In a recent statement made during London Tech Week, Home Secretary Savid Javid announced plans for a new type of business startup visa, which he says “will widen the applicant pool of talented entrepreneurs and make the visa process faster and smoother for entrepreneurs coming to the UK.” The Home Office has said that the new visa’s introduction is planned for Spring 2019 and would replace the current visa route, which is exclusively for graduates.

Although few qualification details or an explanation of how it will improve the process has yet to be revealed, the statement did say that applicants would require an endorsement from a university or approved business sponsor, including accelerators.

Javid said: “The UK can be proud that we are a leading nation when it comes to tech and innovation, but we want to do more to attract businesses to the UK and our migration system plays a key part in that.”

“That’s why I am pleased to announce a new visa for people wanting to start a business in the UK. This will help to ensure we continue to attract the best global talent and maintain the UK’s position as a world-leading destination for innovation and entrepreneurs.”

Tech Sector Fears Talent Shortage

The announcement has been seen as a move to placate an increasingly worried tech sector, that fears stricter immigration criteria will negatively impact the UK’s talent pool.

The Financial Times (FT) recently reported that 1,946 IT professionals from outside the European Economic Area have been refused visas since November because of restrictions on the availability of Tier 2 work visas, making it the second-worst affected sector after medicine.

In March 2018, 839 of a possible 2,000 places were taken up on the existing visa scheme and although that cap will remain, any additional applications granted under the new system would not count towards the total.

While the announcement has been welcomed, doubt has been raised about the number of people who will actually benefit from the move.

Sonali Naik QC, a specialist in immigration law, said: “They want to make it easier for entrepreneurs. The problem is most do not have any difficulty satisfying the educational requirement. It is more the investment [they struggle with].”

Rita Chadha, the interim Director of the Migrant’s Rights Network welcome the move by the government but added: “Our concern is that this should not be restricted to those who have the ability to and are prepared to invest or startup businesses in the UK.”