High Potential Individual Visa UK

Those who want to apply for a High Potential Individual visa must meet the standards set out in Appendix High Potential Individual. The applicant must be at least 18 years old and meet certain requirements about their schooling, English language skills, ability to pay their own expenses, and the validity and suitability of the visa. For applicants from certain countries, a tuberculosis test certificate may be required. In some cases, applicants may also be required to present proof of police registration.

Those who want to get a visa must meet 70 points in three areas: schooling, language skills, and finances.

Applications that do not meet the 70-point minimum will be rejected. In the letter notifying of the decision, the Home Office must specify the reasons for the denial.

Education Requirement

If someone wants to get a High Potential Individual visa, they must have earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree abroad in the last five years from a top global university that is on the Home Office’s Global Universities List at the time of the award. According to the Home Office, certain foreign schools are qualified based on rankings such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities, Quacquarelli Symonds, and Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings.

The following universities will give degrees between November 1, 2024, and October 31, 2025:

Requirement of English Language

The person applying for a High Potential Individual visa must be able to understand and speak English at a certain level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale. With this level of English, you can read, write, talk, and listen to at least Level B1. To get a High Potential visa, applicants must show proof that they can speak and understand English.

If the applicant is a citizen of a country with a large English-speaking population, they will only need to provide proof of identity to support their language requirement. Applicants who have earned an English-taught bachelor’s degree or an English GCSE, A Level, or Scottish National achievement level 4 or 5 while in school in the UK will also meet this requirement, as long as they can show proof of the achievement.

Otherwise, a Secure English Language Test (SELT) will be required of all applicants unless they can provide evidence that they have previously fulfilled the English language requirement in a prior application for entry clearance or permission to stay. This includes situations where the applicant is changing to a High Potential Individual visa from within the UK, for example. 

To take a SELT, you must go to a certain test centre. A SELT must be taken with Pearson, PSI Services (UK) Ltd, the IELTS SELT Consortium, or LanguageCert for people who are not from the UK. Applicants from the UK are required to take the exam through Pearson, Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, or LanguageCert.

Financial Requirements

To get a High Potential Individual visa, a person must be able to show that they will be able to pay their own way when they get to the UK and not need government help. On the day of the application, you must be able to show that you had at least £1,270 in cash on hand.

The person applying for a High Potential Individual visa must be able to show that they have had the money in their account for at least 28 days, but no more than 31 days before they apply. People who are already in the UK and want to switch to this route will not have to show proof of funds as long as they have been there for at least one year.

Needs for Suitability

Suitability requirements include things like character and immigration background. If you don’t meet the standards for suitability, your application will be turned down. All people who want to get a visa must meet the requirements in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules. Some examples are

• When the applicant’s presence in the UK is regarded as not conducive to the public good due to conduct, character, associations, or other factors.
• If the candidate is subject to an order to be temporarily or permanently removed from the country
• When there are criminality grounds for criminal charges and offences
• If the candidate lied or gave false information on their application
• If the applicant has broken immigration rules before (except for overstaying times, which are allowed under paragraph 39E of the immigration rules).

People who are already in the UK must not have broken any immigration rules and must not be on immigration bail.

Validity Requirements

The validity of the application is a prerequisite to determining its eligibility and acceptability. The Home Office will look over the application to make sure the right form was used, the right and necessary supporting documents were sent, and the right fees were paid.

If the caseworker thinks that the requirements for validity have not been met, they have to choose whether to ask the candidate for more information, reject the application, or continue with processing using the information that has already been given.

Application form

For people applying from outside the UK, you need to use the form “High Potential Individual visa.” For people applying from inside the UK, you need to use the form “High Potential Individual.”

Application cost

The proper application fee and any other fees that are due, like the Immigration Health Charge, must also be paid before the application will be processed.

Information sent

The candidate must have sent acceptable forms of identification, like a passport, along with their biometrics, which are a photograph and their fingerprints.

Age of applicant

Individuals who want to apply must be at least 18 years old on the date of the application.

Location on Application date 

The person who wants to stay in the UK under the High Potential Individual visa must have been in the UK when they applied.

Awards and scholarships

Applicants who received a scholarship from a UK government or foreign organisation in the year before the application must include written permission from that organisation to apply. The permission must be in the form of a letter and be sent with the application.

Previous stays in the UK

Applicants for the High Potential Individual visa are also limited in the types of UK visas they could have held before applying. If a person is moving from any of the following UK visas, their application will be thrown out:

• Visitor visa
• Parent of a Child Student visa
• Short-term Student visa
• Seasonal Worker visa
• Leave outside the Immigration Rules
• Domestic Worker in a Private Household Visa

Additionally, applicants cannot have a history of approval as a High Potential Individual, Graduate, or Student Doctorate Extension Scheme recipient.

For more information dial 020338443894