As at the 30th of May, the United Kingdom will issue a new visa that allows holders of first degree, masters and doctorates in science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to travel to the country.
The UK plans to attract individuals that have proven their potentials via their academic excellence and skills to benefit the UK workforce. If cleared and granted successfully, the individual will be able to stay in the UK for 2 years (3 years for PhD holders). The liable individuals will also be able to bring in dependant such as a spouse and children under the age of 18.
The visa to be issued is referred to as High Potential Individual visa and it’s only awarded to certain individuals with the qualifications below:
- The individual must have been awarded a degree from a university overseas equivalent to or not less than a UK Bachelor’s Degree.
- The university must have made it to the global university list by the Home Office.
- Applicants whose degree wasn’t taught in English will need to pass the B1 level of an accepted English language test (ELT). For those whose degree language was English, a certificate from the awarding body or a university transcript will be needed.
- The HPI visa will cost £715. The applicant must have gotten a degree equivalent to UK bachelor’s degree within five years of the year of application. (If you are applying in 2022, then your degree should have been awarded in 2018.) The degree would need to be confirmed through Ecctis.
- They should have the equivalent of £1,270 in their bank account for about a month from applying. For those who have been residing in UK, this might not be necessary.
The list of qualified candidates will be compiled and updated annually based on institutions included in the top 50 of at least two of these ranking systems; Times Higher Education World University Ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking and the Academic Ranking Of The World Universities
From analysis, Nigerian universities are not included in any of these ranking systems, hence no Nigerian graduate qualifies for the HPI.
