UK visa for top scientists was given to just one person in first year

Murugesu was written by Jason Arunn.

A year after the launch of the UK government visa scheme for scientific award winners, only one person has successfully applied.

The government launched a fast-track visa route for award winners in the fields of science, engineering, the humanities and medicine in May 2021. The idea was to make it easier for some academics to apply for a Global Talent visa. The streamlined route only requires a simple application and no need to meet conditions such as a grant or job offer from a UK organisation.

A freedom of information request by New Scientist has shown that only one person has been successful in getting a visa this way.

The UK Home Office didn't reveal how many people had applied for a visa through this scheme. In the first six months of the freedom of information request, no one applied.

The Home Office was unable to reveal the exact nature of the prize held by the successful applicants as this could allow them to be identified in a data protection violation. Most of the eligible prizes for science, engineering, humanities, and medicine are scientific in nature, and the literature prize is also in this category.

The scheme has fast-track routes for prizewinners outside of science, such as the Grammys in music or the Oscars in film. The Home Office said that one person had successfully applied for a visa through one of these routes, but was unable to provide further details.

I am surprised, but mostly by the fact that even a single person found this special visa process helpful.

The High Potential Individual visa is intended to attract graduates from around the world to work in the UK, but it excludes anyone who studied at a university in Africa.

Richard Catlow, a former foreign secretary of the UK, says that people who win such awards are not very mobile and don't want to move.

Catlow says that the real issue facing UK science is to be attractive to people at all career stages.

The changing landscape of academic recruiting in the UK is what Peter Coveney at University College London calls "just the tip of the iceberg".

Many European researchers who are in the UK are leaving, says Coveney. He says European researchers don't want to come to the UK right now.

The government isn't serious about British science, instead it has tricks like the visa route.

The prestigious prizes route makes it easier for those at thepinnacle of their career to come to the UK.

The Home Office didn't expect a high volume of applications due to the exclusive nature of the prizes.