Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the subsidisation of visa fees for certain high skilled visa applications.

As part of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, the Department for Business and Trade launched the ‘Visa Fees Reimbursement Scheme for Scale-Ups’ on 10 June. This targeted grant scheme - worth up to £25K for around 50 businesses a year - will help UK scale-ups in priority sectors Clean Energy, Life Sciences and Digital & Technologies to recruit internationally by reimbursing eligible visa application fees. This scheme supports access to exceptional skills, boost competitiveness and reinforce the UK as a place for ambitious businesses to start, scale and stay. Officials assessed the scheme’s value for money, deliverability, targeting and safeguards for public funds. In 2024,scale-ups contributed £1.65 trillion in revenue (excluding financial services) to the UK economy and employed 6.1 million people (including FS), despite making up just 1.4% of the total business population, underlining their importance to growth. The Department for Business and Trade is doing more than just subsidisation. On 10 June, a new scheme was launched for a sponsor licence fast-track referral process for UK expansion worker visa.