Introduction and benefits of the High Potential Visa
Launched earlier this year, the High Potential Individual visa is a generous route that allows recent graduates from around the world to live, work and further study in the UK. Those familiar with the ‘Graduate visa’ will note the similarities as, in many respects, this is the same visa opened up to a wider demographic.
In most cases, successful applicants will be granted a visa for a fixed period of two years, although those with PhD and doctoral level qualifications are granted a visa for three years. As with the Graduate visa, this period cannot be extended.
Visa holders are entitled to work (without the need for sponsorship, or to fill specific skilled roles), establish their own business or study. As with most work based routes, visa holders may not work as a professional sports person or sports coach.
Key requirements
The route-specific requirements for this visa are to be a recent graduate from one of the world’s top universities. In practice this means that the applicant must have graduated within the last five years of the date of application. The applicant must have also graduated from a university listed on the relevant ‘Global Universities List’ for the period in which their degree was awarded.
Applicants must meet the English Language requirement to level B1 in four components: reading; writing; speaking; and listening).
Applicants for entry clearance (or permission to stay where they have been in the UK for less than 12 months) must demonstrate ‘a sufficient level of funds’. At the time of writing this is funds of at least £1,270, held in an accessible bank account for at least 28 days immediately prior to the date of application.
The most complex of these requirements is assessing whether you hold a degree from a relevant university, awarded at the relevant time. To help you understand whether you meet this requirement, we have set out a three step process below.
User guide
Step one – What year did you graduate
First you need to make sure you have graduated from within the relevant five year window. This is the most straight forward part of the process. Count backwards five years from the date you intend to make the application. If you graduated within that five years. Move on to the next step. If you did not you do not qualify.
For example, if you apply for the visa on 15 October 2023, you must have graduated after 15 October 2018. If you did not, you do not qualify.
Step two – What month did you graduate
The next step is understanding what month you graduated in. This is relevant to the process and we have seen this cause significant confusion among applicants. The date you graduated is the date that your degree was awarded.
The precise timing of when awards are given varies around the world and can vary between universities within the same country. For example, in the UK most students finish their studies in May or June. Some universities then award the degrees in June of the same year, while others may wait until November or even December.
Understanding when your degree was awarded is vitally important as it can and will affect whether you qualify for this visa as you will discover in the next step.
Step three – What university did you graduate from
Finally, you must establish whether you graduated from an eligible university. This is where the month you graduated comes into play.
Rather than requiring you to work out whether your university has appeared on enough global ranking lists, the Home Office consolidates the information for you. Home Office guidance (available here) lists the universities eligible for each year.
However, there is a catch.
The periods in which these lists cover are not calendar years (e.g. January to December) and they are not academic years (e.g. September – August). Instead these lists run from 01 November to 31 October of each year.
For example, a person graduating in June 2021, would actually need to look at the 2020 list of eligible universities as this is the list that covers the period that they graduated.
To demonstrate how this works in practice, we have provided a series of case studies below.
Case studies
Case study one - Wenyou
Li Wenyou applied for the High Potential Individual visa on 01 November 2022. He completed his studies in May 2021 and received his degree from Tsinghua University in China on 25 November 2021. Does he qualify?
Answer: Yes. Wenyou graduated in November 2021, this means he received his degree within the last five years. As his degree was awarded on 25 November 2021 he needs to look at the eligible university list for 2021 as this covers the period of 01 November 2021 and 31 November 2022. Tsinghua University appears on this list.
Case study two - Stacy
Stacy Griffiths applied for the High Potential Individual visa on 01 November 2022. She completed her studies in May 2017 and graduated from Harvard University on 30 June 2017. Does she qualify?
Answer: No. Stacy graduated more than five years before her application date. While Harvard University is listed on the appropriate list for the year she graduated, Stacy needed to submit her application before 30 June 2022 in order to qualify.
Case study three - Birgette
Birgette Krone applied for the High Potential Individual visa on 01 November 2022. She completed her studies in June 2019 and graduated from the University of Hamburg on 15 October 2019. Does she qualify?
Answer: No. While Birgette did apply within the appropriate time-frame, the University of Hamburg does not appear on any of the eligible university lists.
Case study four - Terry
Terry Ponting applied for the High Potential Individual visa on 01 November 2022. He completed his studies in May 2020 and graduated from Australian National University on 05 November 2020. Does he qualify?
Answer: No. Terry has applied within five years, and his university does appear on some of the lists for other years. However, as he graduated on 05 November 2020 the university must be included on the ‘2020’ list (covering degrees awarded between 01 November 2020 and 31 October 2021). His university does not appear on this list meaning he does not qualify.
Case study five - George
George Brace applied for the High Potential Individual visa on 01 November 2022. He completed his studies in May 2015 and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan on 10 November 2015. Does he qualify?
Answer: No. George does not qualify from a university that is eligible and he graduated more than five years ago.
Other considerations
If you meet the criteria above, there is a good chance that you are eligible for the High Potential Individual visa. However, there are other factors you should consider before making your application.
As with all points-based system visas, the applicants on the High Potential Individual route are subject to the ‘Part 9 – General grounds for refusal’. These grounds for refusal relate to criminal records, immigration history and other factors that could cast doubts on an individual’s good character. If you have questions or concerns about these factors, then you should speak with an advisor before making an application.
Applicants on this route may bring dependants. Again, dependants here are treated the same as on other work and study routes, meaning a dependant is either your long-term romantic partner (through marriage or cohabitation) or your dependent child (under the age of 18 if applying for entry clearance). You will have to demonstrate that you can financially support any dependants you wish to join you. Dependants are entitled to work and study in the UK.
This route does not lead to settlement. In practice it works as a transition route, allowing visa holders time to find a job that would lead to the skilled worker visa, set up a business that would lead to an innovator visa, or experience life in the UK before returning to their country of origin at the expiry of the visa. Applicants who successfully move to a longer term PBS visa will begin building their time for settlement at the point when they switch to the relevant visa.
Get in touch
If you need help in any of the scenarios covered in this article, we would be delighted to support you.
To book a free consultation appointment and discuss your options with a member of our business immigration team, see below.