Budget 2021: Government to launch new Scaleup visa for high-skilled workers early next year
In today’s Autumn Budget announcement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government will introduce a new Scaleup visa to attract highly skilled people from abroad to the UK’s fastest-growing businesses.
The new visa plans will “make it quicker and easier for fast-growing businesses to bring in highly skilled individuals from around the world,” Sunak said.
He pointed out that 49 per cent of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses have at least one foreign-born co-founder and approximately 40 per cent of staff at UK fintechs are from overseas.
Alongside the Scaleup visa plans, which will launch in Spring 2022, the government will introduce a High Potential Individual and Global Business Mobility visa.
It will also launch a “Global Talent Network” to “identify, attract and relocate the best global talent in key science and tech sectors,” Sunak said.
The scheme will initially launch in the Bay Area, Boston and Bangalore, to scout out foreign talent in the science and technology sectors.
The visa plans are “all part of our plan to make our visa system for international talent the most competitive in the world,” Sunak said.
The government’s scaleup visa plans are “the biggest visa improvement in a generation,” according to startup body the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec).
“Plans for a Scaleup visa are hugely welcome and will make life easier for growing tech companies in the UK,” they added.