Migrant Workers

(asked on 16th November 2022) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to help reduce the up-front costs for (a) researchers and (b) innovators moving to work in the UK.


Answered by
Robert Jenrick Portrait
Robert Jenrick
This question was answered on 21st November 2022

The Government is improving its visa offer for overseas nationals coming here to work in research and innovation roles, and a number of visa routes are available for that purpose. We are removing the £50,000 minimum investment funds requirement for the Innovator route and exempting recruits under the new Scale-up route from the Immigration Skills Charge. We have increased the non-sponsorship options for the exceptionally qualified, including the Global Talent and the High Potential Individual routes. There are also other options to support temporary research mobility, including research-related permitted activities under the Visitor route and arrangements for temporary research assignments under the Government Authorised Exchange route.

Visa fees are set taking account of the charging powers provided by Section 68(9) of the Immigration Act 2014, which include the ability to set fees based on the cost of processing the application, the benefits provided by a successful application and the wider cost of the Migration and Borders system. Full details are available via the following link - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/22/section/68.

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