AI is about to change our lives – Britain is at risk of being left behind

It is far too hard for talented AI experts to move to Britain, writes Chris Blackhurst. Changes to immigration and visas rules are urgently needed if the UK is to be a leading power

Baroness Julia King has drawn attention to soaring global competition for AI researchers, stressing that the UK needs them to grow its economy (AFP/Getty)

We are due shortly to receive the government’s immigration white paper. It was earmarked for publication early in the new year, then it was pushed back until after Easter. Now we’re told it will land after the local elections. Well, they are this week, so the deadline is getting closer. That is, if the cabinet can settle their reported differences over what it should contain.

Preparing a formal document detailing policy towards one of the hottest of political issues was always bound to be difficult. The prime minister has pledged to tighten the rules after official figures showed net migration reached nearly one million in 2023. The total – the difference between those leaving and those arriving – fell to 728,000 in June 2024, but it’s a key Labour promise to cut the number further by the next general election.

Downing Street is said to be wary of adding to the burden on businesses as they grapple with the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs shock, on top of their current problems. There is thought to be a power battle raging between the Home Office and education, Yvette Cooper versus Bridget Phillipson, over restrictions on overseas students. Cooper wishes them toughened; Phillipson wants them relaxed.

There is, though, another area that is causing concern, one that directly affects the UK economy and its ability to compete globally in the future. This surrounds the granting of AI visas to those with the skills to develop and advance the new technology. I am told some forward thinkers in government see this fast track of talent as a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the government’s ability to apply logic to its growth strategy is not always evident, as seen by essentially ejecting non-doms, major UK wealth creators, who are being wooed by other nations.

Think tanks, such as the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and a House of Lords committee, are pressing hard for the obstacles to AI entry to be loosened. A recent report, “Secure the UK’s AI-Talent Pipeline” from the Blair Institute, said: “A thriving AI-driven research ecosystem depends on a steady supply of skilled talent. As AI reshapes scientific discovery, researchers must be equipped with the right expertise, institutions must adapt to new ways of working, and the UK must become a more attractive destination for top global talent.

“The costs associated with the UK’s high-skilled visa have soared in recent years, at the same time as competitor countries have slashed their fees. The UK should introduce a dedicated global AI-talent visa, exempt from the immigration health surcharge, to attract top researchers and engineers.”

In February, the Lords science and technology committee concluded the same. Its chair, Baroness Julia King, wrote to the home secretary, chancellor and science minister that high upfront visa and health surcharge costs were acting as a deterrent for too many researchers. Crossbencher King, a former vice-chancellor of Aston University, said the committee’s view is that “the current policy, which throws up barriers to coming to the UK to work and study for master’s and PhD students, young researchers, scientists and technology experts early in their careers, is an act of national self-harm”.

She drew attention to soaring global competition for AI researchers, stressing that the UK needs them to grow its economy. “Many individuals who have these skills – researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs and technology experts – have historically been attracted to the UK by our world-leading universities and scientific heritage.”

But, wrote King: “We cannot take this for granted: in an increasingly mobile world, and with growing salary gaps between the UK and competing nations such as the US, we are at risk of falling behind in the global race for talent in these critical areas.”

Currently, avenues do exist for talented scientists to come to the UK, via the High Potential Individual, Skilled Worker and Global Talent streams. It’s this last that is the focus. Global Talent visas account for only 4,000 people a year, less than 1 per cent of those settling in the UK legally in 2024. There should be many more. Businesses that must fish the same highly skilled pool and compete in AI internationally are desperate, but qualified, would-be applicants are put off by the financial outlay.

According to the Royal Society, a family of four settling in the UK on a five-year Global Talent visa will be required to pay £20,974 in advance, up by 57 per cent from £13,372 in 2021. A large part of that amount is the obligation to pay the entire immigration health surcharge for the duration of the visa in advance.

This, when other countries allow their health costs to be spread across the duration of the visa. As King concludes: “Science and technology are global endeavours – a nation cannot compete purely on the basis of its homegrown talent – and the UK is rightly proud of its globally renowned university and research sector.

“However, we cannot take this for granted, and developments over the last few years have made us significantly less competitive just as the race for global talent heats up. The forthcoming immigration white paper presents an opportunity for the government to implement a more holistic immigration policy.”

At Davos, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said: ‘We are going to look again at routes for the highest-skilled people, visas particularly in the areas of AI and life sciences.” She added: “Britain is open for business, we are open for talent, we’ve got some of the best universities, some of the best entrepreneurs in the world, but we also want to bring in global talent.”

That contrasts, though, with Labour’s repeated insistence that the Tories presided over an open borders experiment. It’s that conflict which lies at the heart of any move. Inevitably, Labour will be accused of hypocrisy if it heeds the advice and scraps the obstacles.

Reeves made her remarks in January, shortly before the Chinese sprung their DeepSeek AI surprise on the world. This is technology, an industry that waits for no one, that is progressing rapidly and constantly. Worryingly, Britain is being made to wait.