How BIA member evidence is influencing the UK’s Skilled Worker Visa system

In this blog, Kate Barclay, Skills Strategy Consultant at BIA, shares the impact BIA member evidence has on the UK’s Skilled Worker Visa. She notes that the sector has long argued that the UK’s immigration system must better reflect the realities of scientific innovation, early‑career talent pathways and the salary structures of research‑led companies, to be at the forefront of global competition.

The innovative life sciences and biotech sector relies on the balance of international and domestic talent to start, grow and scale within the UK. The sector has long argued that the UK’s immigration system must better reflect the realities of scientific innovation, early‑career talent pathways and the salary structures of research‑led companies, to be at the forefront of global competition. Thanks to the collective voice of BIA members, that message is firmly embedded in the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) current policy direction.

Through our member consultation, companies reported three systemic barriers to the current system:

• misaligned salary thresholds, in particular for new entrants
• administrative complexity of the system that disadvantages SMEs
• shortages of technician‑level skills essential to GMP manufacturing.

Zoe Arnott, Manager at CPI, said:

I am grateful to have been part of the discussion regarding the Skilled Worker visa salary threshold through the BIA. It was a chance to share experiences where the high Skilled Worker visa salary threshold has effectively blocked early‑career international scientists from staying in the UK, especially in regions like the North East where entry‑level salaries tend to be lower. We value and rely on talent, international and domestic. The issue isn’t a reluctance to pay competitive wages; it’s that recent international graduates are now expected to earn mid‑career salaries, which is unrealistic and unsustainable. Without a threshold that reflects genuine graduate‑level pay, we risk losing talented people already trained in our universities and worsening the skills gap in biologics manufacturing

These industry concerns have now become central pillars of the MAC’s formal Salary Requirements Review.

At the latest MAC External Stakeholder Forum, the Committee confirmed that its work is directly shaped by stakeholder evidence. It is reassessing the general and occupation‑specific thresholds, revisiting the range and complexity of discounts and reviewing the Temporary Shortage List using submissions from representative bodies such as the BIA. That influence was visible in their latest readout to stakeholders where MAC acknowledged that current thresholds “inadvertently exclude subsections of occupations and lower‑paying regions,” recommending a shift to the 25th percentile to reduce unintended barriers.

Crucially for our sector the MAC’s proposed £33,400 new‑entrant rate reflects exactly the challenges BIA members raised regarding early‑career scientists and specialist manufacturing technicians being priced out of sponsorship. It also recognises that SMEs face disproportionate complexity, echoing the evidence from start‑ups that are forced to rely on costly external immigration support.

MAC emphasised that its review was a highly technical, data‑driven exercise that did not include a public Call for Evidence, meaning the targeted, structured evidence submitted by the BIA carried even greater weight in shaping the analysis. BIA will continue working with MAC and the Home Office to ensure that upcoming decisions deliver a system that supports innovation, strengthens the talent pipeline and reflects the real economic conditions of our world‑leading sector