Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals were granted entry visas to the UK under the high-potential individual route in (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa type in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release]. Data on grants of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the ‘detailed entry clearance visas dataset’ [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables#entry-clearance-visas-granted-outside-the-uk].
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of September 2025.
Figures for visa grants for the High Potential Individual route can be seen in the table below.
Quarter | Main Applicants | Dependants | Total |
2023 Q1 | 517 | 100 | 617 |
2023 Q2 | 583 | 85 | 668 |
2023 Q3 | 620 | 70 | 690 |
2023 Q4 | 493 | 76 | 569 |
2024 Q1 | 399 | 73 | 472 |
2024 Q2 | 544 | 56 | 600 |
2024 Q3 | 497 | 43 | 540 |
2024 Q4 | 357 | 31 | 388 |
2025 Q1 | 336 | 73 | 409 |
2025 Q2 | 605 | 70 | 675 |
2025 Q3 | 536 | 68 | 604 |
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 28 September (HL10391), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what criteria and data they plan to use in assessing the extent to which the High Potential Individual visa entry route has met its stated objective of supporting the UK’s growth as a leading international hub for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office are committed to evaluating visa routes to robustly identify which policies and aspects of our delivery are effective. Full details on the ways in which we evaluate visa routes can be found in the Home Office Evaluation Strategy. The findings from completed evaluations, including those evaluating the efficacy of visa routes, are routinely published on GOV.UK.
The process of commissioning an external evaluation of the High Potential Individual visa route is currently ongoing.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 28 September (HL10391), what is the “normal manner” for (1) reviewing the efficacy of visa routes, and (2) updating Parliament on them; and what is their timetable for reviewing the High Potential Individual visa entry route and updating Parliament on it.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office are committed to evaluating visa routes to robustly identify which policies and aspects of our delivery are effective. Full details on the ways in which we evaluate visa routes can be found in the Home Office Evaluation Strategy. The findings from completed evaluations, including those evaluating the efficacy of visa routes, are routinely published on GOV.UK.
The process of commissioning an external evaluation of the High Potential Individual visa route is currently ongoing.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 19 September (HL9920), what plans they have to evaluate the success of the High Potential Individual (HPI) entry visa route to the UK; and what criteria and data they plan to use in assessing the extent to which the HPI route has met its stated objective of supporting the UK’s growth as a leading international hub for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We keep all visa routes, including the High Potential Individual route, under review and will update Parliament in the normal manner.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they identify the non-UK universities whose graduates are eligible for a High Potential Individual (HPI) entry visa; and which universities have either been removed from or added to the list of these universities since the HPI visa was introduced.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The High Potential Individual (HPI) route is for recent graduates of top global universities. Details of universities on the Global Universities List (GUL) and how the list is compiled is set out in paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules (www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-introduction).
Applicants must have graduated from a top global university in the five years immediately preceding the application. Eligible institutions can be found on the Global Universities List for the relevant graduating year (www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-potential-individual-visa-global-universities-list).
This list of universities relates to qualifications awarded between 1 November 2022 and 31 October 2023.
Alphabetical Rankings Lists 2022 (establishments from Top 50 rankings which appeared on 2 or more lists) | Country |
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Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals were granted an entry visa to the UK in the 2022–23 financial year under the High Potential Individual (HLI) route; and of those, (1) how many had (a) a PhD or equivalent qualification, or (b) other postgraduate qualification, (2) how many had studied a STEM subject for their highest achieved qualification, and (3) how many of those studied in each of the universities which provide eligibility for this route.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Using the data from the published migration statistics for the year ending June 2023, the number of individuals granted an entry visa to the UK in the 2022–23 financial year under the High Potential Individual route is 1851.
We are unable to provide the information requested regarding the number of individuals holding a PhD or equivalent qualification or other postgraduate qualifications, how many individuals had studied a STEM subject for their highest achieved qualification or how many individuals studied in each of the universities which provide eligibility for the High Potential Individual route as the data is not readily available and would require a review of each individual case.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applicants for settlement visas who paid for the UK Visas and Immigration’s Settlement Priority Visa service from 31 March 2017 to 1 April 2018 qualified for the (1) 8 weeks, and (2) 6 months standard processing times.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The information requested is not available in published data.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applicants for settlement visas who paid for the UK Visas and Immigration’s Settlement Priority Visa service from 31 March 2017 to 1 April 2018 and qualified for the 8 weeks standard processing time received their visas within that time; and of those who did not, how many received an explanatory letter within (1) 40 days, and (2) 41 to 60 days of their application.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The information requested is not available in published data.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average time taken for applicants for settlement visas who paid for the UK Visas and Immigration’s Settlement Priority Visa service from 31 March 2017 to 1 April 2018 to be (1) issued with a visa, and (2) informed their application had been rejected.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The information requested is not available in published data.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applicants for settlement visas paid for the UK Visas and Immigration’s Settlement Priority Visa service from 31 March 2017 to 1 April 2018; and what was the total amount paid by applicants using that service during that period.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The information requested is not available in published data.