In light of today’s announcement that the government will reinstate the Post-Study Work Visa and allow international students to stay and work in the UK two years after they’ve completed their studies Sam Dumitriu, Research Director at The Entrepreneurs Network and author of the report Job Creators: The immigrant founders of Britain’s fastest growing businesses, said:

“This is long overdue. The UK’s world class universities draw in the best and brightest from across the world. Yet, for the past 7 years we’ve been kicking out skilled graduates if they can’t find an employer willing to go through the expensive and time-consuming process of sponsoring their visa in just 4 months. It is woefully short-sighted.

“Our research found that half of the UK’s 100 fastest growing businesses have at least one foreign-born founder. The vast majority of these immigrant founders told us they came to the UK in the first place to study and were only able to stay because of the Post-Study Work Visa or EU Free Movement. With Free Movement set to end, restoring the Post-Study Work Visa is an essential pro-entrepreneurship policy.”