Government to relax the visa system for technology specialists amid a skills shortage
The Telegraph reported on Thursday that the Government is radically relaxing the visa system for technology specialists amid a skills shortage.
Image credit: UK GovernmentAccording to the Telegraph, the publicly-funded Tech City is to offer new ways for foreign IT specialists to work in the UK after the low take-up of a special visa route originally announced nearly two years ago.
The Telegraph says that there will be a new fast-track route for workers being brought into assist companies trying attempting to grow towards a stock market flotation, including software coding, finance and online security specialists.
On Friday, the Government said that the new Tech Nation Visa Scheme (Tier 1, Exceptional Tech Talent) is an evolution of the dedicated route for helping businesses operating within the digital technology sector attract and secure world-class talent from outside the EU.
The application process for the new scheme comes into effect on November 12th, 2015.
The Tech Nation Visa Scheme will offer four new qualifying criteria, arrived at following a range of consultation workshops with founders, CEOs and senior management of the digital business community.
A GOV.UK news story lists the four as:
"1. Building UK scale-ups
As scale-ups become ever more crucial to the growth of the UK digital economy, as part of the consultation process, Tech City UK has included a specific provision to help companies to get the talent they need to scale quickly. Whether it's expertise in taking a company to IPO or scaling a product internationally, or individuals with very specific technical knowledge, such as data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, developers operations or cyber security, the Tech Nation Visa Scheme will provide a scale-up fast-track route that will enable rapidly growing companies to access the right talent at the right time to smoothen their path to success.
2. Recognising 'exceptional promise'
The new Tech Nation Visa Scheme will now consider applications from individuals that demonstrate 'Exceptional Promise', a criterion that aims to open the route to a broader base of aspiring talent from outside the EU. This provision will facilitate companies in recruiting the highly skilled individuals needed to fill specific talent gaps.
3. Powering the Northern Powerhouse
The 2015 Tech Nation report found that over 170,000 people work in digital technology businesses across the North of England. The Tech Nation Visa Scheme will now include a fast-track applications procedure for digital businesses in the seven cities under the Tech North remit (Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Sunderland). Like Tech City UK, Tech North will now also provide a visa support service to offer guidance and advice to companies wanting to hire someone from overseas.
4. Recruiting Teams from Overseas
Recognising that digital businesses often seek to recruit entire teams of exceptional individuals from outside the EU who have demonstrated success, a new revision to the Scheme will cater for this. From November 12, groups of up to five will be able to apply at once for consideration, allowing UK digital businesses to attract high calibre and high performing teams that have a proven track record of creativity, collaboration and commercial vision."
You can read more details of the Tech Nation Visa Scheme (Tier 1 Exceptional Talent), including how to apply, here.
Guy Levin of the start-up body Coadec told IT Pro that while he welcomed the announcement, the ongoing review of Tier 2 visas is still in danger of restricting the UK's access to global talent.
Levin told IT Pro: "This is a welcome announcement and a big improvement to the Exceptional Talent visa. Tech City UK have listened and responded to the need of start-ups. The scheme previously struggled because of too tight eligibility criteria and poor publicity, both of which are being improved.
"However, it's important to remember that the Tier 1 route is tiny compared to Tier 2, which [is] under review at the moment and likely to be squeezed further. So while this is a positive step today, the bigger decision is yet to come."
Ed Vaizey MP, the Minister for the Digital Economy, was quoted by GOV.UK as saying: "The Digital technology sector is a core building block of the Government's plans to support an internationally competitive Northern Powerhouse as well as the UK's leadership in digital innovation."
"Today's announcement furthers that strategy. This new Visa Scheme will support fast growth digital businesses in their quest to bring the best and brightest to British shores as we continue to stake our claim as a Tech Nation on the global stage."