Explained: What is the new visa scheme the UK has introduced for graduates?

What is the High Potential Individual visa route?

The scheme is applicable to graduates from 50 non-UK universities such as Harvard, Duke or Cornell.

“The new High Potential Individual route is intended to attract those at the early stages of their careers, who demonstrate exceptional promise, providing a highly desirable and able pool of mobile talent from which UK employers can recruit,” the government press release informed.

The applicants must have completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a specified list of top universities to obtain a two-year work visa. Those who have completed PhDs can apply for a three-year work visa. Successful applicants can move into long-term employment routes on the completion of these years such as a skilled worker visa.

The applicants also need not have a job offer to apply. However, they must prove their ability to speak and understand English to at least level B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale.

“The visa forms part of a series of changes to the immigration system after leaving the EU to restore control over our borders so that the UK can welcome people based on the skills they have to offer and the contribution they can make, not where they come from,” the UK government has said.

How much would the visa cost?

The application fee for the visa is £715 and applicants would also need to pay a “healthcare surcharge” of around £ 624 per year, according to the government website.

Graduates of which universities can apply?

Graduates from a pool of 50 universities specified by the UK government are eligible for the HPI visa. These include 20 universities from the US such as Harvard, Yale, New York University or Northwestern. Japan’s Kyoto University, the University of Hong Kong and China’s Peking and Tsinghua universities also feature on the list.

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A bid to ease business expansion in the UK

The HPI visa comes amid several changes in the UK to ease the expansion of businesses in the UK following its exit from the European Union.

As part of its points-based immigration policy, where those applying for a work visa in the UK are awarded points when they meet certain criteria, the UK introduced a ‘graduate route’ visa in July 2021. The scheme allows international students who have graduated from UK universities to stay in the country and work or look for work for at least two years. Like the HPI visa, the applicants need not have a job offer to apply for this visa.

The UK aims to bring in “the high skills and talent our country and businesses need”, as Home Secretary Priti Patel puts it, with such changes in visa policies. It will “ensure that the UK is open to business and continues to be at the forefront of innovation. The Global Business Mobility route opened on 11 April to simplify and improve various routes to enable businesses to expand.” The Global Business Mobility route allows overseas businesses to set up shop in the UK and transfer their employees.