Following publication of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the Government has endorsed the plan which includes recommendations to review the current immigration routes to increase access to AI talent.
The first couple of weeks of 2025 have given us an interesting insight into proposed government policy in the coming months and one proposed policy is to attract AI talent to the UK.
On 13 January 2025, Matt Clifford’s “AI Opportunities Action Plan” (“the Plan”) was published. The Plan, lists 50 recommendations on how the government can create a “world leading AI ecosystem”. At present, the UK is the third largest AI market in the world behind the US and China. Starmer’s ambition is for the UK to increase its ability to develop and benefit from new technology – including, AI. Part of this strategy is to increase access to talented AI professionals globally to create a much-needed economic boost for the UK.
The report recommends ways in which the UK government can adjust its current immigration system to attract graduates from universities as well as introducing new entry routes into the UK to support promising graduates, and revisions to existing visa routes. Under recommendation 21, the report highlighted that graduates from some of the world-leading AI institutions are not currently included in the High Potential Individual visa list, which means that there is a pool of individuals which would not be eligible under this route, purely because their university is not listed as “eligible”. Other recommendations revolve around training, attracting and retaining AI professionals.
The UK government has responded to these recommendations suggesting that it’s Industrial Strategy will address how the UK intends to attract AI professionals from overseas. In addition, they maintain that currently the UK has “internationally competitive visas” which support both individuals and businesses.
Currently, AI professionals can seek access to the UK job market via the Skilled Worker, Innovator Founder, Government Authorised exchange, Global Talent or Scale-up worker routes.
It will be interesting to see how the Government respond to these proposals within their developing immigration policy and whether there will be a drive to recruit AI professionals from overseas to support their ambitions.
If you have any questions on immigration policy or need support with immigration in the UK, please contact our team at [email protected].