The UK has announced a new visa route for 2013 to encourage the “brightest and best” entrepreneurs to stay on in the country – focusing on a quality over quantity approach to immigration.
In a speech given last week by Immigration Minister, Damian Green, at the Policy Exchange, he outlined that in his eyes, the reforms to the immigration system were working: “The first small signs of the beneficial effects of these policies are just beginning to show up, with a 11 per cent fall in student visas and a 17 per cent fall in work visas in the latest quarterly figures compared with a year previously.”
He stated that he intended to make the immigration system “sustainable” and spoke about the fact that from April, all international graduates will no longer be able to stay and look for work. Instead, only those with a job offer when they graduate can stay: “Those who are wanted by British employers, not just those who want to stay.” This is at the same time as Australia and Ireland are easing access to their jobs market.
“The first small signs of the beneficial effects of these policies are just beginning to show”
However, Green announced a new visa route for international graduate entrepreneurs, described as “those international students who have engaged in supervised entrepreneurial activity during their university studies in the UK and who want to stay on after their studies to develop their ideas”. This super-selective visa category will enable recipients to remain in the UK for two years and be available from April 2013.
“We have talked in the past about a Points Based System,” said Green. “In the future it will be more accurate to talk about a contribution-based system. Whether you come here to work, study, or get married, we as a country are entitled to check that you will add to the quality of life in Britain.”
He responded to critics who have claimed that curbs to students’ work rights will damage the international education industry and its contribution to the economy. “There is scope for further examination of whether and to what extent foreign student tuition fees boost the UK economy and crucially how UK residents ultimately benefit from that,” he claimed. “We need a better understanding of the economic and social costs and benefits of student migration: from the point of view of the wider UK economy, the education sector itself and the students themselves.”
The principle of selectivity should apply to student migration just as it does to work
He continued, “There needs to be a focus on quality rather than quantity. The principle of selectivity should apply to student migration just as it does to work migration.”
Meanwhile the USA is also focused on encouraging the best talent to remain in the country – it is hosting a summit on ensuring that the immigration pathways for foreign entrepreneurs are clear, consistent, and better reflect today’s business realities, later this month.
