Currently, the global talent shortage looms over every organization. Korn Ferry estimates that up to $8.5 trillion dollars could be lost by 2030 without talent gaps being filled. Knowing these constraints, understanding global immigration options is more important than ever for mobility managers and professionals. Worldwide ERC® will be releasing articles that will work as a guide to different work visas and programs from around the world so that entrepreneurs and organizations alike can best plan for the future of global talent.
What You Need to Know About the U.K. Scale-up Worker Visa
Last August, the U.K. Home Office announced a new visa program that would help U.K. businesses grow within the nation and bring in highly skilled foreign talent called the ccale-up worker visa. Under this new visa, high-growth U.K.-based companies can bring in foreign workers who can stay for up to two years and will not require sponsorship past the first six months of the visa. Workers brought in on this visa could be able to extend their visa for an additional three-year period indefinitely or until the worker is eligible to apply for “indefinite leave to remain," the U.K.’s equivalent of a residency visa program. Under this visa, the worker would be able to bring their spouse and children over to the U.K., as well as study, volunteer, or choose to work a second job or be self-employed.
The visa also helps bypass the bureaucratic and often time-consuming requirements of the U.K.’s “skilled worker" visa program. “The visa streamlines the process and makes it much easier to apply for a sponsorship license, with fees sitting at £750, significantly lower than the skilled worker visa, for instance," said Vivi Himmel, co-founder and CEO of AltoVita, a London-based property supply and corporate housing startup. “The flexibility of being able to change jobs after six months can help to entice skilled workers to apply for the visa." Additionally, the immigration skills charge would also be waived from the application, providing a savings of £5,000 over a five-year period when compared to the skilled worker or senior specialist visa programs.
Why Is the Scale-up Worker Visa Important?
Britain is suffering the same talent gap that many other countries, including the U.S., Canada, and Australia, are going through. By the end of 2022, there were approximately 1.2 million job vacancies, according to data from the Office of National Statistics, with significant gaps in the health care, engineering, and tech sectors. Foreign talent could help solve this employment gap in the U.K. “It has the potential to help fill a vast demand for skilled talent in the U.K. scale-up economy," Himmel said. The scale-up worker visa program allows applicants to waive the previous costs associated with other highly skilled worker visa programs and help organizations struggling with problems of rapid growth. Irene Graham, CEO of the Scale Up Institute, said, “Scale-ups add over £1tn a year and more than 3 million jobs to the U.K. economy, and are present in every community, hiring people from at home and abroad, as they drive growth into their local areas and beyond." In a time of so much economic uncertainty and raised inflation, governments that incentivize bringing in workers from abroad, such as this via program, could see much higher and much more stable growth.
Since the visa program’s announcement, it has been underutilized. Just four scale-up worker visas were processed in the first three months of the program. While visas like this are desperately needed to fix the talent gap, its requirements, higher salary threshold, and the current economic environment might be limiting its impact. “Companies need to have been VAT registered for three years to sponsor visa holders and show growth of 20% in employment or turnover on average each year to qualify, among other factors," Himmel said. “As we still emerge from the effects of the pandemic, this may rule out a range of up-and-coming, fast-growth businesses. In order to see true change, the government may have to review and update the scheme’s requirements and policies to encourage more applications and awareness."
Requirements for the Scale-up Worker Visa
Under this visa program, there are requirements for the companies applying, as well as the foreign workers.
Companies looking to apply for this visa must be U.K.-based and first apply for the sponsorship license in order to be considered a scale-up business. In order to be on the register of licensed sponsors, companies must have spent the three years prior growing by 20% or more each year in either headcount or turnover and have at least 10 employees.
To obtain the scale-up worker visa, there are several occupational requirements for workers. Workers must be able to speak English to at least the B1 level and apply for a job that fits under the eligible occupations list on the visa. Workers must also make a minimum of £33,000 annually, obtain a certificate of sponsorship from their British employer, have a clean immigration record, and have no record of debt to the U.K.’s National Health Service.