The list of top global universities that qualify graduates for the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa has been expanded for those graduating this year, as well as those who graduated in the past five years.

You can check all the lists - as these have expanded now and find out more about this two year unsponsored work visa (three years for PhD or other doctoral graduates) here.

There is a new cap on the amount of visas granted - 8,000 visas per year (though there were only 2,145 granted in the last 12 month's stats published).

One irony that British universities won't appreciate is that while the HPI visa expands to a bigger list of top international unis, if you qualify for the non PhD Graduate visa by graduating at a UK higher education institution, from January 2027 you will have 18 months leave - a shorter opportunity to stay in the UK than those qualifying for the HPI visa from a top university abroad.

New lists of universities qualifying graduates for the HPI visa are dominated by US universities - almost half of the 80 higher education institutions. There are none from the 'global south.' The only qualifying ones in the Southern hemisphere are Australian.

More Asian universities do not include any that churn out science and tech talent in India, with an increase in qualifying Chinese institutions.

The "Global Universities Lists" consist of eligible non-UK institutions that are included in the list of the top 100 universities for that year in at least two of the following ranking systems:

1.     Times Higher Education World University Rankings

2.     Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings

3.     The Academic Ranking of World Universities

United States higher education institutions tend to dominate the list and this year is no exception. There are now 33 US universities: Boston University, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University - West Lafayette, University of California Irvine, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St Louis are all added to the 20 universities that were originally on last year's list (though the 2024-2025 list has now been expanded to 34).

There are 20 qualifying European universities this year with more Dutch universities on the list this year (as well as added to previous years): Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen. More Swedish, German, French and Swiss universities plus KU Leuven in Belgium and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark...

You can read the full lists and more information on eligibility and how to apply here.