Home Office settlement announcement

29 February 2012

Commenting on the Home Office announcement on settlement [1] Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said:

“If we are to maintain our place as a global leader in research and higher education then the UK must continue to attract not only the very best students to our world-class universities but also the best researchers and academics. We need to be open to people with first-rate academic qualifications to help us generate ideas and innovations so we can stay ahead in a fiercely competitive global knowledge economy. 

“Research can take many years and leading international researchers need assurance from the outset that our immigration system will allow them to complete their work so long as it continues to benefit the UK’s economy and society. 

“We are pleased that today’s announcement means those researchers in the early stages of their career can bring their skills here and continue their work safe in the knowledge they can stay as long as their work is of value to the UK. Today’s junior researchers could be tomorrow’s Nobel prize-winners like Andre Geim or Konstantin Novoselov. [2]”

Notes to editors

1. The Home Office has waived the salary threshold of £35,000 for those who wish to settle in the UK and are in PhD level jobs.
2. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov came to the UK from Russia. They were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work at the University of Manchester on Graphene.

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