Visa routes designed to attract international scientists may have reached “saturation point” in universities and need to be protected and strengthened as the UK considers wider changes to immigration policy, according to pharmaceutical companies.
Ambitions to make the UK Europe’s leading life sciences economy by 2030 depend on attracting far more international researchers, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) warns in a new report published on 30 October.
But the?UK’s Global Talent Visa?– a key route for bringing in leading scientists and innovators?– is being undermined by high upfront costs and confusion over eligibility.
The report, produced with consultancy giant EY, urges the government to preserve the visa’s competitive strengths while it reforms the wider immigration system.
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The life sciences sector supports more than 300,000 high-skilled jobs across the UK while the pharmaceutical industry accounted for ?8.7 billion in research and development investment in 2023, about 17 per cent of all private R&D funding.
Among the advantages of the Global Talent Visa highlighted in the report are its three-year accelerated route to settlement and greater flexibility than the Skilled Worker route.
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However, these advantages are being “undermined by exceptionally high upfront costs and a widespread misperception of the visa’s eligibility criteria”, the report says.
Use of the visa has stalled, with the number granted falling by 5 per cent in 2024, and most recipients?– about 67 per cent – based in academia.
The ABPI says this concentration suggests the scheme has reached “a point of saturation” in universities and is failing to reach industry researchers and innovators.
Joe Edwards, ABPI director of UK competitiveness and devolved nations, said: “The UK’s visa system and talent mobility schemes are not keeping pace with its international competitors, jeopardising our shared ambition of becoming Europe’s leading country for life science innovation.
“Real improvements are needed if we aim to make the UK the destination of choice for scientists, researchers, and innovators.”
Workshop participants cited in the report said the visa’s complexity was “holding back the usability of the route”.
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Costs are also described as a major deterrent. The report calculates that a three-year Global Talent Visa costs about ?3,821, or ?5,891 for five years, for one applicant without dependants, including the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Comparable visas in countries such as Australia, France and Japan are cheaper and, in some cases, processed faster.
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The report identifies two main weaknesses in the UK system,?including the Global Talent Visa’s complexity,?which drives applicants into slower peer-review routes, and its high cost, which it says “makes the UK’s offer to global life sciences talent decidedly less competitive”.
It also finds that?the UK is not taking full advantage of existing mobility schemes.
Expanding youth mobility programmes and negotiating mutual recognition of qualifications could improve access to skilled researchers, the authors say.
The report recommends streamlining application routes, publishing data on outcomes to improve transparency, promoting the UK’s talent offer more actively, and retaining accelerated settlement and support for dependants.
These measures, it argues, would align immigration policy with the government’s Industrial Strategy and growth plans.
“If the UK improves its global talent offer,” the report says, “the government can enable the life sciences sector to create 70,000 new high-quality jobs across the UK by 2035.”
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