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on April 22, 2024
Read Time: 10 Minutes
By almost any measure imaginable, the UK has been a global tech success story over the last few decades. In 2022, the country reached the landmark of becoming only the third nation in the world to achieve a $1 trillion valuation for its tech sector. This should perhaps be unsurprising, given that data from the Government’s Digital Economy Council has shown the industry recording growth of 1,000% between 2010 and 2020.
According to the trade association techUK, there are now more than 1.7 million people employed in the UK’s tech sector, which adds over £150 billion to the national economy on an annual basis.
This is a timely reminder that the story of the UK’s tech industry is not merely about the latest technological innovations – it is also about the people who embrace and harness such innovations in ways that benefit broader culture and society.
With such a stellar-performing national tech industry on its hands, one might imagine that the UK Government would be eager to encourage and make it easier for the country’s ambitious and risk-taking tech entrepreneurs to hire capable staff and achieve growth for their businesses.
Sure enough, ministers have certainly made noises to that effect. Some readers of this article may recall Business & Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, for example, stating to an audience of delegates, tech firms, and investors during last year’s London Tech Week that “I see it as my job to create the best possible business conditions to encourage innovative tech companies to start up, invest, and expand… we want to create an environment that supports tech investment and entrepreneurship.”
Whether the UK Government is truly doing everything that it conceivably could do to support the growth of tech start-ups and the sector’s more established companies alike, is a matter of debate. Just recently, it was reported that UK start-ups had urged the Government to look again at its visa immigration rules, to help ensure the tech industry was able to benefit from high-skilled workers from abroad.
The Entrepreneurs Network think tank, together with lobby group the Startup Coalition, addressed the Home Secretary in an open letter. They reasoned that the recent decision to put up the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa – from £26,200 to £38,700 – represented a barrier for smaller companies that are often unable to offer high wages to a prospective worker from the outset.
Presumably, however, the Government would point to alternative data – such as the fact that the number of tech and IT-related migrants to the UK has gone up every year since 2017 – as evidence that it is, indeed, doing the right things to help tech companies bring in skilled talent from overseas.
Naturally, views of the Government’s approach on this subject are liable to differ. Nonetheless, whether you are a tech entrepreneur or perhaps a prospective candidate for a UK visa who would like to work for a tech company in this part of Western Europe, you may be interested in knowing more about the visa routes that would be especially relevant in this regard.
Historically, various visa routes have been aimed at foreign nationals who were interested in starting a business in the UK. These included the likes of the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, the Start-up visa, and the Innovator visa, all of which are now closed to new applicants.
As of 2024, it is the Innovator Founder visa that serves as the principal immigration route to the UK for non-UK nationals who wish to set up a business in the country. Your specific circumstances, however, may present you with other potentially relevant and interesting immigration routes for entrepreneurial activity in the UK.
One option could be the Graduate visa, which gives those who successfully complete UK studies – and who are approved for this visa – the right to work on a self-employed basis in the UK for several years.
Self-sponsorship, whereby the visa held would be the Skilled Worker visa, could be another option, and here at Cranbrook Legal, we would be pleased to advise you on this possibility.
If you are interested in knowing which current UK visa routes could be suitable for helping your tech start-up to bring the right personnel to the UK, below are some suggestions.
This is the main UK work visa for skilled foreign nationals. It allows talent from overseas to work for a UK employer that holds a sponsor licence from the Home Office.
Tech companies in the UK have long been fond of this visa route, as it provides a relatively straightforward means by which they can secure the services of capable workers from across a range of tech disciplines.
The Skilled Worker visa can also be an attractive route for the migrant themselves, as it can last for up to five years before it needs to be extended. Furthermore, after five years on this visa, it may be possible for the worker to obtain “indefinite leave to remain” status, which would give them the right to settle permanently in the UK.
However, as aforementioned, concerns have arisen recently over the greatly hiked minimum salary requirement. Even putting this aspect to one side, the conditions of this visa are more restrictive than some of the others on this list. In the event, for example, of the visa holder changing jobs or employer, they will need to apply to extend or update their visa.
As the name suggests, this visa is aimed at overseas nationals who successfully complete a course of study in the UK. If the applicant is approved for this visa, they will have the right to stay in the UK for two years, or three years if they have a PhD or other doctoral qualification. Holders of this visa are entitled to work in most jobs in the UK.
