Any benefits of the new ‘concierge service’ for high-growth businesses would be completely outweighed by the earned settlement proposals

Comments from Chancellor Rachel Reeves in January at Davos have materialised into two new schemes to attract more high-growth businesses to the UK.
 

Announced as part of London Tech Week, the two new ‘concierge service’ schemes include visa fee reimbursements and a fast-track for Office for Investment-backed overseas businesses.

These schemes are announced as migrants, employers and prospective inward investors continue to hold their breath over whether the government will follow through on its drastic earned settlement proposals, as early as this Autumn. Uncertainty is exacerbated by the possible leadership contest in the near future which could mean a change in direction on immigration policy.

The visa fees reimbursement scheme is cumbersome and is nowhere near enough to cover the cost of one Skilled Worker visa family
 

Reimbursing visa fees is better than nothing but does feel like a token gesture in the context of the UK having one of the most expensive immigration systems in the world. Checking eligibility for reimbursement and applying for it does not look straightforward for businesses in one of the three priority sectors from the UK’s Industrial Strategy – Clean Energy, Life Sciences, and Digital and Technologies.

A business must meet the convoluted definition of being a scale-up, based on an average annualised growth rate exceeding 20% in either employment or turnover over a continuous three-year period starting with at least 10 employees at the beginning of this period. That definition comes from the OECD but has also been used in the disastrously underused Scale-up visa category introduced in August 2022. The definition of a scale-up for that visa route was expanded to allow a business to show it qualifies as a scale-up through endorsement from a recognised body. A simple endorsement process would be much more attractive and efficient than meeting the current definition of a high growth scale-up.  

To qualify the business must also have a sponsor licence, have already established a presence in the UK and have recruited using one of the Skilled Worker, Global Talent, and Scale Up visa routes. Visa fees incurred after 9 June 2026 are eligible for reimbursement and applications can be submitted from 16 June. The maximum reimbursement is up to £25,000 per year, with a maximum award of £5,000 for each recruit and their dependants. There is limited funding available and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

To put that in context, to hire just one person on a 5-year Skilled Worker visa the government visa fees (including a £500 priority service fee) total over £14,000. That is without any dependent family members. Adding a dependent partner and two children would cost (including the £500 priority service fee) the best part of another £19,000 – totalling around £33,000 for a family of four. The scheme would only allow reimbursement of £20,000 for the family of four, not leaving much change for any other reimbursement applications. £5,000 for a Skilled Worker, or Senior or Specialist Worker applying for a 5-year visa wouldn’t even cover the £1,320 per year Immigration Skills Charge (for a medium or large sponsor). £25,000 per year is not to be sniffed at (even for a high-growth business) and could cover a few different individual applicants across the eligible visa schemes.

Whether it’s enough to attract high-growth businesses to the UK is questionable. What is absolutely clear is that should the government continue to pursue its earned settlement proposals that will single-handedly wipe out any potential small benefit from this scheme. Doubling (or in some cases tripling) the time it takes skilled workers to qualify for settlement will be a much more decisive factor in whether a high-growth business decides to relocate to the UK. It is not just an initial location decision. If the proposals come in it will mean businesses have to repeatedly extend their staff’s visas – making this reimbursement scheme a small drop in the ocean.

‘Fast track’ for UK Expansion Worker sponsor licences merely restores standard processing times
 

On the other hand we are crying out for a UK Expansion Worker fast track referral system as UK Expansion Worker sponsor licences have often been taking up to 6 months to be completed – way beyond the standard 8-week published timeline. This is the category that an overseas business may need to use to set up in the UK where they don’t have a UK trading presence.

The UK’s current processing time and offering is totally unacceptable and globally uncompetitive. The new scheme means the processing time could be reduced to around 10 business days for qualifying businesses, so long as the case is not considered complex. That is only as fast as a company applying now for a Skilled Worker sponsor licence using a £750 pre-licence priority service fee. So the new scheme is less a ‘fast track’ and more about restoring a painfully slow process into line with other standard processing times. The priority service should have been available for UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence applications from the start. That didn’t happen but it should be made available now for all overseas businesses.

Not all overseas businesses will qualify under this scheme. Only a business receiving ongoing support from the Office for Investment, operating in one of the Industrial Strategy’s 8 priority sectors, and which has received at least £1 million venture capital or institutional investment/committed at least £2 million capital investment for UK expansion/is part of a government-recognised high-growth programme (for example, the Global Entrepreneur Programme) will be able to use the new scheme.

The difficulty with the UK Expansion Worker route is not just the sponsor licence processing time. A multifaceted list of criteria has to be satisfied and various hoops jumped through. To the extent that in reality many businesses choose to establish a trading presence in the UK and use the Skilled Worker category instead. In any event, UK Expansion Worker does not lead to settlement and is designed to be temporary meaning the business must switch to Skilled Worker sooner rather than later.

If you have any queries in relation to any of the issues raised above or any other immigration matter, please contact a member of the immigration team.

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