BIA submission to the UKRI Survey of R&D Businesses and the UK Immigration System

Access to international talent is fundamental to an innovative biotech sector. BIA has consulted widely on the current immigration system to provide feedback to UKRI on R&D businesses and the UK immigration system.

Alongside promoting individual responses, BIA collated feedback from member companies into a sector response which was recently submitted for discussion.

In conclusion, the Skilled Visa Route is widely used across the sector, generally meeting the needs of employers. There is little or no benefit to using other visa routes.

BIA member organisations reported the biggest barrier within the current UK immigration system to be the time taken to process applications, alongside the complexity of the UK immigration system requiring specialist knowledge and skills to navigate.

BIA membership responses have been submitted directly to UKRI and Office for Life Sciences (OLS) as well as shared across Life Sciences skills communities. Additional feedback is welcome.