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Under the Young Professionals Scheme (YPS), the UK will issue 3000 visas each year to qualified Indian nationals who have at least a Bachelor’s degree
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To apply under the scheme from India, the applicants need to enter a ballot. The first ballot was held by the British High Commission, New Delhi on February 28, 2023, when they made available the first set of 2400 visas to Indian nationals
On February 28, 2023, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) launched the Young Professionals Scheme (YPS), a part of the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership. Under the YPS, UK offers Indian nationals between the age of 18 and 30 years to live and work in the UK for a maximum period of two years.
India also offers a similar facility to British nationals under the YPS, writes Prabha Mohinani, an Associate – U.S. Immigration at LawQuest, in the Economic Times.
Under the YPS, the UK will issue 3000 visas each year to qualified Indian nationals who have at least a Bachelor’s degree. To apply under the scheme from India, the applicants need to enter a ballot. The first ballot was held by the British High Commission, New Delhi on February 28, 2023, when they made available the first set of 2400 visas to Indian nationals.
The ballot application has to be completed online via the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) portal and is free of cost. To qualify for the ballot, the applicant specifically needs to be an Indian national between the age of 18 and 30 years. Also, the applicant has to have a qualification equivalent to a bachelor’s degree level or above. In addition, the applicant must have £2,530 (approximately INR 2,50,000) in savings for at least 28 consecutive days in the past 31 days before the date of application.
The ballot application requires basic personal information about the applicant including given name, last name, passport number, email ID and contact number. A clear scanned copy of the applicant’s passport must be uploaded to the portal along with these details.
The outcome of the ballot entry is emailed to the applicant within two weeks after the ballot closes. The selection of applicants is based on a random selection process or lottery. The selected applicants receive an ‘invitation to apply’ for the visa. The invite to apply for the visa usually specifies the time limit (30 days from the date of the email) within which the applicant must submit his or her visa application and visit the nearest VFS Global to provide biometric data.
The visa fee is £259 for Indian nationals applying under this scheme. There is an additional health surcharge of £940 to cover a period of 24 months. The processing time for this visa is approximately three weeks.
In case the applicant is issued a visa he or she must enter the UK within six months of the date on which the visa was issued. Once in the UK, the applicant can:
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Study for certain degree programmes such as post-graduation or research in sensitive subjects in the UK an additional certificate under the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) needs to be applied before starting the course or research;
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Work for certain jobs (details are not currently available); or,
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Be self-employed, set up a company in rented premises have no employees and the equipment to run the business is not worth more than £5,000.
Similarly, the High Commission of India in the UK is responsible for visa applications under the YPS under which UK nationals may apply to enter India for a period of 24 months. UK nationals under this scheme must make an online application duly through the designated service provider i.e., VFS Global. The eligibility criteria for UK nationals are the same as for Indian nationals.
The visa fee is £720 for British nationals applying under the YPS scheme. Once an Indian visa is issued, the applicant can travel to India. Within 14 days of arrival in India, the UK national must register with the appropriate Foreigners Regional Registration Office/ Foreigners Registration Office (FRRO/ FRO).
UK national applicants must apply for an E-1 visa and categorically indicate the purpose as ‘India-UK YPS Programme’. If an applicant already has an offer letter to work in India details about the employer must be mentioned in the application. If that is not the case, the applicant can mention ‘N/A’ in the relevant fields and indicate that the expected salary is ‘0’.
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