An immigration system that works for science and innovation
Today the House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee published a report from their inquiry, ‘An immigration system that works for science and innovation’.
The committee’s report strongly reflects the views that we presented in our own evidence, outlining a series of principles that enables the movement of researchers, innovators, students, technical specialists and their dependents in a flexible way.
Commenting on the publication of the report, our Director of Science & Communities, Jo Reynolds, says: "We are pleased that the committee’s principles take account of the flexibility that we and others in our community have been calling for.
"For the UK to continue to be both a leader and a strong partner on the global science stage, we need reform of our immigration system to recognise that easy, fast movement, that welcomes people to the UK, is essential."
Building on evidence
Their report directly quotes our evidence on the need to effectively facilitate short-term mobility at short notice, referring to our point that the current UK visa system for non-EEA nationals fails to "recognise the timescales and flexibility required for the UK to benefit from such short-term scientific exchanges".
Our evidence to the committee focused in particular on the scale of short-term exchange needed for science to advance. Jo Reynolds penned a recent piece for Research Fortnight outlining the evidence from our own experience of running conferences that illustrates this.
The report goes on to set out suggestions for reform to the current non-EEA migration system, which include the scrapping of the Tier 2 visa cap and to outline a new proposal for an immigration system for science. In March, we were one of over 40 organisations that wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister calling for the Tier 2 visa cap to be removed to ensure that the UK could flexibly recruit the science and innovation talent that it needs to deliver the government’s industrial strategy.
Don’t let immigration rules stifle short-term mobility
There’s a consensus on the long-term benefits of researcher mobility. Now, data on conferences show the importance of short-term mobility to UK science, writes Jo Reynolds, in Research Professional.