The scheme to bring the world's most celebrated academics and other leading figures to the UK has failed to attract a single application in the six months since it opened.
The visa route open to prestigious global prize winners in the fields of science, engineering, humanities and medicine was described as a joke by experts after ministers admitted its failure to garner any interest.
The chances of a Turing or a Nobel Laureate moving to the UK to work are zero for the next decade or so, according to the winner of the prize.
The University of Manchester academic, who was awarded the physics prize in 2010 for his work on Graphene, said that the scheme was a joke. The government thinks that if you pump up UK science with a verbal diarrhoea of optimism, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The winners of some of the most prestigious global prizes were offered a fast track to a global talent visa allowing them to live and work in the UK without having to fulfill other criteria.
The programme covered the international prize in psychology and the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine. A Brit award was one of the eligible prizes for those from computing, engineering and social science.
The Home Office said at the time of the announcement that people on the global talent visa route had to apply to one of six endorsing bodies, whereas the prestigious award route would allow applicants who hold a qualifying prize to fast-track the endorsement application and instead make a single visa application.
The home secretary said it was a way of allowing the best and brightest to come to the UK. She said that the changes will allow them to come and work in our world-leading arts, sciences, music, and film industries as we build back better. Our new point-based immigration system was designed to attract the best and brightest based on their skills and talent, not where they came from.
New Scientist reported six months later that not one person working in science, engineering, humanities or medicine has applied for a job.
Jessica Wade, a leading scientist at Imperial College London, was quoted in the magazine as saying that having zero people apply for the scheme doesn't surprise her. The UK is not very attractive to European students as they have to pay international fees, our pensions are being cut and scientific positions in the UK are both rare and precarious.
The shadow science minister said that it was clear that this was a government that over-spins and under-delivers. The government has failed to attract scientists from abroad because of their lack of support.
The Home Office told New Scientist that the programme makes it easier for people at the top of their career to come to the UK.
Since its launch in February 2020, we have received thousands of applications and this continues to rise.
