Scotland’s Migration Service has launched its first phase, providing information and advice for international students considering staying in Scotland post-graduation.
“New Scots make an enormous contribution to Scotland’s society by helping grow our economy, address skills shortages and contribute to public services. They are also vital to meeting our population needs,” said Emma Roddick, Scotland’s migration, minister on the launch of the initiative.
The service will provide information and offer individual appointments with trained advisors to international students in their final year at a Scottish university or college and who would like to stay in Scotland after graduating.
The service is also open to employers based in Scotland who would like to hire international workers, people who have moved to Scotland within the past six months and investors based in another country who would like to set up or expand a business in Scotland.
“The first few months after arrival in a new country are the most significant in terms of making people feel welcome and encouraging them to stay for the long term. This service will support people in those crucial weeks, helping ease the process of settling into life here,” said Roddick.
“We also want to mitigate the complexity and bureaucracy of the immigration system – particularly post-Brexit – to encourage businesses to hire talented people from overseas and expand their operations here.
“International students, staff and researchers represent a potential future pool of talented individuals”
“By providing advice and information, we will help employers and investors grow businesses and attract talent.”
The ambitions of SMS was set out in the country’s first international education strategy, released in February 2024.
“Scotland’s population growth is projected to come solely from inward migration over the next 25 years, so we must take action to ensure we have a large enough working age population with the skills to meet the needs of our economy and public services,” the strategy read.
“Talent attraction and inward migration are essential for Scottish communities given the current and future demographic challenges that Scotland seeks to address,” it continued.
“International students, staff and researchers represent a potential future pool of talented individuals that can be attracted to the workforce.”
The service is jointly delivered by the charity Citizens Advice Scotland charity and law firm Seraphus, while it is paid for by the Scottish government.
An expanded service, to include support for individuals located outside of Scotland with an interest in moving to Scotland, will follow later this year, according to the Scottish government.
