The two-year visa, available from 22 August, is aimed at ‘scale-ups’―young, fast-growing, innovation-driven companies, as opposed to ‘start-ups’, which are recently established companies with potential to grow. To qualify, scale-ups should have a turnover or growth rate of more than 20% for the past three years and have at least ten employees at the start of the three-year period.
According to employment and immigration lawyer Gillian McKearney, senior associate, Fieldfisher, the individual will need to be sponsored for the first six months only and must be in a highly skilled role, earning at least £33,000 per year and at least £10.58 per hour.
Joanna Hunt, head of immigration at Fieldfisher, said: ‘With the headlines still dominated by stories of industry sectors struggling to source talent, the news of another launch of a new visa by the government would appear to offer some welcome relief.
‘However, the Scale Up visa is unlikely to have a major impact on companies facing recruitment challenges, particularly those who need to recruit low skilled workers.’
Hunt said the application process would be ‘less onerous’ than other sponsor licence applications but was still ‘a time and cost commitment which inhibits how responsive an employer can be when they have a new candidate they want to hire.
‘The other big issue with the scale up visa is that it will allow a visa holder to become “unsponsored” within six months, meaning they can freely move to any other employer. This will potentially attract applicants who want that freedom but is unlikely to be popular with employers who may lose workers they have invested time and money to onboard.
‘It is also likely to mean a greater use of clawback clauses in employment contracts by employers to try and recoup visa costs from workers who leave a business early to try and incentivise them to stay. But the increased use of clawbacks is controversial as it could lead to workers being exploited by underhand employers.’
