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Patrick Vallance says visa costs are ‘very high’ but the UK is ‘open for business’

Science Minister Vallance
Image credit: Pippa Fowles / No 10 Downing Street / Flickr

Sir Patrick Vallance, the new science minister, has said visa costs are “very high” and should be looked at to ensure the UK can continue attracting global science and technology talent.

Vallance’s comments follow his speech at the G7 Science and Technology Ministerial in Italy in which he called for greater international science collaboration and declared that the UK is “open for business”.

The newly appointed Department for Science, Innovation and Technology minister committed the UK to increasing science and R&D collaboration in areas such as AI and supercomputing.

“Science is fundamentally international, and to succeed it depends on trust, collaboration and openness,” Vallance said.

“When we work together to ensure data is open and accessible when we pool our resources to develop cutting-edge long-term research infrastructure and above all, stand in solidarity and support researchers who are under threat.”

In his short time as a minister, Vallance has made clear his intention to support British science and tech by bolstering international relations.

This week, in a BBC Radio 4 interview, Vallance called for a relaxation of visa rules to expand the pipeline of foreign talent to the UK.

Vallance said: “We know there’s an impact of the difficulty of some of those schemes, so that means there is an opportunity there to try and make this easier again for people who do come in to do contributions to scientific knowledge creation and indeed to companies.”

He added: “There are lots of different bits to the visa issue, including the cost which is very high at the moment for people coming to the UK that needs to be looked at and we need to think about how we can make the environment right for people to come who we want to have here contributing to science.”

But according to reports from iNews, a Home Office spokesperson said lowering visa fees was not “government policy”.

Last December, James Cleverly, the former home secretary, pushed through policies reducing the availability of legal routes to move to the UK, such as raising the minimum wage threshold to above the national average.

Vallance’s suggestion to relax science and tech visa rules is in line with growing calls from numerous startup advocacy groups.

The Startup Coalition’s Dom Hallas, who has repeatedly called for simpler visa routes for tech workers, said on X: “Whether it’s current government policy or not Patrick Vallance is absolutely right that visa fees need to be looked at more closely.

“The cost of visas remain a clear issue across the innovation economy.”

It comes after the previous government had been rebuilding post-Brexit ties with the European research community by rejoining Horizon Europe under “bespoke” terms.

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