Government eases path for digital specialist immigrants
The government is relaxing visa rules for overseas digital specialists after widespread complaints, from startups and tech giants alike, of a skill shortage in the country.
The government is relaxing visa rules for overseas digital specialists after widespread complaints, from startups and tech giants alike, of a skill shortage in the country.
The government is relaxing visa rules for overseas digital specialists after widespread complaints, from startups and tech giants alike, of a skill shortage in the country.
Concerns in the sector are the result of the underwhelming achievements of Tech City, the government initiative set up to boost the UK’s digital economy and endorse Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visas to highly sought after technical experts.
However, after receiving a disappointing 19 applications in nearly two years – less than five per cent of its visa allowance for that period – and approving 17 of them, it would appear that much more needs to be done.
Whitehall will now introduce four new options for non-EU tech specialists to meet entry criteria in an attempt to keep up with recruitment requirements for this burgeoning British industry, according to The Telegraph.
Ben Medlock, co-founder of smartphone keyboard app SwiftKey, told The Telegraph: “Cutting down on the processing time of visa applications, prioritising certain sets of skills and adding a new provision for UK scale-ups are improvements that will make a huge difference for fast-growing digital companies.”