Attracting the best and brightest international talent: Navigating the post-Brexit immigration system for the science sector

Over 12 months ago, the UK government published its COVID-19 recovery plan to support economic growth through investment and infrastructure commitments: ‘Build Back Better’. The proposals targeted various industries with a desire to build on the UK’s science and innovation strengths. This view was echoed in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s autumn budget in stating that “one third of our science Nobel Laureates have been immigrants meaning that an economy built on innovation must be open and attractive to the best and brightest minds”.

One avenue to improve the UK’s scientific standing has been ongoing reform to the immigration system, with the introduction of new visa categories and enhancements to existing ones. These reforms aim to fulfil the government’s dedication to attracting the world’s top talent in the science and digital technology sectors. Despite this, and in a post-Brexit and COVID-19 challenged world, these reforms may have often gone unnoticed, with the benefits of existing visa schemes being underutilised. In this article, we’ll unpack these changes to highlight how skilled scientists and technical experts can profit from them.

Global Talent

A useful starting point is the existing Global Talent visa. This route caters to promising individuals and market leaders in core subject areas such as science and digital tech, and serves as a viable alternative to sponsored work categories. To be eligible, an applicant must receive endorsement from an approved endorser in their chosen field. For scientists, this tends to be endorsement from the Royal Society across various disciplines, including neuroscience, applied physics, biopharma, genetics, clinical research and more. In the past 18 months, there has also been a common trend and overlap between science and digital tech in artificial intelligence, machine learning and coding. This transition to a digital platform has opened the door for endorsement from other endorsers too, such as Tech Nation.

The government continues to promote the Global Talent visa, which has further led to the removal of the annual endorsement cap, making the scheme more accessible than before. The absence of an English language requirement and the ability to apply for permanent residence after three years for exceptional talents are added incentives. Looking forward, the government has pledged to introduce a Global Talent Network for science and tech industries. This network will work alongside international businesses and research institutions to identify necessary skills and source top talent to the UK. The network will launch this year with an initial three hubs based in the US and India and will expand to six countries by 2023.

High Potential Individual

The first of two new visa categories designed to generate science and tech growth is the High Potential Individual (HPI) scheme. This route allows graduates from non-UK universities who have an award that meets or exceeds the recognised standard of a UK bachelor award to come to the UK for employment unsponsored. The degree must be awarded from an educational institution which features on the Global Universities List, which will be reviewed on an annual basis, and includes institutions ranked in the top 50 on at least two of the following ranking systems:

1. Times High Educational World University Rankings
2. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings
3. The Academic Ranking of World Universities

The overseas degree level qualification must have been awarded in the five years prior to the date of application, and applicants can bring their dependant family members with them. The HPI scheme goes live next month on 30 May 2022 and shall be granted for a period of two years for Bachelor and Masters graduates and three years for PhD graduates.

Scale-up

The second new visa route, known as Scale-up, will open on 22 August 2022 and could be a useful substitute for the traditional Skilled Worker or Global Mobility options. Scale-up is designed for those with a skilled job offer in the UK from a qualifying scale-up business and are earning at or above £33,000 per annum or the going rate for the role (whichever is the higher). After six months, a second unsponsored extension application can be made, allowing the science professional to switch employer without restriction, which is not possible under other sponsored work visas. The flexibility for employees coupled with quicker processing times for unsponsored applications may prove beneficial. The Scale-up Institute’s 2021 annual review showed that scale-ups recruit around 47% of staff from the EU and 36% of staff from outside of the EU. These figures indicate a huge reliance on migration and, hence, talented science professionals, as well as UK businesses, may profit from this visa offering.

Moving Forward

With the UK placed fourth behind Switzerland, Sweden and the US on the Global Innovation Index, which ranks global economies in areas such as science and sustained development, it is clear there is a continued desire to push the UK forward as a scientific powerhouse, with an expansion to the UK’s migration framework for top science professionals supporting this aim.

Of course, we must not lose sight that recent incentives for science, technology and healthcare specialists, such as fast-tracking of Global Talent applications for those with prestigious awards or prizes that received little to no uptake, may have fallen short in delivering skilled scientists with a viable path to the UK. Having said that, these new proposals do provide renewed hope for such crucial sectors.

Need to Know More?

If you and have questions or need further information, please contact Senior Associate Russell Hodges by emailing [email protected].

This blog was published on 3 May 2022, and the UK’s Immigration Rules change frequently. To keep up-to-date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 site, subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.