• IELTS Band 6 or above, or
• A Bachelors degree that has been taught in English

Once the application has been approved you will need to get your passport endorsed. If you are abroad this means you must go to the nearest British mission to apply for a visa for yourself and any dependent relatives.

If you are in the UK you will need to send your passport to the Home Office to ask them to change your immigration status. In some cases, for example if you are here as a visitor, you will not be permitted to change your status. If this is the case you should return to your usual country of residence and apply at the British mission near to where you live.

In either case you will need to show that you have sufficient funds and accommodation to maintain yourself. This will be particularly important if you have not received a job offer.

HSMP visas are normally given for an initial period of two years. After this period you will effectively be required to make the application again. This will be particularly important if, as in most cases, you relied on your previous level of earnings in order to qualify for HSMP. This means that you may no longer qualify if you were unable to find a reasonably well paid job in the UK.

Please note, though, that there are different arrangements if you initially had a visa for 12 months or less under HSMP.