The UK has created a special visa to attract graduates from the best universities in the world. The government says the “high-potential individual” visa, which opens Monday, will attract the “best and brightest” minds in the world at the start of their careers.
The scheme is available to alumni from top universities outside the UK who graduated within the last five years. Graduates can apply regardless of where they were born and will not need to have a previous job offer in the UK.
Successful candidates will receive a two-year work visa if they are bachelors or masters, and three years if they have a doctorate. They will later be able to switch to other long-term employment visas if they meet certain requirements.
To qualify, a person must have attended a university that appeared in the top 50 in at least two of three rankings in the year the candidate graduated: the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, or the Academic Rankings of World Universities.
No Brazilian university appears in the list of 37 institutions published by the government. All universities are from the US, Europe and Asia. The visa will cost £715, plus the immigration health surcharge, which allows migrants to the UK to use the public health system.
Graduates will be able to bring their families, although they need to have maintenance resources of at least 1,270 (more than R$ 7,500). They will also have to pass a security and criminality check and have an English language certificate up to at least the intermediate level B1, defined as “fluency to communicate effortlessly with native speakers”.
The new visa is part of a package of measures that includes allowing foreigners to stay and work in the UK for up to two years, rather than having to leave after completing their course.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “The visa means the UK will grow into a leading international center for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. We want the businesses of the future to be built here today, and That’s why I ask students to take advantage of this incredible opportunity to build their careers here.”
While on the one hand the UK seeks “bright minds” with this visa, the country’s immigration policy has also been criticized for other measures. Last month, London announced it wanted to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after crossing the English Channel in small boats.
