application year.
The list includes overseas universities ranked in the top 50 in at least two of these three rankings:
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
Degree Requirement and Visa Duration
The degree must have been awarded within five years prior to your application and be equivalent to at least a UK bachelor’s degree. This equivalence and the award date will be confirmed by Ecctis through the Academic Level of Qualification Statement.
Graduates holding a bachelor’s or master’s degree are eligible for a two-year visa, while those with a PhD or doctoral-level qualification receive a three-year visa.
English Language Requirement
If your degree was not taught in English, you must pass an approved English language test at B1 level or higher in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
If your degree was taught in English, you need to provide a certificate from the awarding body, a university transcript, or an official letter confirming this.
Financial Requirement
Applicants who have lived in the UK for at least 12 months under a different visa category are exempt from the financial requirement.
Those applying from overseas must show they have at least £1,270 (or equivalent in another currency, calculated using the Oanda exchange rate on the application date) held in a bank account for at least 28 days before applying
Dependants of a High Potential Individual
A High Potential Individual (HPI) can bring their partner and children under 18 to the UK.
Partner includes spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner in a durable relationship. Unmarried partners must prove they have lived together for at least two years and that their relationship is genuine and subsisting.
Children include those of the main applicant or their partner if the applicant has sole responsibility, if the other parent is settled in the UK, or if there are serious compelling reasons to grant the child leave.
Children must be under 18 at the application date, and their visa will expire alongside the main applicant’s visa.
Financial Requirements for Dependants of a High Potential Individual
Dependants switching to this category inside the UK with at least 12 months’ residence in the UK are exempt from the financial requirement.
For those applying from outside the UK or with less than 12 months’ residence, the following funds must be held in a bank account for at least 28 days before the application date:
£285 for the partner
£315 for the first child
£200 for each additional child
Switching to this Route Inside the UK
Both the main applicant and dependants can switch to this route from another immigration category without leaving the UK, except for those on visitor visas, short-term student visas, leave granted outside immigration rules, parents of a child at school, and domestic worker visa holders.
Immigration Options After High Potential Individual Leave
The High Potential Individual route is designed to help you and your family build strong ties to the UK. Before your visa expires, you can switch to any work-permitted category that leads to settlement, such as Skilled Worker, Start-up and Innovator, Exceptional Talent, or Scale-up routes. You can apply for a visa switch anytime before your current visa expires. However, if you leave this route early, you cannot return to it later.
How the High Potential Individual (HPI) Route Compares to the Graduate Route
The HPI route offers several advantages:
Eligibility period — You can apply up to five years after graduation, unlike the Graduate visa which must be applied for soon after course completion.
Dependants — HPI allows dependants to apply with the main applicant or join later if the main applicant is already in the UK. The Graduate visa only permits dependants if they were in the UK during the main applicant’s studies.
Application location — You can apply for HPI from inside or outside the UK, while the Graduate visa requires you to apply from within the UK