I just found out about this program by the UK government. My daughter goes to UC San Diego. Other UC’s included are Berkeley and UCLA. The school has to be in the top 50 on the two of the three global ranking ARWU, QS and Times Higher.
The UK government is implementing its “high potential” Individual visa program by giving 2 year open work visas for everyone graduating with an undergrad or grad degree from a pre-selected group of universities. Here are the American ones:
- California Institute of Technology
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Harvard University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- Princeton University
- Stanford University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of California, San Diego
- University of Chicago
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Washington
- Yale University
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My niece attended one of the qualifying US schools and is working for a non-profit in the UK through this program before pursuing graduate school. A great experience !
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There’s also the Top Talent Visa Scheme from the government of Hong Kong.
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In recent years, the global competition for top university graduates has intensified, prompting the UK to establish the High Potential Individual Visa program in May 2022. This program grants visas for up to two years, or three years for PhD holders, to foreign nationals who have graduated within the last five years from top 50 universities globally ranked by at least two major ranking systems. Amidst this shifting landscape, Japan is adopting a proactive approach to its immigration policies, particularly regarding international graduates. Historically characterized by a cautious stance on immigration, Japan is now broadening its borders with the introduction of the J-Find visa.
As of January 2025, the list of universities eligible for J-Find visa is as follows:
United States
- Brown University
- California Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Harvard University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
- Princeton University
- Purdue University - West Lafayette
- Stanford University
- The University of Texas at Austin
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Irvine
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of California, San Diego
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Southern California
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Yale University
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Is the Hong Kong list a partial list? I noticed it’s missing both Harvard and MIT, for example.
That’s the current list. I didn’t noticed but I’ll double check.
this list seems to be valuing the quantity (and quality) of the professors outputs rather than the students qualifications.
Obviously very smart kids at all these schools, no doubt, but leaves out a lot of schools with higher selectivity and higher average scores, etc. etc. Penn State? UMN?
Yes the government of Hong Kong, Japan and the uk are using the global rankings. I don’t know if teaching quality is part of the category aside from research.
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Yeah, and they can do what they want…plus no perfect metric… just seems like a top student from Rice or Dartmouth or Williams or UVA would be pretty high potential:)
I’d think there’s also an element of being able to sell the policy internally. It’s probably a lot easier to tell your citizens that you’re getting immigrants from universities that appear on a third-party, global list than picking favorites yourself. Also probably helps that the research universities will be more likely to have somewhat of a “name brand” there.
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I am not sure UVA or Dartmouth has less a brand name than UMN, but your overall point certainly stands!
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Maybe the people making the list didn’t know the difference between Penn and Penn State.
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Definitely possible.
I have heard people (in US) being confused about UMass Dartmouth and Dartmouth College, and also of Penn State/Penn confusion for sure.
My favorite confusion will always be between WashU, UW, and George Washington.
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Oh that is a good one too!
And for many UW is Wisconsin. And Wyoming for some also.
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Getting back on topic…
The full list is here. Harvard and MIT are listed on page 3.
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Possible as they don’t seem to know the difference between football and soccer.
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