The UK continues to tackle a skills gap for crucial tech roles. At the same time, government plans to further cut net migration have caused concerns among startups that it will become even more challenging to secure the right talent. What are the visa options for people hoping to work in the UK’s tech ecosystem and how can this process be optimised?
One of the UK’s main work visa routes is the Skilled Worker visa, which requires an employer to apply for a sponsor licence to sponsor skilled roles where there are genuine vacancies.
In December, Home Secretary James Cleverly announced reforms that increase the earnings threshold from £26,200 to £38,700 – a sum greater than the UK national average salary.
This has prompted backlash from the tech sector. Earlier this month, lobby group Startup Coalition and think tank The Entrepreneurs Network sent an open letter to Cleverly warning of the damage the changes will cause.
“The threshold hikes are incredibly short-sighted and show a lack of understanding of the UK’s startup scene,” says Philip Salter, founder of The Entrepreneurs Network.
Immigrants have an outsized impact on the UK’s tech sector, data shows. A report published last year by The Entrepreneurs Network found that 39% of the 100 fastest-growing companies in the UK have a foreign-born founder or co-founder, despite the foreign-born population standing at 14.5%.
Vanessa Ganguin, an immigration lawyer and managing partner at Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law, says the UK tech sector mainly uses the same points-based sponsored work visa routes that most sectors use. But there are two further bespoke immigration routes for tech workers – the Innovator Founder visa and the Global Talent visa.
“The Global Talent visa is designed for recognised people at the top of their game or with exceptional promise,” Ganguin tells UKTN. “It is open to leaders and potential leaders in several disciplines, including digital technology.
“It is an attractive route as it does not require sponsorship, is generally cheaper than other routes, and for those considered leaders in their field, settlement can be obtained in three years, rather than the usual five years.”
Usually, this visa requires endorsement by an endorsing body – for digital technology, it’s Tech Nation – but since May 2021, an applicant can skip the endorsement stage if they have won an award from any of the Home Office’s eligible prize lists.
“The new Innovator Founder visa replaced other similar visas for founding teams to come to the UK to launch a business that one of the government’s appointed endorsing bodies approves as being innovative, viable and scalable,” adds Ganguin.
A ‘frustrating process’
The Global Talent visa tells a similar story of the significant role that immigrant workers play in the UK’s startup ecosystem. Over the past decade, Tech Nation has endorsed more than 5,000 skilled global professionals. Of those successful Global Talent visa applicants, one in four are now founders.
The scheme continues to be a popular route for tech works into the UK. In 2023, 1,658 applicants were endorsed for the Global Talent visa – a 363% increase compared with 2019.
“In our visa alumni survey, 89% of respondents told us that they would like to settle long term in the UK, and almost half have brought their families with them,” says Carolyn Dawson, CEO of Founders Forum, which acquired Tech Nation last year.
“However, our alumni would say that some visas can have quite stringent requirements, which are challenging for even the most skilled professionals to overcome. This is where our endorsement can make a real difference.”
One example includes Tech Nation aiming to process applications for endorsement within eight weeks and provide resources to guide eligible candidates through the process.
But for those without support, applying for a UK tech visa can be difficult and costly to navigate. Gareth Jefferies, partner, Europe, at early-stage VC RTP Global, says the process isn’t so painful for mature startups with an existing legal infrastructure to handle such complexities – but for earlier-stage startups, the process can be frustrating.
“The required bureaucracy and some level of ‘insider’ knowledge to best navigate the process isn’t suited to the typical small team that makes up an early-stage company,” says Jeffries. “The risk is that UK early-stage startups are taking longer to make key hires and thus growing slower than they could be.”
A recent survey from employee relocation platform Jobbatical found that over two-thirds of senior professionals in the UK tech sector think businesses need more international workers. Additionally, 60% responded that the current immigration policy is harmful to UK businesses.
“Recruiting local talent is increasingly not an option as tech companies battle with skills shortages and limited talent pools,” says Karoli Hindriks, co-founder and CEO of Jobbatical. “The UK simply isn’t creating a big enough supply of the right talent for this sector.”
What are the other options?
There are other routes aside from the Skilled Worker, Innovator Founder and Global Talent visas. Tech companies already established abroad can apply for an Expansion Worker sponsor licence to set up a branch in the UK – but this route involves significant red tape.
A Service Supplier visa allows entry on a contract to provide services for a UK company, and a Senior or Specialist Worker visa allows personnel to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job at their employer’s UK branch.
Graduates from a list of around 40 top universities in other countries in the past five years can apply to come and work in the UK without having to be sponsored on the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa – but this list is weighted heavily to universities from the global north, especially North America.
“There are no African higher education institutions on the HPI list, so it has come under criticism for being restrictive,” says Ganguin. “Like the Graduate visa, those with HPI visas can work in the UK for up to two years if awarded a Bachelor’s degree or above, and up to three years if awarded a PhD.”
Fixing the tech visa system
So, what changes could be made to iron out these visa issues and welcome more much-needed tech talent into the UK?
“I’ve spoken to founders who lament the opaqueness of decision-making, have found themselves stuck waiting for a Home Office application backlog to clear, or have faced frustrating ‘computer says no’ errors with no good ways to fix,” says Jeffries. “These drain time and energy from early-stage teams.”
Jeffries notes that the UK government could ease this pressure for startups without writing down revenue with payment deferrals, for example, which “could be a major cash flow benefit for startups without creating meaningful additional cost to HMRC.”
The Entrepreneurs Network and the Startup Coalition have suggested counting equity towards the salary requirement for the Skilled Worker visa, making it easier for workers at tech startups to stay in the UK.
Masha Sutherlin, director, global corporate legal and mobility at Deel, thinks creating a way for startups to sponsor visas via a third party while they are establishing themselves could be one way to bring more tech talent to the UK. Another could be a business visitor visa, which is offered by Canada, Sutherlin adds.
“[This] allows a visa applicant to ‘try before they buy’, living and working remotely in their chosen destination country before making an informed decision about residing there,” Sutherlin tells UKTN. “A similar scheme could go a long way in the UK.”
Derin Kocer, policy researcher at The Entrepreneurs Network, says that the Graduate visa is “falling short of its promise” and is less generous than similar routes in Canada and Germany.
“To fix this and to incentivise top graduates to stay in the UK, the government should count the years spent on the Graduate Route towards permanent residency,” Kocer tells UKTN.
A government spokesperson told UKTN: “We are committed to attracting the best and brightest talent to the UK, but the prime minister and home secretary have been clear that current levels of migration are far too high.”
The spokesperson said the approach of “reducing immigration” and encouraging investment into the domestic workforce is “fair”.
“Our talent routes remain unchanged and will continue to welcome talented individuals in STEM to help boost our domestic science and research sector,” they added.
In the recent Spring Budget, the chancellor stressed the government’s ambitions for the UK to remain a leading force in tech. For that to happen, a sufficient flow of overseas talent is crucial given the domestic tech skills shortages, which experts say will take years to address.
“Any strategy for UK tech success must factor in visas,” says Jeffries. “The easier the government can make it for tech startups to tap into the world’s best pools of tech, the better.”
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