Scale-up visa UK

Scale-up visa launched bu UK government to help high-growth businesses employ talent from overseas, but sponsorship requirements could undermine ...

“This is crappy policy being delivered by a Home Office that sees their job as stopping things happening, not building a well-functioning system.” We look forward to continuing to work with the government as this service evolves to ensure it fully addresses scaling business needs and works effectively.” “Rapidly growing businesses, like small enterprises, tech and financial services, need the right level of support to go to the next level. While the pandemic will have likely altered the number somewhat, 2019 is the most recent year for which this data is available. And they’ll still have sponsor obligations, potentially even after an employee leaves,” he said. [further figures from Dealroom](https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252521379/Tech-startups-raise-more-than-12bn-in-2022-to-date), UK tech startups and scaleups secured £12.4bn in VC funding in the first six months of 2022, with a record-breaking £9bn being raised in the first quarter of the year alone. “However, given the initial and very high costs to a UK business of obtaining a sponsor licence and sponsoring a visa, it is difficult to see how the Scaleup route would be a more attractive option for an employer than the Skilled Worker route, when the latter has a lower skills threshold and provides more likelihood of retaining the migrant worker in the long term given that the continuous sponsorship requirement makes changes of employer more difficult,” added Tanner. “We expect this ability to change employers will be more attractive to a prospective employee than the Skilled Worker visa route, which requires sponsorship throughout the migrant’s stay in the UK and prohibits changes of role or employer without prior permission from the Home Office,” he said. Irene Graham, CEO of the ScaleUp Institute, which has been pushing for a Scale-up visa since its inception in 2014, welcomed the announcement and said it would provide a “much-needed fast-track service” for thousands of UK businesses. [Analysis of the visa requirements](https://www.lewissilkin.com/en/insights/what-employers-should-know-about-the-new-scale-up-visa) by law firm Lewis Silkin found that while the visa would allow for fast-tracked processing of applications and remove the Immigration Skills Charge – representing a saving of £5,000 over a five-year period compared with Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visas – the visa holder is only tied to the firm for the first six months and will need to meet a minimum salary threshold of £33,000. To be eligible to sponsor people under the visa, companies will need to have achieved growth of 20% or more in either employment or turnover year-on-year for at least three years, as well as have employed a minimum of 10 people at the start of the three years. Announced by the Home Office on 22 August 2022, the Scale-up visa will allow high-growth businesses to employ high-skilled individuals – from scientists and engineers to architects and programmers – who will receive two years’ leave to remain in the UK without the need for further sponsorship or permission beyond the first six months.