4 November 2025
Every November UKVI publishes a list of around 40 top non-UK global universities which would qualify graduates for one of the UK’s most light-touch work visas. Those who were awarded their degree in the past five years from a university that was on the list for that year may apply for the two-year High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, along with family dependants. If you have a PhD or other doctoral qualification, the visa will last for three years.
This November the list has been expanded to 80 universities. What’s more, the doubling of qualifying universities has been retrospective, applying to previous years’ lists too. You can find all the lists below. It may be worth checking the list again if you have graduated from a top university in the past five years.
Why the High Potential Individual visa is useful for employers.
High Potential Individuals may work in the UK without having to be sponsored by an employer. This means that applicants applying on this route will not be restricted to taking up employment with a UK business that holds a sponsor licence and any employment they undertake will not be subject to belonging to a valid standard occupation classification (SOC) code or minimum salary restrictions.
The two-year visa (three for postgrads) allows those on it to bring family dependants to the UK to look for work, work for an employer, work for themselves or set up a business.
With more universities than ever whose recent graduates can use this route, it can be a quick and easy way for companies to send those eligible for the HPI visa to the UK to work, service British clients and market a business without the strict restrictions on permissible activities of travelling to the UK as a visitor. For those that qualify it is a cheaper alternative to using an Expansion Worker or Skilled Worker sponsor licence with their bureaucratic requirements and strict salary and skills level thresholds.
For some of our clients facing current tightening immigration restrictions in countries such as the US it may be easier to send migrant workers who graduated at qualifying universities to the UK on the HPI route for two or three years before using an intra company transfer – such as the US L1 visa once they have gained sufficient experience – to use them wherever they need them.
What are this year’s changes to the High Potential Individual visa?
As part of its Immigration White Paper, the Labour government announced it would double the amount of top international higher institutions outside the UK that may qualify those who graduated from them on the year they were on the list for the HPI visa.
At the same time, the latest UK Immigration Rules changes set a cap to this immigration route for the first time. Only 8,000 applications will be accepted per year. Though it is unlikely there will be that many visas issued, as in the last annual statistics we have access to, 2012 visas were issued to applicants outside the UK in the year to June 2025, with a further 133 applications in Britain.
As part of increasing English language requirements across a host of immigration routes, from 8 January 2026, the level of English requirement is changing. If this is your first application for a High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, you will have to prove that you can read, write, speak and understand English to at least level B2.
One irony of the changes proposed in the Immigration White Paper is that while the Graduate visa will be curtailed from 24 months to 18 months from January 2027 for international graduates of British universities who did not complete a PhD, graduates of elite overseas universities who qualify for the HPI visa will have an expansion of the route this year, with no reduction to the two year visa duration.
Once again, the latest list to be published is dominated by US universities with more than ever making up almost half to the list of 80 higher education institutions that qualify graduates for the UK’s HPI visa. There are none from the global south. In fact the only qualifying universities in the 2025-2026 list in the Southern hemisphere are Australian.
Some UK tech and business bodies have advocated for the HPI visa to reflect the universities that produce some of the world’s highest-earning graduates and therefor it was hoped that expanded lists would include at least include one or two of the Indian universities that produce gifted science and technology graduates. However, there are no universities from the subcontinent on any of the qualifying lists from 2020 up to this coming academic year. The list is formed from universities that qualify for certain rankings lists (more on the methodology below).
Which universities are on the 2025-2026 expanded HPI visa list?
The list of eligible international universities is published every November by UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) and the list of qualifying global universities for HPI applicants awarded their qualification between 1 November 2025 and 31 October 2026 has just been published.
United States higher education institutions tend to dominate the list and this year is no exception. There are now 33 US universities: Boston University, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University – West Lafayette, University of California Irvine, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St Louis are all added to the 20 universities that were originally on last year’s list (though the 2024-2025 list has now been expanded to 34): California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), New York University (NYU), Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin, University of California Berkeley (UCB), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California San Diego (UCSD), University of Chicago, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Pennsylvania, University of Washington, Yale University.
The country with the second highest amount of qualifying universities is still China. There are now seven qualifying universities in mainland China: Fudan University, Nanjing University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, University of Science and Technology of China and Zhejiang University. There are five universities in Hong Kong now: City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and University of Hong Kong.
There are three Canadian institutions that qualify graduates again this year: McGill University, University of British Columbia and University of Toronto.
Japan’s Kyoto University and University of Tokyo feature again, along with Yonsei University for the first time.
Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore are on the list again. Seoul National University in South Korea is on this year’s list with different South Korean universities qualifying each year.
There are now 20 qualifying European universities this year. There are Dutch universities on the list this year (as well as added to previous years): the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen, Netherlands all feature on the 2025-2026 list.
Germany’s Heidelberg University, Technical University of Munich and University of Munich (LMU Munich) are on this year’s list. As are the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Switzerland), ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), University of Zurich in Switzerland. The Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University, Sorbonne University, Université Paris-Saclay in France all feature. As do Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University and Uppsala University; KU Leuven in Belgium and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Despite the expansion, the whole Southern hemisphere is represented by Australia this year and in previous years’ lists. The Australian universities qualifying for this period are: Australian National University (ANU), Monash University, The University of Melbourne, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), The University of Queensland and University of Sydney.
