Recent University of British Columbia graduates in search of a change of scenery and an international adventure can now apply for a U.K. visa and have their cases adjudicated in mere weeks.
The High Potential Individual visa (HPI) aims to solve the country’s current skilled labour shortage by attracting “the best and the brightest” to work in England.
Eligibility for the HPI visa extends to anyone who has graduated from an international university found on this list in the five years immediately before applying. The list is based on rankings from around the world and will continue to be released yearly.
Good for two years (or three if you have a PhD), the HPI visa cannot be extended but beneficiaries are eligible for other more permanent immigration statuses once their HPI time is up. Partners and children are allowed to join HPI visa holders in the U.K and there’s no job offer requirement. The visa allows individuals to work in most jobs, look for work, be self-employed, and even volunteer.
Applications opened on May 30 and cost £715, that’s about $1,117 CAD at the time of publication. Interested parties can apply online and will need to provide their diploma, transcript, certified translations of your documents if they’re not in English, and a passport or a photo ID.
Other Canadian schools on the list besides UBC include McGill University and the University of Toronto.
UBC was recently ranked 47th in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a company specializing in analyzing higher education institutions.
