Visa Process Smoother and Faster for Entrepreneurs

The new visa route, devised with Brexit in mind, is intended to make the visa process smoother and faster for entrepreneurs and was introduced by home secretary Sajid Javid this week during London Tech Week. It will be launched in Spring 2019.

“We want to do more to attract businesses to the UK and our migration system plays a key part in that,” Javid said. “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.” The new start-up visa scheme will need applicants to have an endorsement from a UK university or approved UK-based business sponsor, including start-up accelerators.

The cost of the visa and any cap has not yet been decided but a Home Office spokesman said: “This visa will replace the Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa route, which was only open to graduates, so opening that route up to a wider pool. The cap on that was 2,000 per year and we do not expect the cap on this to be less than that.”

Antony Walker, deputy CEO, tech UK, UK’s technology trade body, said: “The new startup visas are a sensible move to encourage those with good ideas to come to the UK. However, for many mid-tier and larger tech companies, there remain serious concerns around Tier 2 visas. We understand that approximately 1,000 tech workers with job offers were refused visas between December 2017 and March 2018. This is a handbrake on economic growth and needs to be urgently addressed.