United Kingdom · Work authorisation

High Potential Individual visa

Issued by UK Visas and Immigration (Home Office). It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
3
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

No job offer and no sponsor are required. Eligibility instead turns on where you graduated: your qualification must come from a university on the Home Office's own eligible-university list, which it bases on global university rankings and updates itself — UK universities are not on it. You may hold this visa only once, and the guidance states plainly that time spent on it does not count towards settlement. The same post-Brexit rule applies: an EU/EEA citizen without EU Settlement Scheme status needs this route (or another one) like any other non-British, non-Irish national.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

A bachelor's, postgraduate, or doctoral-level qualification, awarded in the last 5 years by a university on the Home Office's published eligible-university list.

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Check the Home Office's eligible-university list for the year you graduated, and confirm your awarding university is on it. The Home Office decides this list; no other check confirms university eligibility for you.
  2. Prove your knowledge of English and show you have enough personal savings to support yourself, unless you have already held a valid UK visa for at least 12 months.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Apply to Ecctis to have your qualification checked as valid and at the right level for this specific visa.The guidance states plainly that 'Ecctis will not check if your university is eligible' — that is a separate question you answer yourself against the Home Office list, not something this check confirms for you. This Ecctis product is not the Statement of Comparability described in `unitedKingdomDegreeRecognition`; do not treat the two as interchangeable.

Register and start working

  1. Apply online. You can only ever hold this visa once, so confirm it is the right route before you use that one opportunity.You'll usually get a decision within 3 weeks if you apply from outside the UK, or within 8 weeks if you apply from inside the UK.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

Application fee
£880
Ecctis qualification-validity check
£252, including VAT
Immigration health surcharge, 2-year visa
£2,070 total (£1,035 per year)
Immigration health surcharge, 3-year visa
£3,105 total (£1,035 per year)
Personal savings you must show, unless exempt
At least £1,270

Timeframes

Decision, applying from outside the UK
Usually within 3 weeks
Decision, applying from inside the UK
Usually within 8 weeks

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into United Kingdom and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

4 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route United Kingdom opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

Check my path →All United Kingdom permits