Would your university qualify you for an HPI visa in the year you graduated?
Potential applicants can check the newly expanded lists below for the year they graduated to see if your higher education institution would qualify you to apply for a High Potential Individual visa.
NB: you must have been awarded your qualification in the last five years – ie: the date of actual award – this will normally appear on the diploma/certificate itself must be within five years of your application.
Check the list of High Potential Individual visa eligible universities for the date you were awarded your qualification:
- 1 November 2024 to 31 October 2025
- 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024
- 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023
- 1 November 2021 to 31 October 2022
- 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2021
How is the Global Universities List of HPI qualifying institutions chosen?
The above “Global Universities Lists” consist of eligible non-UK institutions that are included in the list of the top 100 universities for that year in at least two of the following ranking systems:
1. Times Higher Education World University Rankings
2. Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings
3. The Academic Ranking of World Universities
In order to apply for this route, your qualification must have been verified by Ecctis which provides official global qualification recognition services to the UK Government. Guidance on how to do this can be found at Visas and Nationality Services (ecctis.com).
What is the English language requirement for the HPI visa?
Applicants must be able to show English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), in all four components (reading, writing, speaking and listening), of at least level B1.
There may however be other ways in which an applicant can demonstrate your English language ability such as being awarded a degree that was taught in English, being a national of a majority English-speaking country or obtaining a GCSE or A Level in English while in school in the UK (that began when aged under 18).
Applicants will also be able to meet this requirement if they have already met the English requirement at this level in a previous UK visa application. This may be relevant to applicants who are switching to this visa from within the UK.
NB: from 8 January 2026, the level of English requirement is changing. If this is your first application for a High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, you will have to prove that you can read, write, speak and understand English to at least level B2.
What is the financial requirement for a High Potential Individual visa?
An applicant who is applying for entry clearance on this route will need to show that you can support themselves in the UK without relying on public funds. You must be able to show cash funds of at least £1,270 at the submission date of the application and these funds must have been held for a 28-day period prior to the date of the application. Additional funds are required for dependants.
Applicants may be exempt from this requirement if you have been in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of the application.
Visa fees and other immigration costs for the HPI route have recently gone up as well as for other UK immigration options. Costs you will face include £252 for Ecctis to check your qualification is valid, £880 visa application fee and the immigration healthcare surcharge – usually £1,035 for each year you’ll be in the UK to access the UK’s free National Health Service.
Can people in the UK switch to a High Potential Individual Visa ?
Applicants and dependants already in the UK can switch to this immigration route without leaving the UK, unless you are in the UK on certain visas – see below.
How long will High Potential Individuals be granted leave for?
The amount of time that will be granted to applicants will depend on the level of the academic qualification. A qualification equivalent to a UK Bachelor’s or Master’s level degree will allow a period of two years. The equivalent to a UK PhD or other doctoral level qualification will afford a period of three years.
Can High Potential Individuals stay on in the UK after their visa?
It should be noted that this route does not lead to settlement in the UK, though it does allow switching to another immigration route that may lead to settlement in the UK. At any point before it expires, people on the High Potential Individual visa may switch into permitted work categories leading to settlement, such as Skilled Worker, Scale up or Global Talent visas.
Which family members can join you on an HPI visa?
A husband, wife, civil partner, or unmarried partner may accompany a High Potential Individual, as can children under 18 on the date of application. Partners must be in a genuine and subsisting relationship of two years or over. Like most immigration categories, dependants can also apply to switch into another UK immigration category if they qualify for it.
How to apply for the UK’s High Potential Individual visa
You must prepare the documents you need and apply online within five years of being awarded a qualification from a university that was eligible the year you were awarded the certificate.
It is possible to apply from within the UK too and switch to this visa from another, so long as you are not
- on a visit visa
- on a short-term student visa
- on a Student visa without completing the course you were sponsored to study or studying for a PhD for at least 24 months
- on a Graduate visa
- on a Parent of a Child Student visa
- on a seasonal worker visa
- on a domestic worker in a private household visa
- on immigration bail
- given permission to stay outside the immigration rules, for example on compassionate grounds
You must leave the UK and apply for an HPI visa from abroad if you’re in one of the above list of categories.
What is the difference between a Graduate visa and a High Potential Individual visa?
The High Potential Individual visa is for qualifications attained outside the UK, while the Graduate visa immigration route is meant for those who graduated in the UK, and can only be applied for in the UK.
Applicants for the Graduate visa must have a Student visa as their current or most recent visa for the UK, and they must have successfully completed their course of study during their last grant of permission as a Student.
High Potential Individuals, on the other hand, have five years after graduation to make use of the route.
Also High Potential Individuals have less requirements to meet to bring dependants to the UK, while Graduates are only allowed to have dependants joining them if they were already dependants while on a Student visa.
The length of your permission on the Graduate route depends on the qualification. Students who have completed a PhD are granted three years of leave – as on the HPI visa, whereas students completing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (or other specified qualification) are granted two years.
However anyone applying for a Graduate visa on or after 1 January 2027, who did not complete a PhD, will only get 18 months.