The India Young Professionals Scheme gives Indian citizens aged 18 to 30 two years to live and work in the UK with no sponsor. It costs £340 plus £1,552 of health surcharge, and needs £2,530 in savings and a degree. You cannot simply apply: you must first be selected in a ballot, and selection starts a 90-day clock.
UK Work Visas
India Young Professionals Scheme 2026: Ballot, Deadlines and Costs
What the Scheme Is
A two-year unsponsored visa for Indian citizens aged 18 to 30 who hold an eligible qualification and have £2,530 in savings. You must be selected in the India Young Professionals Scheme ballot before you can apply. Selection gives you 90 days to apply, prove your identity and provide documents, and you must travel to the UK within six months of applying. The fee is £340 plus £1,552 of health surcharge.
It is the Indian equivalent of the Youth Mobility Scheme, from which Indian nationals are excluded, and it is reciprocal — UK citizens have an equivalent scheme for living and working in India. Once granted, the permission works the same way: no employer, no job offer, no occupation code and no English test.
Why There Is a Ballot
Places are limited and demand is not, so entry is rationed by random selection rather than by speed of application or strength of profile. That is why the scheme is often called a lottery visa. Nothing about your qualification, savings or employability improves your chance of selection — the only thing you control is whether you are in the draw and whether you are ready to move when it opens.
Eligibility
- Nationality: Indian citizen.
- Age: between 18 and 30 years old.
- Qualification: an eligible qualification, checked against the published eligibility requirements.
- Savings: £2,530.
- Ballot: selection in the scheme ballot before any application can be made.
- Honest declaration: you declare your eligibility to enter the ballot, so check it before entering rather than after.
Turning 31 after the visa is issued does not shorten it — you can stay for as long as the permission is valid. The age test is applied at the point of application, not at the end.
How the Ballot Works
You enter the ballot by declaring that you are eligible for the visa. If you are selected, you receive an email inviting you to apply. That email is not a visa and not a guarantee of one — the application that follows is assessed on the ordinary requirements, and a selected applicant who cannot evidence the qualification or the savings is refused like anyone else.
From the date of the invitation email you have 90 days to do three things: apply online, prove your identity, and provide your documents. All three, not just the first. If an appointment is needed to prove identity, that has to fit inside the same window. After applying you must then travel to the UK within six months — GOV.UK's example is that an application made on 16 July requires arrival by 15 January. Neither deadline is extendable, and a selection that lapses is simply lost.
Ballot Timing
The ballot opens for short windows announced in advance on GOV.UK's ballot guidance, and entry is only possible while a window is open. Because the windows are brief and the follow-on deadlines tight, the useful preparation happens before one opens: have the qualification documents to hand, have the £2,530 already sitting in the account, and know whether you will need a document appointment.
Check the ballot guidance page directly for the current window rather than relying on any second-hand date, including this one — the schedule changes between rounds and a missed window means waiting for the next.
Getting Ready Before the Window Opens
The savings requirement is the one that cannot be fixed quickly, because the money has to sit in the account rather than appear in it. Degree certificates and transcripts sometimes need reissuing, and any document not in English needs a certified translation. All of that is work to do before a window opens, not during the 90 days afterwards.
How to Apply
The sequence is fixed: check eligibility, enter the ballot, receive the invitation, prepare the documents, then apply online within the 90 days. Decisions usually arrive within three weeks. The application mechanics are the standard ones in our application form guide, and there is no English language test on this route — the cross-route position is in our English requirements guide.
Cost
£340 for the application and £1,552 for the health surcharge, which is the discounted rate of £776 a year across two years rather than the £1,035 adult rate. You also prove £2,530 in savings, which is money shown rather than paid. Local currency figures are in our rupee fee guide and the levy itself in our surcharge guide.
One warning GOV.UK gives directly: your application fee will not be refunded if your application is rejected. Checking eligibility properly before entering the ballot is not just good practice, it is the only protection against paying for an application that cannot succeed.
