A further expansion to the global talent visa
The government has announced an expansion of the global talent visa, widening the number of organisations which can employ those holding an award or grant from an approved funder. Organisations will now include research-intensive businesses, for the first time. Over 100 businesses have been added to the approved list.
This represents a significant scaling up of the “endorsed funder” pathway, which allows certain organisations – previously independent research institutes and public organisations – to employ those holding an award or grant from this list of funders.
The expansion to cover private companies means that firms such as AstraZeneca and Jaguar Land Rover are now able to use the endorsed funder pathway for global talent visas. The new additions to the approved list are in industrial strategy-relevant areas, and have been selected with input from various membership organisations: AIRTO, BioIndustry Association, BioNow, British Plastics Federation, Composites UK, Creative UK, and UK Quantum.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds suggests that the move will make it
“easier than ever for our most innovative companies to recruit eligible researchers who will develop the medicines, technologies and industries of the future right here in the UK.”
The government has also said that it is preparing to broaden the Future Technology Research and Innovation scheme, a UKRI-run scheme allowing for government authorised work exchanges.
The press release notes that the endorsed funder pathway has already supported more than 12,500 researchers from more than 130 countries. This pathway is one of four under the global talent visa, alongside individual fellowships, academic appointments, and peer review. The latest statistics from the Home Office show that just over 18,000 main applicants (across all four pathways) have been granted global talent visas since 2020. Between 800 and 1,200 have been issued in each quarter for the last four years, with no notable growth visible in the data as of yet, despite the government’s recent efforts to expand the route.
The move to allow research-intensive companies to make use of the approved funder route follows on from an expansion to the academic appointments pathway in April. This pathway is administered by the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society on behalf of the Home Office.
Since April, all PhD-level research and innovation roles as well as relevant leadership roles (at approved institutions) have been eligible for the fast-track pathway – the Home Office at the time said that this would allow applicants to qualify with fewer evidential requirements, noting that this had “previously caused some confusion in the sector” and was resulting in applicants who ought to have been eligible instead opting for the slower peer review pathway.