UK Innovation Strategy – New Visas announced

In the Government’s Innovation Strategy (Published July 2021) the government announced the introduction of three new visas. You can read about these here. The Visas are likely to become valid in Spring 2022. The precise rules for the visas have not yet been defined. However, the Government has given some guidance, which we have paraphrased below.

High Potential Visa

The High Potential Visa will be aimed at encouraging highly skilled migrants to move to the UK. It’s not yet clear who will be eligible, but it seems that the visa will be aimed at highly qualified people. In the Government’s words “Graduated from a top global university”. It seems to us that the main difference from the Skilled Worker Visa is that migrants wont need a job offer from a company and the migrant will be free to change employer.

Scale-Up Visa

This visa will be aimed at making Skilled Worker Visa applications simpler for high growth companies. In this context a high growth company is one with average revenue or employment growth over a 3-year period of more than 20%. Also, the visas will be eligible to be fast tracked. To be eligible, businesses will need at least 10 employees.

Global Business Mobility Visa

The idea behind this new visa seems to be to improve the Intra-Company Transfer Visa and provide overseas businesses with greater flexibility in establishing a UK presence.

Next steps

If you need visa advice we can introduce you to one of our legal partners that can help you.

UK Innovation Strategy – New Visas announced In the Government’s Innovation Strategy (Published July 2021) the government announced the introduction of three new visas. You can read about these here. The Visas are likely to become valid in Spring 2022. The precise rules for the visas have not yet been defined. However, the Government has […]