What You Can Do
Twenty-four months to live and work, entering at any time while the visa is valid and leaving and returning freely. You can work in most jobs at any level, study, and change what you do without telling anyone. As on the equivalent scheme, professional sport is excluded and public funds are not available.
The Reciprocal Side
The arrangement runs both ways: UK citizens have an equivalent Young Professionals Scheme for living and working in India, administered by the Indian High Commission rather than by the Home Office. That reciprocity is why the scheme exists as a bilateral arrangement rather than as an extension of the general youth mobility list.
Switching to a Longer Route
The scheme does not lead to settlement and cannot be extended, so anyone hoping to stay needs to convert before it expires. Skilled Worker is the usual destination and requires an employer with a sponsor licence, which takes weeks to obtain if they do not already hold one. Relationships lead to the partner route and further study to the Student route.
Because the settlement clock starts only on the new route, the two years buy experience and contacts rather than time towards permanence. Treating year one as the job-hunting year rather than year two is what makes the conversion work.
Avoiding Scams
A rationed visa with a ballot attracts fraud. Nobody can improve your odds of selection, guarantee a place, or apply to the ballot on your behalf in a way that increases your chances — selection is random. Any offer to secure a slot, sell an invitation, or fast-track a result is a scam by definition.
Enter through the official ballot guidance only, and be wary of anyone charging for access to a free ballot. The same applies to job offers presented as a route in: this visa needs no employer, so an employer demanding payment for sponsorship on it is describing something that does not exist.
Travelling Within Six Months
The six-month travel deadline runs from the date of application, not from the date of decision, so a slow decision eats into the window rather than extending it. Anyone planning to finish a job, serve notice or complete a course before leaving should count backwards from that date before submitting.
Where Applications Fail
Missing the 90-day window is the most common failure, followed by savings not held as required and qualifications that do not meet the eligibility definition. Since eligibility is declared at ballot entry, a mismatch discovered later costs the fee as well as the place.
A refusal is normally challenged through administrative review. A refusal involving deception has consequences that outlast the scheme by years — see our re-entry ban guide.
Sources: GOV.UK India Young Professionals Scheme route page on GOV.UK and the scheme ballot guidance. Figures verified 22 August 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about the India Young Professionals Scheme
Indian citizens between 18 and 30 years old who hold an eligible qualification and have £2,530 in savings — and who have been selected in the scheme ballot. Selection comes first: without it there is no application to make. Turning 31 after the visa is issued does not shorten the permission.
You declare that you are eligible and enter during an open window. Selection is random, and nothing about your profile improves the odds. If selected you receive an email inviting you to apply, which is permission to apply rather than a grant — the application is then assessed on the ordinary requirements.
90 days from the date of the invitation email to apply online, prove your identity and provide your documents — all three, not just the application. You must then travel to the UK within six months of applying. Neither deadline can be extended, and a lapsed selection cannot be reinstated.
£340 for the application plus £1,552 for the health surcharge, which is the discounted £776 a year across two years. You also prove £2,530 in savings. GOV.UK warns that the application fee is not refunded if the application is rejected, so eligibility is worth confirming before entering the ballot at all.
Windows are short and announced in advance on the official ballot guidance page, and the schedule changes between rounds. Check that page directly rather than relying on any second-hand date. The practical preparation — documents ready, savings already in the account for the required period — is what makes a short window usable.
The permission runs for up to 24 months and is not extendable. To stay longer you have to switch to a different route before it expires — usually Skilled Worker with a licensed employer, or a partner or student route. Time on the scheme does not count towards settlement, so the qualifying period starts again on the new route.
Neither. There is no sponsor, no job offer, no salary threshold and no English language requirement. What you need is the nationality, the age, the qualification, the savings and the ballot selection. Once here you can work in most jobs and change employer freely without any further application.
No. Selection is random, so any agent, employer or website offering to secure a place, improve your odds or sell an invitation is running a scam. Enter through the official ballot guidance only. Be equally wary of anyone charging for sponsorship on this route — the visa requires no employer at all.