For several years now, the tech skills gap has made hiring a challenge for companies across the United Kingdom. Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation have only amplified the problem. The good news is that Great Britain is still one of the most desirable locations in the world for entrepreneurs and talent. Employers can use this to their advantage by recruiting and relocating workers from abroad—a process that’s far easier than most think.  

Top talent across the world are strongly attracted to the UK

Despite the hiring challenges UK employers are currently dealing with, there are a few silver linings. According to the 2021 Global Talent Survey (GTS), London is the most desirable city in the world to work in. The GTS is conducted every four years by Totaljobs and a global alliance of more than 50 organisations including the Boston Consulting Group. The most recent edition of the report is based on survey responses from over 200,000 workers worldwide from 190 countries.

Furthermore, there’s a powerful start-up ecosystem in place to attract global talent and enable them to thrive professionally. According to the 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report from Genome, London is considered to be the best region in the world outside of Silicon Valley to found a tech company. The UK capital’s start-up economy is the largest in Europe, with a total value of over €105 billion.

Several UK hubs were also featured in the report’s ‘Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems’ including: Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Durham.

This is very promising information for businesses that have had difficulty filling vacancies. The UK’s strong appeal to workers worldwide and flourishing startup ecosystem make it a powerful contender in the global war for talent. Suggesting that employers can compete for talent internationally may seem outlandish post-Brexit. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Hiring workers from outside the UK is easier than you’d think

Even though immigration in the UK has changed as a result of Brexit, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s harder now. This is particularly true of business immigration. In fact, it’s currently far easier to hire people from abroad than most think. In short, here’s what it takes:

If you want to hire a non-UK candidate for a specific role within your company, you will need a sponsor licence, which is essentially permission from the Home Office to sponsor a foreign worker. Once approved, it allows you to sponsor several kinds of working professionals, so long as the job they’re going to perform has a suitable rate of pay and skill level.

Previously, the process was more complicated, as UK employers that wished to sponsor skilled foreign workers had to carry out a resident labour market test (RLMT). This involved advertising open jobs for 28 days to see if there were any suitable settled workers (British or European Economic Area nationals) who could fill the role. Preference was given to settled workers who met the minimum requirements for the job. Fortunately, RLMTs are no longer required. That’s not the only positive development in immigration law, however. 

New visas will help streamline business immigration process even more

Employers will soon benefit from three new visas designed to help the UK’s fastest-growing businesses to access overseas talent: the High Potential Individual visa, the Scale-up visa and the Global Mobility Business visa. 

The High Potential Individual visa

The High Potential visa is targeted towards highly skilled and academically accomplished migrants whose talents would positively impact the UK economy. 

To qualify, applicants will need to have graduated from a top global university. The UK government is considering expanding eligibility under this route to other characteristics of high potential.

The Scale-up visa

The new Scale-up visa is being introduced to fast-track the visa process for people who have a highly skilled job offer from a ‘Scale-up’ business in the UK. Two of the main criteria will be English language proficiency and a minimum salary of £33,000 will be required.

A ‘scale-up’ is defined as a business with an annual average revenue or employment growth rate over a 3-year period greater than 20%, plus a minimum of 10 employees at the start of this period. 

The Global Business Mobility visa

The Global Business Mobility visa will provide overseas companies with five pathways to establish a presence in—or transfer staff to—the UK. The aim is to establish a single, sponsored route that will unify, reform and expand a number of existing business routes. 

It would appear that the new route will consolidate the existing Intra-Company Transfer and Intra-Company Graduate Trainee visas along with other business mobility routes, such as Representative of an Overseas Business and Temporary Work – International Agreement.

How to start recruiting international talent

Once your sponsor licence has been approved, your organisation will be able to recruit and help relocate people to the United Kingdom, but first, you’ll need to find candidates that you’d like to recruit. One of the easiest ways to do this is to start by promoting your company’s opportunities.

Companies should make their sponsorship of talent a cornerstone of their employer branding. For candidates interested in relocation, they will be more likely to apply to your company if they know in no uncertain terms that you offer relocation assistance. Conversely, if this does not align with a candidate’s expectations, they will be less likely to apply, ultimately saving both applicant and employer time.

Of course, this only represents the very beginning of the candidate journey and experience. When relocating employees internationally, there are several critical steps that employers should consider to make the experience as seamless and beneficial as possible. However, that hiring bridge can be crossed when the time comes.

The bottom line

At the moment, for employers in the UK, it may seem as though the fight for talent is an uphill battle. Brexit, and other circumstances, have presented a host of unfamiliar hiring challenges for nearly every company. Thankfully, the solution is easier than most think. And thanks to upcoming changes in immigration law, hiring teams can start to feel more optimistic about the future.