This visa cannot be extended. However, the visa holder may be able to switch later to an alternative route, such as the Skilled Worker visa, subject to them meeting the eligibility criteria for their chosen category.
This is a highly desirable visa category for ambitious migrants, on account of the high level of employment flexibility it offers. A foreign national in the UK who holds this visa has the freedom to be employed, self-employed, or both.
This visa will also enable them to stay and work in the UK for up to five years at a time, and they can extend it beyond this time if they so wish. This visa can also provide a pathway to eventually settling in the UK – a status known as “indefinite leave to remain”.
However, there is a high threshold that must be satisfied in order to get approved for this visa. The applicant will need to be a leader, or a potential leader, in one of the following fields: academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology.
Furthermore, it is not normally possible for a given foreign national to apply for the Global Talent visa at all, unless they have first successfully undergone the “endorsement” process. This is a crucial stage for proving that they are a leader or potential leader in their field.
The HPI visa is aimed at recent graduates of top global universities (not including UK universities) who aspire to live and work in the UK. In order to be eligible to apply, the prospective migrant will need to have been awarded a qualification by an eligible university in the last five years.
An applicant who is successful in being granted this visa will typically have the right to stay in the UK for up to two years – or three years if they hold a PhD or another doctoral qualification. During this time, they will be entitled to work in most UK jobs.
It is not possible to extend a HPI visa. A holder of this visa may, however, have the option of switching to an alternative visa – such as the Skilled Worker visa – when their HPI visa expires.
If you are reading this article as someone from outside the UK who would like to establish a tech company in the country, it may be worth giving some thought to this route, which used to be known as the Innovator visa. This visa’s latest iteration also led to the closure of the Start-up visa route.
This visa category is pitched at individuals who are interested in setting up and running an innovative business in the UK. Candidates who are granted this visa will be able to stay in the UK for as long as three years.
This visa does, however, put in place more hurdles and targets that must be satisfied, than many tech entrepreneurs would probably ideally like. It will be necessary, for example, for the applicant to show that their business idea is new, innovative, viable, and scalable. They will need to get an endorsing body to assess that their business idea meets such criteria.
Furthermore, the visa holder will be expected to meet with their endorsing body after 12 months and after 24 months, to show that they are making progress with their business.
There isn’t technically such thing as a “self-sponsorship visa”. What this term refers to, is a process by which a foreign national may be able to come to the UK in order to work for their own company, without the need to have a separate UK sponsor other than the company itself.
The company in question, however, would need to satisfy the requirements to obtain a sponsor licence from the Home Office. Only after this, would the business then be able to use the sponsor licence to sponsor the migrant to relocate to the UK on a Skilled Worker visa.
For tech professionals who would like to move to the UK to do an eligible job for a fast-growing business in the UK – in other words, a “scale-up business” – this visa route could be ideal.
A Scale-up Worker visa holder can stay in the UK for up to two years. Furthermore, they can apply to extend it by a further three years, as many times as they like, provided that they still satisfy the eligibility requirements. This visa can also provide a route to permanent settlement in the UK.
However, the Scale-up Worker visa might be a more attractive visa route for the worker themselves rather than necessarily a tech start-up. This is because, after six months of being sponsored by their employer, the worker would then have the right to work for different employers in the UK.
If a given company in the UK wishes to recruit workers from outside the UK, it will typically need to hold a sponsor licence, as granted by the Home Office. This might understandably lead you to wonder whether a start-up business would be able to secure a sponsor licence, so that it could then sponsor foreign nationals to come over to the UK to work for the company.
The short answer to this question is: yes, it is definitely possible for a start-up business, whether in tech or another field, to get approved for a sponsor licence.
However, if the Home Office classifies your business as a start-up business – defined as a business that has been trading or operating in the UK for less than 18 months at the time of the sponsor licence application – there will be different rules that apply to you, compared to more established companies. This will relate to the specific documents that you need to provide in support of your application, as well as the checks the Home Office will carry out.
It should be borne in mind that with every tech start-up or candidate’s situation being different to the next, there is no “catch-all” UK visa category that will be suitable for everyone.
This is one reason why you might decide to arrange a free consultation with our specialists in UK immigration law here at Cranbrook Legal, so that we can advise based on your particular circumstances and needs. You are also welcome to call us, on 0208 215 0053, for further information.
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