This week we released Job Creators 2024 in partnership with Fragomen. The data, which Beauhurst provided and we analysed, is conclusive: 39% of the UK’s fastest-growing companies have at least one foreign-born founder.
The UK’s immigrant population is a lot less than this – under 15% at the last count (though it may well be a percent higher today), so we can be sure in stating that immigrants are integral for the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Nadine Goldfoot, managing partner of Fragomen’s UK practice, said to City A.M.: “As the analysis highlights, foreign-born start-up founders have been and are integral to the success of the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Reforms to ensure we continue to attract the world’s brightest minds to the UK, to collaborate alongside homegrown innovators, is a recipe for continued and dynamic economic growth.”
So what should those reforms look like?
I’ll focus on three of the eight we made today.
First, fees need to be lowered for high-skilled immigrants in line with international competitors. Visa costs have increased by over 129% since 2019, with total upfront costs more than other peer countries. It costs nearly seven times as much for a skilled worker to come to the UK for five years with their spouse and a dependant compared to Australia, over 12 times as much compared to Canada and over 86 times as much compared to Germany.
Second, we should expand the High Potential Individual visa to more universities. It should be noted that this visa category was a groundbreaking success, with many around the world envying it, including the US. Its key feature is that unlike something like the H-1B visa, it’s not tied to an employer, which severely constrains the flexibility of beneficiaries, including to launch startups, UK HPI visa holders have the freedom to engage in entrepreneurship and costlessly change employment. We simply call for the expansion to the top 100 universities.
There are other ways it could be expanded (e.g. changing the methodology, expanding it to top business schools) but the key thing is expanding it in a way that ensures it targets more of the world’s best and brightest.
Third, and this is perhaps the most ambitious, we call for the introduction of the world’s first Global Talent Exam to actively recruit top talent. These should be open to anyone worldwide with the necessary language skills. Exams would assess applicants’ fundamental abilities like problem-solving, cognitive skills, and analytical thinking. High achievers on these exams would then be interviewed by designated ‘talent searchers,’ who would make the final decision on the candidates’ outcomes. This proactive approach would help identify and nurture talent, providing opportunities for them to succeed.
Politicians like to – perhaps even need to – “talk tough” on immigration, but we need to acknowledge that this comes at a cost. As our Research Director and co-author Eamonn Ives argues in CapX:
“We should be championing these wealth creators – doing all we can to attract more of them, and enable the next generation of trailblazers to build the future within Britain’s shores. The jobs, taxes and national prestige we’d accrue as a result are the prizes on offer, and we should be unstinting in designing an immigration architecture that provides people from abroad with pathways to make the UK their home.”
You can also read about the report in UKTN and Startups Magazine.
Substack
We’ve officially launched on Substack today with two articles. In the first, I share my thoughts on why The Entrepreneurs Network exists and how you can get involved in our Substack as a co-author or interviewee, while in the second we delve into why immigration must be a core part of Britain’s Industrial Strategy.
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