The UK government is working on more flexible visa opportunities that will be applied in near future!

“We will open our borders to the world’s best innovators and make the UK a global hub through the Office for Talent; open up new and improved visa routes for innovators, and offer a reviewed funding offer for globally-mobile talent.”

We would like to inform you about the ongoing innovative plans under the leadership of Hon Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and which the UK aims to implement in many areas in the near future.

Mr. Kwarteng underlines that the aim of these strategies to be implemented is to significantly boost private sector investments and to strengthen the innovative perspective of current and future businesses. It is our duty to inform you as much as we can at this critical point that we think will be of interest to hundreds of our clients who have jobs in the UK private sector.

In this newsletter, we would like to emphasize these innovative initiatives, bureaucratic changes and new business opportunities that we will witness together in the near future.
The UK government aims to become a global hub for technology and innovation, as clearly stated in the strategic guide, which outlines the steps and methods to be taken one by one. You can access the entire 116-page text here.
It seems that one of the most important stages will be to provide the qualified and talented people that the private sector needs in order to increase the workforce.

What are the changes the government is planning to make at this point?

The UK visa routes, which started to be reviewed after the UK’s leave from the European Union, will change even more with this statement.

In summary, it can be said that the UK, which is on a talent and investment hunt around the world, underlines that a multicultural working and research environment plays an important role in the development. The government aims to invest £290m to build a solid business network. Thus, it is ensured that business owners or individuals who want to take innovative initiatives can easily find investors, and they are also encouraged to implement their ideas.

Based on a study emphasizing that the UK falls behind other countries in terms of skilled immigration; the government announces that they will open the borders to talented immigrants wherever they are in the world. At this point, the ultimate goal is to make the UK the easiest country to enter for qualified and talented people, as well as for investors. The government thinks that in this way, the current perspective and talents will be diversified, and people from different education systems, different cultures and backgrounds will come together and reveal the ‘hidden treasure’ they are looking for.

For the first time in the history of the country, a unit is being created for all the aforementioned targets: the Office for Talent

The main tasks of the Office for Talent include:

• Properly promote the benefits to investors so they can see the UK as their ‘home’

• Demonstrating that the UK is fully open to gifted immigrants

• Working in coordination with the relevant units for the recruitment of qualified people in critical priority sectors

What is going to change?

The government declares that they are working on new global immigration routes in addition to the existing Global Talent visa. Among these, we believe the most important one is the “High Potential Individual” route. This can be obtained without having to receive a job offer from the UK by people who possess promising talent. Individuals applying on this route, unlike the Skilled Worker visa, will also be able to move more flexibly between industries and companies. Additionally, they will be able to extend their visa, and when the time comes, they will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). The essential criteria that will be required for this route are that applicants have been educated at a top global university.

One of the other routes is the “scale-up” route which is for scale-up businesses in the UK. The route will enable business owners to hire the most qualified migrants they need from outside of the UK. There will be basic conditions such as employing a minimum of 10 people and proving that the average annual increase in turnover over the last 3 years has been more than 20%.

The other news is that the basics of the Innovator Visa on which we have been working with several clients will be revitalised. In this route, it is mandatory that you have £50,000 to support your innovative business idea. However, it has been stated that now this requirement will be removed in order to provide a more flexible business environment for the innovators.

It has also been mentioned that there will be a fast-track, less complicated endorsement process. Finally, there will be added flexibility in that Innovator visa holders will be able to work outside of their primary business.

With the Global Business Mobility route, the target is for globally known companies to easily transfer their employees to the UK, so that these companies can easily grow with the flexibility provided in the UK market.

Another important immigration news that we would like to share with you is of particular interest to students in the UK. This new route, published in 2021 under the title of “Graduate Route”, allows immigrant students who have successfully completed undergraduate or postgraduate education in the UK and wish to work in the UK, to seek and work after graduation. One of the first basic requirements is that graduates should have a ‘student visa’ as their last valid visa. With the graduate route, undergraduate and graduate students have the right to stay in the country for two years, and doctorate graduates for up to three years.

It is our great pleasure to share these valuable and exciting developments with you. Please be informed that we will continue to closely follow the laws regarding the aforementioned routes and innovative initiatives. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.