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UK visa for top talent excludes graduates of African universities

The High Potential Individual visa is intended to attract graduates from around the world to work in the UK, but its criteria excludes anyone who studied at a university in Africa

By Jason Arunn Murugesu

24 May 2022 Last updated 30 May 2022

Scientists

Scientists working in a medical laboratory

Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

A new UK visa aimed at attracting the best graduates from across the world risks excluding talent from African countries, scientists and policy-makers have warned.

The High Potential Individual visa, due to be launched by the UK Home Office on 30 May, is aimed at people who have graduated in the past five years from one of what are often regarded as the world’s top universities.

People with a recent undergraduate degree or PhD from one of these universities will be able to move to the UK for up to…

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