Centuro Global says there is a growing mismatch between immigration policy and business needs
Centuro Global, a UK-based tech firm specialising in international expansion, last week released an interesting new report examining the flaws in the UK's Skilled Worker visa route and proposing a redesign of the route to better align immigration policy with the needs of the economy.
Image credit: WikipediaYou can download the 30-page report here.
The report, underpinned by robust data and informed by consultations with leading employers, sheds light on the real-world consequences of recent visa restrictions. It exposes a growing mismatch between immigration policy and business needs, and underscores the limitations of a one-size-fits-all visa approach. Centuro Global contends that the Skilled Worker visa route is overly broad, encompassing too wide a range of occupations. Notably, only 32% of work visas issued since 2021 have gone to highly skilled professionals in key strategic sectors—suggesting the current system is failing to allocate talent efficiently.
The report explains: "The Skilled Worker visa route is clearly satisfying its reason for existence: to help companies fill high-shortage, high-skill occupations. But we also see a large gap between the numbers produced by our analysis and the total visas issued under this route. This gap adds weight to the MAC's contention: that the Skilled Worker visa route is being used at significant volume to hire for roles with 'low educational/training requirement[s]'. This erodes the correlation between visa use and skills gaps.
"In a different political climate, with a different set of imperatives, this might not be a problem. However, the present government has made explicit pledges to bring down net migration, though without setting a precise numerical target. As the UK's most used immigration pathway, the Skilled Worker visa route will be the most obvious site of any further restrictive reforms.
"Yet a government serious about growing the economy by boosting strategic sectors cannot also jeopardise firms' access to scarce talent. Another set of restrictions that apply across the board to the Skilled Worker visa route, as it is currently constituted, would risk throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. In this context, we believe the only solution to fulfil both objectives is to rethink the design of the Skilled Worker visa route."
Centuro Global propose the creation of a new specialist 'growth visa', limited to foreign nationals with the rarefied skillsets that key sectors of British industry need, in fields such as AI, engineering and advanced manufacturing.
Centuro Global stated: "The case for a more differentiated visa regime is nigh-on inarguable. By mapping our proposal for a new system against skill gaps in the Government's key sectors, while expanding the range of inputs that inform design, we hope to give policymakers a blueprint for a more responsive visa system that prevents unforeseen surges. This would also have the second-order effect of giving both business and the general public certainty about the purpose and future of the immigration system.
"By calling for this change, we make no value judgment on the worth of the job roles we propose to exclude, nor on the desirability of foreign nationals filling them. Instead, we hope to give the Government a practical path to achieve three stated goals that can so often seem incompatible: reducing net migration, growing the domestic skills base and raising the economy's potential growth rate. By doing so, we hope this proposal could also help neutralise some of the toxicity that has oozed into the political debate around migration."
As the report emphasises, the UK needs immigration—and likely always will. The industries poised to drive future growth depend on specialised skills that are in limited domestic supply, and attracting such talent requires an immigration system that supports, rather than penalises, both skilled workers and the employers who rely on them.