Business Immigration - How does a growth company hire non-EU employees?

The extent to which non-European nationals should be able to live and work in the UK continues to be a political hot potato. Generally, European nationals can work in the UK with little or no immigration permission, but UK businesses are having to jump through more and more hoops to be able to hire skilled non-European staff.

Since the introduction of the Points Based System in 2008, in response to public anxiety about rising net migration levels, the bar has been raised on several occasions making it more difficult for non-EU migrants to qualify for working visas.

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There is one small ray of light for growth companies, especially those currently in the pipeline - in early November David Cameron announced the concept of a new entrepreneur visas. He said that this visa will mean that 'if you have a great business idea, and you receive serious investment from a leading investor, you are welcome to set up your business in our country'. The detail of this is yet to be seen, but we expect more clarity before the end of the year when the Government releases details of how all of the business immigration routes will be affected.

Please contact any of the Taylor Wessing team if you want to discuss any issue raised in this update.

Lawyers Charlie Pring, Simon Walker