How international recruitment can help with sourcing top talent in the tech sector: Flora Mewies

This is exacerbated when businesses need to recruit for roles with particular specialisms, such as AI or cyber security.

When faced with the challenge of resourcing new contracts or existing projects, recruiting from the settled workforce isn’t always possible and so more companies are registering with the Home Office as a sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. This is reflected in recent statistics published by the Home Office showing that over 100,000 organisations were granted sponsor licences in Q2 2024, over 25,000 more than in Q2 2023.

The need for a licence may vary but the process is the same. We’ve supported start-ups securing a visa for their intern, Google partners recruiting engineers, mobile gaming companies growing through the volume recruitment of developers and multi-national software companies relocating employees from overseas offices to the UK.

International students graduating from university have the option to move to a non-sponsored graduate visa which allows them to work in any role for up to two years.

Notwithstanding this attractive option, many graduates prefer to find employment with a sponsor and move to the Skilled Worker visa as it provides a faster route to permanent residence in the UK. It also provides stability for the employer and gives them the ability to assign the individual to long-term projects.

Historically roles such as UX designer, solutions architect, IT business analyst and software engineer have been formally recognised as being ‘shortage occupations’ in the UK, however in April 2024 this changed when they were removed from the Home Office list.

A common misconception is that this means that businesses cannot sponsor people in these roles for work visas. They can. The practical change is that these roles no longer enjoy the benefit of a reduced salary rate. This, coupled with the higher minimum salary requirements introduced across the board in April, can admittedly make it unattractive to rely on sponsorship as a recruitment tool, but in my experience, many of the roles in question are sufficiently well paid to meet the thresholds which vary depending on the role in question.

It is also helpful that the minimum salary requirement is still reduced for students and graduates to reflect that they are new entrants to the job market which makes it more feasible for businesses to sponsor them.

This perception that the tech sector is no longer struggling to fill roles is in my experience wrong and there continue to be challenges. In an effort to rectify this, we’re currently talking to key stakeholders and businesses in the region with a view to making submissions to the Migration Advisory Committee to help it understand the sector’s historic demands and anticipated future needs, with a view to shaping future policy.

Do get in touch if you want to share your personal perspectives to help influence or add evidence to our submission, and meanwhile sign up to our webinar on ‘Maximising the UK’s immigration system in tech recruitment’ which you can find on our website – www.wardhadaway.com.

Flora Mewies is a Partner in Ward Hadaway’s employment team