UK High Potential Individual (HPI) Visa 2026 List: 82 Universities, No Job Offer or Sponsor Needed
On November 1, the UK updated its High Potential Individual (HPI) visa list for 2026. If you have a degree from a top university, this is worth a look.
The HPI visa lets you go to the UK without a job offer, without a company sponsoring you, and without a salary threshold.
There is only one real condition: the university you graduated from has to be on the UK government’s “Global Universities List”.
The numbers you need to know:
- Apply within five years of graduating, and HPI gives you two years (three with a PhD) in the UK to find work
- The cap is 8000 people a year. Currently about 2000 people apply each year, and about 98% are approved
- 82 universities worldwide are on the 2026 list
- Universities in Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore have been on the list for all seven years
- National Taiwan University was on the list only once, in 2020
How HPI differs from the usual route
The usual way to work in the UK is the Skilled Worker visa.
For that, you first need a job offer, the company needs a sponsor licence, and your salary has to clear a threshold.
HPI needs none of these. Once you have the visa:
- You can stay in the UK for two years, or three if you have a PhD
- You can do almost any kind of work: switch companies, freelance, start your own business
- You can bring your family
The trade-off: it can’t be extended, and the time doesn’t count toward permanent residence (settlement).
When the two years are up, you either switch to another visa or leave.
So the more accurate way to put it: HPI gives you two years to look for work on the ground in the UK.
Who can apply
- Your university is on the list. What counts is the list for the year you were awarded your degree, not the year you apply
- Your degree was awarded within the last five years. Bachelor’s, master’s and PhD all count
- Your qualification has to be confirmed by Ecctis, the UK’s official recognition agency
- UK universities don’t count (UK graduates use a different route, the Graduate visa)
- Your English must be at B2 (on the Common European Framework of Reference, covering reading, writing, listening and speaking)
- You need at least £1270 in your bank account
- You can only get it once in your life, and you can’t apply if you’ve held a Graduate visa
Processing time: about three weeks if you apply from outside the UK, about eight weeks from inside.
Is it hard to get?
It isn’t scored and it isn’t a lottery. If you meet the conditions, you get it.
The UK government’s own impact assessment says the approval rate for applications from outside the UK is 98% to 100%.
The cap is 8000 a year, but only around 2000 people actually apply each year, so the cap hasn’t been reached so far.
So the only real hurdle is whether your university is on the list. And that was decided on the day you graduated.
The 2026 list: 82 universities
Compared with last year, 4 universities were added and 2 were removed.
Added:
- Aarhus University (Denmark)
- Harbin Institute of Technology (China)
- KAIST (South Korea)
- Ohio State University (US)
Removed:
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
- Lund University (Sweden)
This list applies to people awarded their degree between 1 November 2026 and 31 October 2027.
Seven years of lists: very stable
Across seven years the list has stayed around 80 universities, with only 2 to 6 changes each year.
| List | Universities | Applies to degrees awarded |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 82 | Nov 2020 to Oct 2021 |
| 2021 | 80 | Nov 2021 to Oct 2022 |
| 2022 | 79 | Nov 2022 to Oct 2023 |
| 2023 | 80 | Nov 2023 to Oct 2024 |
| 2024 | 79 | Nov 2024 to Oct 2025 |
| 2025 | 80 | Nov 2025 to Oct 2026 |
| 2026 | 82 | Nov 2026 to Oct 2027 |
A few universities sit right at the edge and move in and out:
- Boston University went in and out four times in four years
- Yonsei University (South Korea) was on the list in 2022 and 2023, dropped off in 2024, and came back in 2025
- KAIST dropped off in 2025 and came back in 2026
If your university is one of these “edge” schools, remember that what counts is the list for the year you got your degree.
For the same university, graduating one year earlier or later can change the result.
What about universities in Taiwan?
National Taiwan University appeared only on the 2020 list, which covered people who graduated between November 2020 and October 2021.
It hasn’t been on the list since 2021, and no other Taiwanese university has appeared in seven years.
Since you have to apply within five years of graduating, the 2020 list can no longer be used.
So as of today, someone whose only degrees are from Taiwan can’t use HPI.
Many people study their master’s abroad
That’s why the list is worth checking even if your first degree isn’t from a listed school.
These Asian universities have been on the list for all seven years:
- National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University
- University of Tokyo, Kyoto University
- Seoul National University
- University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, University of Science and Technology of China
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (since 2021), City University of Hong Kong (since 2022) and Nanjing University (since 2023) are also on the list.
Top universities in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe make up most of the list.
Check the list. If you got a master’s from one of these universities, HPI is worth considering for five years after graduating.
Once you have it, what’s actually hard?
HPI is easy to get. The hard part is what comes after the two years.
The visa can’t be extended. If you want to stay, you usually need to find a company willing to sponsor you within those two years and switch to a Skilled Worker visa.
At that point, every condition you skipped earlier comes back: the company needs a sponsor licence, the role has to qualify, and the salary has to clear the threshold.
The UK government hasn’t published how many HPI holders switch successfully. The closest reference is the Graduate visa, which has similar conditions.
The Migration Advisory Committee’s 2024 report found that about half of Graduate visa holders moved to another work or study visa, and 86% of those moved to a Skilled Worker visa.
My view: treat HPI as a two-year ticket to job hunt on the ground in the UK, not as an immigration route. You can use it to test what living and working in the UK is really like.
Before you go, work out which kind of company you’ll get to sponsor you within those two years.
Changes that aren’t settled yet
Several UK law firms have written that the 2026 Budget proposed expanding the list from “roughly the top 100” to “the top 150”, with the cap going up too. But the UK government hasn’t announced a date or details yet.
If it does expand, it will be worth checking again whether universities in Taiwan could come back onto the list.
A similar route for graduates of top universities, with looser conditions, is the Netherlands Orientation Year visa.
Extra 1: How much does it cost for one person?
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Visa application fee | £880 |
| Ecctis qualification check | £252 (including VAT) |
| Immigration Health Surcharge (£1035 a year, 2 years) | £2070 |
| Total you pay | £3202 |
| Savings you must also hold in your account | £1270 |
If you have a PhD and get 3 years, the health surcharge is £3105. Each family member applies separately and pays their own application fee. For 2 years, the health surcharge is £2070 per adult and £1552 per child under 18.
These are the amounts GOV.UK shows at the time of writing (November 2026). The amount shown in the system when you apply is the one that counts.
Extra 2: How do you prove B2 English? Can you skip the test?
Nationals of the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several Caribbean countries are exempt. Everyone else (Taiwan included) has to use one of these:
- Your degree was taught in English: when Ecctis checks your qualification, ask it to confirm that the degree was taught in English too. Then you don’t need a separate test
- Your degree was awarded by a UK university (even if you studied outside the UK)
- Take an approved English test (a Secure English Language Test, SELT)
- You proved your English in an earlier UK visa application: you may not need to prove it again
For most people with a master’s from the US, Singapore or Hong Kong, the first option is the easiest. You need the Ecctis check anyway, so just ask them to confirm the degree was taught in English at the same time.
Sources
- GOV.UK: HPI Global Universities List (2020 to 2026)
- GOV.UK: HPI eligibility
- GOV.UK: Knowledge of English
- GOV.UK: How much it costs
- GOV.UK: Your partner and children
- Home Office: Autumn 2025 Immigration Rules Impact Assessment (approval rate)
- Migration Advisory Committee: Rapid Review of the Graduate Route (2024)
- Constantine Law: Budget 2026, revisions to salary rules and the Global Universities List