Pending changes to the UK’s visa system will make it the “most attractive” in the world for high-skilled workers and entrepreneurs, according to Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
In an address at the Bayes Business School last week, the Chancellor reiterated his plans, announced in the Autumn Budget, to roll out a “scale-up visa”, allowing fast-growing companies to easily hire overseas workers; as well as a “high-potential individual” visa which give graduates from the world’s top 100 universities the opportunity to obtain a UK visa, without a job offer.
A new “innovator” visa is also planned for this year, which will make it easier for foreigners to set up a business in the UK, without the previous requirement of having £50,000 of investment funds.
The Chancellor was adamant the new immigration system would have “a significant impact on our levels of innovation.”
“Precisely because we can now decide as a country who comes here, based not on their nationality but on their skill level, I believe we now have the public’s backing to create one of the world’s most attractive visa regimes for entrepreneurs and highly skilled people,” Mr Sunak said.
The revised system comes on the back of the Government’s announcement around plans to scrap the “golden visa” scheme, which offered wealthy foreigners and their families a path into the UK.
Pressure on that scheme has mounted since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions that have been implemented.