The government launched a new immigration system at the start of December last year. It included the introduction of the reformed Tier 2 (General) visa route, now known as the Skilled Worker visa, whereby points are awarded for skills, professions, salaries and qualifications.
To qualify for the Skilled Worker visa a worker must obtain 70 points, 50 of which are mandatory points and the remaining 20 points can be accumulated from tradeable points. The introduction of this visa route saw the abolition of the bureaucratic Resident Labour Market Test, which means that employers are no longer required to advertise the job for 28 days to prove to the Home Office that they are unable to fill the vacancy from the settled UK workforce.
Also, the minimum salary threshold for Skilled Worker jobs has been reduced to £25,600 from the previous requirement of £30,000 and the skill level of the job reduced from RQF level 6 (Degree level) to RQF level 3 roles (A level).
As well as the Skilled Worker Visa, a range of new visas have been announced. In this Policy Update, we explain what they mean for entrepreneurs.
Global Talent visa
Previously known as the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa, the Global Talent visa was introduced in February 2020 and created to attract “a leader or potential leader” in the fields of academia or research; arts and culture; and digital technology.
Under this route, successful applicants will be granted permission to work without any restrictions if they are endorsed by a specialist endorsing body.
Graduate visa
The Graduate visa will launch on 1st July 2021 and will allow international students to undertake full-time employment, at any skill level, without requiring sponsorship from employers when they graduate. International students will be awarded a 2 or 3 year visa under this route depending on the level of their qualification.
Intra-Company Transfer
Previously known as the Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) visa, this visa route allows migrants to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job at their employer’s UK branch. The biggest change within this visa route is that those migrants who are paid £73,900 or over can stay in the UK for up to 9 years, which is a reduction from the £120,000 high earner salary threshold from the Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer). However, this visa category does not lead to indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
Hong Kong British National (Overseas) Visa
There is also a new visa route for British Nationals overseas citizens and their families. This visa will allow applicants to live, work and study in the UK. The applicant must hold a BN(O) passport to apply for this visa and are also allowed to bring their dependent family members into the UK via this visa route.
All other visa routes have stayed the same with the exception of new names for certain visa categories and, in some cases, minor changes to the rules.
Changes announced at the Budget
In order to advance innovation and to support UK jobs and growth, the Chancellor recently announced additional measures that will be adopted to attract and retain the most highly skilled, globally mobile talent from around the world. To achieve this vision, the following changes have been announced.
The introduction of an “elite” points based visa expected to launch by March 2022. Within this visa there will be a ‘scaleup’ stream, enabling those with a job offer from a recognised UK scale-up to qualify for a fast-track visa. While it is not yet clear if scaleups will be classed as the companies as recognised by The Scaleup Institute, it is understood that the elite visa will not require sponsorship or a third party endorsement.
The reform of the Global Talent visa will include allowing holders of international prizes and winners of scholarships and programmes for early promise to automatically qualify for this visa route.
The Innovator visa, which replaced the Entrepreneur visa in 2019, will be reviewed. This is welcome as it has failed to take off – effectively shutting the UK's doors to entrepreneurs. It is understood that the reforms to this visa route will aim to make it easier for entrepreneurs with innovative businesses to obtain a visa compared to the cumbersome process that exists at the moment.
A Global Business Mobility visa will be launched by spring 2022 for overseas businesses to establish a presence or transfer staff to the UK. As per Free Movement’s blog, this visa sounds like it will be a revamp of the Representative of an Overseas Business visa route.
There are plans to promote and expand the Global Entrepreneur Programme to market the UK’s visa offering and building an overseas network of talent.
The new immigration system and the proposed reforms as per the Chancellor's Budget 2021 announcements are a huge step up from the past years’ immigration system. These new routes and changes offer enhanced flexibility for both migrants and UK employers – although it should be noted that the UKVI fees are very high and many employers and migrants will not be able to use the new and improved visa routes simply because the costs of immigration (sponsorship, visa fees, IHS, skills charge etc.) amount to thousands of pounds for a single migrant, let alone a family looking to migrate to the UK.
For more information on the UK immigration system and visa routes, please contact Zenia Chopra.