Fintech TransferGo has warned that while technology talent may come through the UK’s tough new anti-immigration laws will hurt business.
Daumantas Dvilinskas, CEO of TransferGo, said that whilst technically the new immigration rules might allow technology talent through, there are wider implications that the country needs to have a think about.
He said that the UK was asking the world’s best and brightest to prove their worth by arbitrary standards of the value set by the British Government, based on language skills, academic performance and income. In doing so, we are implicitly saying that people who don’t meet those criteria don’t have value to Britain.
“If you were considering a move to the UK but had to pause to think, will my sister, brother, cousin, father, mother, be welcome in this country? Will my children? Will my wife, husband? Will I want to go, if that’s how they assess personal value, when I have the choice of 26 other countries to go to? And I suspect we will see a slowing of immigration from precisely the skill sets we want to attract. We hope the Government will consider the broader implications of this policy on seeing the reaction to it from the world of business, all of whom will be having the same concerns we are.”
Dvilinskas said that this was not how TransferGo thinks.
“We were founded by immigrants, for immigrants. We are built on diversity. We believe in constant learning and growth and helping people get skilled through experience, and not just expecting them to arrive with the perfect skills,” he said,
“This applies to our customers as much as it does to our staff. Many of our customers are migrants from Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey and Lithuania and we view them all as highly skilled. Why? Because anybody that works that hard to send money home to support their family and build a better life gives value to any society. We know what kind of sacrifices they make, and in our eyes they will never be unfit to live and work anywhere in the world.”
For context on TransferGo:
