UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has revealed his plan to shake-up immigration rules to fast-track visas for foreign scientists coming to the UK.
He said he wanted to ensure the country’s immigration system attracted ‘the very best minds from around the world’.
The Home Office and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have been instructed by the Prime Minister to work with the scientific community to develop the new visa route, which the Government hopes to launch later this year.
The proposals come after the Wellcome Trust, a leading charity and medical research institute, warned Mr Johnson that a no-deal Brexit threatened the science sector.
Mr Johnson said, “Britain has a proud history of innovation, with home-grown inventions spanning from the humble bicycle to the lightbulb. ‘We were home to the world’s first national DNA database, we discovered graphene, and our cutting-edge scientists should be proud to follow in the footsteps of titans like Ada Lovelace and Nobel Laureates Francis Crick and Peter Higgs.
‘But to ensure we continue to lead the way in the advancement of knowledge, we have to not only support the talent that we already have here, but also ensure our immigration system attracts the very best minds from around the world.’
The fast-track immigration route will be designed to attract researchers and specialists working in science, engineering and technology.
