More than 100 research-intensive UK businesses, including AstraZeneca and Jaguar Land Rover, can now support international scientists and engineers to live and work in the UK through the Global Talent visa, under an expansion of the route announced by the government on Thursday 6 August.
For the first time, commercial research businesses can host researchers working on funded projects through the visa’s endorsed funder pathway, which was previously limited to universities, academic institutions and independent research institutes. The government said the pathway has already helped more than 12,500 people from over 130 countries build their research careers in Britain.
The newly approved companies range from global names, including AstraZeneca, which set out a £650 million UK investment plan in 2024, to fast-growing firms such as Added Value Solutions, Denroy Plastics and Ffilm Cymru. Each falls within the eight high-growth sectors identified in the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, which include advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, clean energy, life sciences and the creative industries.
Researchers whose expertise is recognised through a research grant will also be able to switch to a new firm or start their own spin-out under the route, the government said.
Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, said: “By expanding the Global Talent visa to more than 100 businesses, we’re making it easier than ever for our most innovative companies to recruit eligible researchers who will develop the medicines, technologies and industries of the future right here in the UK, underpinning our industrial strategy, creating skilled jobs and driving growth in the process.”
Professor Christopher Smith, UKRI’s International, Talent and Skills Champion, said the change “will ensure these benefits are felt across more of the country and in a wide range of sectors, from medicines and AI to the creative and cultural economy”.
The full list of approved host organisations is published on GOV.UK. The expansion follows a change in May that extended the pathway to the remaining members of the Association for Innovation, Research and Technology Organisations, including IBM, and an April simplification of the Global Talent visa’s fast-track academic appointments route, a commitment from the Immigration White Paper.
The government is also preparing to broaden the Future Technology Research and Innovation scheme, a UKRI-run programme under the Government Authorised Exchange visa route that lets eligible companies working on critical technologies host international researchers, interns and technical specialists for placements of up to two years. That expansion will open the scheme to a wider range of R&D-focused businesses in sectors such as AI, quantum and engineering biology.
Alongside the visa changes, the government said the £54 million Global Talent Fund has brought 18 research group leaders to the UK so far, while the Global Talent Taskforce offers a concierge service to attract top international talent.
Oliver Buckley-Mellor, UK competitiveness senior policy manager at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said the visa was “one of the most globally competitive routes of its kind, but its potential to boost British science and economic growth was not being fully realised”. He described the change as “a welcome first step”.
The ABPI reported in September that foreign direct investment in UK life sciences fell to £795 million in 2023, 58 per cent below 2017 levels.
Steve Brierley, chief executive and founder of the Cambridge quantum computing company Riverlane, said: “The Global Talent visa gives us a fast, flexible route to bring the best people to the UK, and that speed matters when the field is moving as quickly as quantum is right now.”
