Fintech Founders: statement on the current UK visa regime for those in Ukraine
Fintech Founders is calling on the Government to improve its visa regime so that more Ukrainian refugees are able to come to the UK, and tech workers from Ukraine are able to get work visas issued immediately.
In the last week, the UK Government has been providing some of the most vocal opposition on the international stage to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the UK has fallen short of other European nations in its appetite and willingness to support those fleeing what is quickly becoming the largest humanitarian crisis seen in Europe for decades.
Now is the time for the Government to be ambitious and act in the face of the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. Fintech Founders is calling on the Government to consider the importance of Ukrainian talent to the UK technology sector (including fintech specifically) and relax its visa requirements for those refugees looking to escape from the conflict, at the very least so that we are in line with other European countries.
The UK now has one of the most restrictive visa regimes for Ukrainian refugees in Europe: Fintech Founders would argue that it is in the UK’s best interest to ensure that it becomes the most open.
Ukraine has to date played significant roles in UK fintech through their diverse and skilled talent pools, particularly in the software engineering sector. Last year, Ukraine’s IT industry grew by 36 per cent to £5.1 billion in exports, and it has 285,000 employees, many of whom are now trying to leave the country. But while there are already routes in place to attract skilled workers from abroad such as the standard Global Talent Visa, it is not practical or realistic to expect Ukrainians to apply for these visas as normal in consulates and embassies.
Yet, instead of welcoming this potential influx of talent to our country and our tech businesses, we have a high level of administrative burden: even if a Ukrainian software developer managed to leave the country, the current sponsored visa process would take several months before they would be able to come to the UK.
Instead of restricting immigration of this talent, we want to see it actively encouraged from both countries, with the UK’s visa regime making it as easy as possible to welcome those seeking to come and share their talents in this country.
Christian Faes, Chair of Fintech Founders said: ‘The Kalifa Review highlighted that access to qualified and suitable talent remains one of the biggest challenges for UK fintech.
The Government has promised to take forward the Review’s recommendations for a new Scaleup Visa to help support the fintech sector, and whilst we are yet to see substantive details on that initiative, it is still at odds with their current reluctance to welcome those trying to escape the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine has high numbers of workers employed in tech industries, with valuable skills, who we should be encouraging to come to this country, waiving burdensome administrative processes given the nature of this emergency. As well as helping those most in need, this would also deliver potentially significant benefits for founders and entrepreneurs across the UK fintech sector.’
Andrei Lebed, co-founder of Koodoo and member of Fintech Founders said: ‘As a Ukrainian founder, it is saddening and frustrating to see the UK government’s incongruous response to the Ukrainian crisis. One the one hand, the UK has been one of Russia’s most vocal critics, calling for the maximum levels of economic sanctions against Russia, while on the other hand, it has timidly introduced and defended the most restrictive refugee programme across Europe and North America.
The fact that the UK has only approved a few hundred visa applications for Ukrainians, compared to the 1 million and counting refugees that Poland alone has accepted without any need for visas, is a stark reminder of the disproportionate humanitarian impact that the UK is having on this crisis.
We would urge the Government to firstly consider aligning its immigration approach to Ukrainian refugees to match that of its European counterparts, and secondly consider how to welcome Eastern European tech talent from across the entire region with open arms by reducing administrative immigration barriers. If the UK were to take such actions, it would start to take an equal role in supporting the humanitarian, rather than solely the geo-political side of this crisis, while also addressing some of the challenges raised by the Kalifa Review in UK fintech today.’