The UK will open the Youth Mobility Scheme for Japanese nationals in January

The British Embassy of Tokyo has announced that it will be opening the first ballot for the 2022 Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) in January. 

This is a visa for people between 18 and 30 years old who want to live and work in the United Kingdom for up to 2 years. This visa has replaced the Youth Mobility Scheme visa (T5). 

It is open for British nationals and people from Australia, Canada, Monaco, New Zealand, and San Marino. People from Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan must apply for the Youth Mobility Scheme ballot first.

There are two ballots each year. The first one in January will offer 800 places and the second one in July will offer 700 additional places to complete the total of 1,500 places available each year for Japanese nationals. Applicants will be chosen at random by the UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration). 

They must have money to support themselves in the UK. The minimum acceptable amount is £2,530 in savings in their bank account for at least 28 days in a row. The applicants must present a bank statement in their application to prove that they have this amount. They also have to show a valid passport and/or identity card. 

Applications should be sent to [email protected] between midday (12 pm) on Monday 17 January 2022 to midday on Wednesday 19 January 2022 (Tokyo time). After this time, the address will be closed to new emails. 

The applicant’s name, date of birth, and passport number must appear in the subject line of the email as well as in the body. In the body, applicants should also provide a mobile phone number.  The application fee costs £244. 

If they have not been selected, they will be informed via email within 3 weeks. If that’s the case, the applicants can try re-applying for the second ballot in July 2022 (if they still meet the eligibility requirements mentioned above).

If they’ve been selected, they’ll be informed via email, too. After that, they must pay with a credit card the healthcare surcharge (£470 per year) by February 28th, 2022. Then, they’ll have 90 days to book an appointment at the Visa Application Centre (VAC) to submit paperwork.

If everything is right, the applicants will obtain a visa to reside and work in the United Kingdom for 2 years or 24 months. If they turn 31 during their stay they’ll still be allowed to finish their stay. They won’t be able to extend it in any case, though. They can’t either bring in family members with them as the YMS visa is personal —family members must apply for a visa separately if they wish to stay with the traveler.

People with this visa can study and work at most jobs or be self-employed provided that their equipment is not worth more than £5,000 and that they have no employees. 

To learn more about this visa, check out: What is UK Youth Mobility Scheme Visa?